There are two essential aspects of drumming that need to be developed in order to become a great drummer:
1. The mental aspect – the MIND
2. The physical aspect – the BODY
Brain and nerve cells, neural network
First, let’s take a look at the mental aspect of drumming – the mind:
When we express ourselves authentically, we are tapping into pure, raw creativity. No-one really understands where this comes from. What we do know, is that our minds are the first step in the process of making that creativity tangible. You could say it is the director of the creative impulse.
The Mind – you could say it is the DIRECTOR of the creative impulse.
And there are various faculties of the mind that assist us in getting that raw creativity out there into the world in its purest form. These include attention, awareness, being present, concentration and discipline to name a few. Without training these faculties, our minds can become scattered and that pure signal of creativity which we wish to express will become distorted and possibly even incomprehensible. So it is crucial that we take good care of our minds and intentionally develop these faculties in order to facilitate our primary goal: authentic self expression.
The Human Body
Now, let’s take a look at the physical aspect of drumming – the body:
If we define our minds main purpose as being the director of the creative impulse, then our bodies are the executors of the creative impulse.
The body is the EXECUTOR of the creative impulse.
If you are a normal healthy human being, your body should feel like one, whole unit… but if you look a little below the surface, you will see that there are many different systems coexisting at once, three of which are of primary interest to us:
1. The skeletal system
2. The muscular system
3. The nervous system
Let’s go through them one by one:
Male Human skeleton.
The skeletal system is defined as the framework of the body, consisting of bones and other connective tissues, which protects and supports the body tissues and internal organs. The human skeleton contains 206 bones.
Now as a drummer, or any performer for that matter, it is important to understand and develop an awareness of how your skeletal system works and where its limitations are. The more you practice your instrument, the more you will discover certain optimum movements that work best for how your bones and joints function.
Muscular System
Then there is the muscular system, which comprises of all of the muscles in your body. There are many types of muscles but the ones we are most interested in here are the skeletal muscles, of which there are over 600. These are the muscles used to create movement in the body, which is pretty important if you are trying to play an instrument!
3d rendered illustration of the male nerve system
And last, but by no means least, there is the nervous system, which is a network of nerve cells and fibers that transmits nerve impulses between various parts of the body. If we liken our nervous systems to a tree you can imagine the brain being the root, the spinal cord the trunk and the nerves themselves the branches, branching out from the spinal cord into the body.
All of these systems are not only interconnected but they are actually what make the execution of creative impulses from the mind possible in the first place.
All of these systems are not only interconnected but they are actually what make the execution of creative impulses from the mind possible in the first place. You see the mind sends an impulse from the brain via our nervous system to specific muscle groups that in turn move our skeleton in a very specific way to perform certain movements. Those movements will express an idea through sound which in turn travels to our audience and hopefully touches them in a significant way… which is the main goal of practically every musician I know.
As you can see, it is not only important to develop our minds and bodies individually but also to synchronize them to work as one which will be the topic of the next blog post.
For the time being check out the KODO Drummers from Japan demonstrating total mind body synchronization!