Drummin' a New Beat

          Wow. The Genius Project is finally over. That was the longest project ever, we started it in February, now it is April, but it is over. The stress, the anxiety, everything that came with it is done, and now we can relax because it is spring break! And like Kevin Durant says, we can finally sleep. But beside the stress and anxiety and exhaustion that this project brought, what did I gain from it? Were there any valuable skills that came out of it. Well yeah, there were actually some things to be learned.

            For one, I improved my skills at time management I have finally learned not only how to manage my time successfully, but also why teachers stress it so much. Being forced to learn the drums in two months, makes you actually begin to organize your time, and prioritize the things that you need to do. This is what I did about one week into the project. Through the first week or so however, I didn’t realize how stressful it would become. I didn’t know we would be reading Les Mis, and doing several large History assignments, so I would just play the drums whenever I wanted. However, when I realized how much work I had on my plate, I began splitting it up. I initially tried just organizing my time in my head, because I figured that would take the least amount of time, but that failed, epically. So then I tried another method, which was using the sticky notes on my computer. This was a success; I was able to easily manage my time without any problems. I created a calendar of what needed to get done, by what date it needed to get done, and had a “To-Do List” sticky note. On this sticky notes I had what needed to get done that day in the order of importance. This helped me greatly. By the end of this project, I was basically living off of these sticky notes. 

But, besides just learning how to time manage, I also learned how to, most importantly, DRUM. This was my big achievement over the course of these two months. When I first started, I thought I had signed myself up to do the impossible, but after about two weeks I realized that drumming wasn’t all that bad. It was something that I could do without much trouble, and I was a pretty fast learner. Once I began really getting into playing, it seemed to come with eases, but this was only until I started playing more difficult music. Once I got into more difficult music, I realized that problem with teaching yourself how to play the drums. The problem was that I learned how to play from sheet music, I learned the notes and what they meant and I taught myself to memorize the music and play with a song. But once I began trying to play these harder songs I realized that most drummers learn by ear. They learn to listen to something and then play whatever they heard. This is something that I couldn’t do when I first learned about it, and still cannot do now. This was not a problem I could solve, being that I was already at least three weeks into learning, so I worked around it. I decided that I would play this harder music by the sheet, and it worked… sometimes. It also didn’t work sometimes, but that was OK, because if I couldn’t play the song off the sheet music it was out of my skill level. However, the fact that I couldn’t play by ear really was a setback for me that I had to work to overcome.

After overcoming my issues with time management, and learning to to play by sheet music, not by ear, I finally had to present my ted talk, this was the most difficult part of the assignment by a long shot, and was probably the most nervous I have gotten for a presentation. It was hard to come up with a good way to explain the “definition of success” which is what I did as my focus. I had a hard time putting into words exactly what I wanted to say. Also, after I realized what I wanted to say, I had a hard time making it funny, or clever at all. I couldn’t seem to make it worthy of the name “Ted Talk”. Because this name inquires that it will hook the audience and really grab their attention, which is really hard to do when you’re talking about yourself drumming. So, I redirected the focus, and instead f talking about myself, I talked about “us” or the class as a whole. This hooked them because then I wasn’t walking about myself succeeding, but all of us, as a whole, or individually however you want to look at it succeeding.

After the presentation ended, I thought I did well and was happy with the result of this project. I plan on now, continuing to play the drums from time to time, so hopefully I will be able to continue this blog and post videos of what I learn. Thank for tuning in and reading my blogs through the course of this project! Goodbye for now!

           Hey Guys! Presentation week is almost upon us!!! I am very nervous for my Ted Talk, especially because I might be performing a song. The song I would be performing would be “Back in Black” by AC-DC (Shown above). I am hoping to be able to show more of the song then is shown above, and it will hopefully be better as well. What is shown above is a sneak peak of what I have been working on for the presentations. Unfortunately, my speaker died in the middle of my recording, so this is all you guys will get to see for now. I am hoping to be able to get a set of drums on presentation day, but if not I will project a video of me playing on the screen. I am hoping to use this bit of music as an introduction into my presentation. I hope you guys all enjoy this little sneak preview!

This vlog will help to clear up two things, my academic approach, and some of the drumming terminology I have used. I know that my multitasking approach may have been confusing for some, but this video should clear up any confusion you have. It explains the way multitasking divides your brain into separate pieces. Each piece focuses on a different activity, directing some of your attention away from each task. This causes each task to be performed less efficiently. While each task is being performed, terribly might I add, your brain is undergoing a lot of stress. Over a period of time, this stress begins to add up. For some, it causes their IQ to drop momentarily, but for everyone, if they multitask enough, will experience a significant IQ drop. This was a concern for me, but as the video explains, my natural ability to hit stuff with my feet and hands, prevents me from ever having to multitask. I also pose a challenge to all of you at the end, so comment if you accept my challenge!

My Video also discusses different terminology that I have used, that despite my explanations, you still might not understand. The video provides you with an example of a rudiment, interrupted by a fill, then transitioned into a new rudiment. Hopefully by watching all of you will be able to understand what I am talking about when I say rudiment or fill. I almost fell of my chair making this, so enjoy!

My Thoughts:

           Well, I interviewed a man named Amir Ziv, who is a professional drummer and actually the uncle of our very own, Daniel Chester-Ziv. I am very happy with this interview and thought it went very well. I have learned a lot about how to go about my practice sessions, and more importantly, how to be myself in the drumming world. When I asked Amir for the best tip he could give me as I was entering the drumming world, he told me, "Keep fine tuning your practicing so that it becomes more and more focused and productive. Learn from the greats but BE YOURSELF." It is awesome to learn from the greats but more important to develop my own style. He couldn't stress enough the importance of being your own drummer and not mimicking anyone else. I will definitely make sure not to adopt anyone else’s style and create my own, but Amir also offered be another great tip. In his answer to the same question Amir said, “don't know what your skill level is, so in more general terms, make sure to keep it fun or else the passion for it might leave for something else.” Amir stressed the importance of having fun while playing. Sometimes, I stress too much while playing, and make it too serious. I definitely need to begin to have some more jam sessions, where I just release stress and play what I want, and play along to songs I like. This will help me keep my love for the drums beyond the Genius project. My favorite tip, or the one I found the most helpful, was when I asked Amir about coordination. Here is his answer from the interview:

Q3: What is the easiest way to strengthen coordination while drumming?

          "I don't think there is one easiest way. Being able to vocally articulate, or sing what you are trying to learn how to play, is one of the best tools I have found for strengthening coordination. Practicing at very slow tempos enables you to really learn what is happening in between the notes which in many ways is even more important as playing the notes themselves, as the space between them is the glue that binds them together and determines so much of the overall feel."

          I took a lot out of this answer. It helped me to understand that it is good to say what you are playing and sing along to the music. The more familiar I am with the music the better I will be able to play. He also stressed slowing down my playing, which I have heard before. I need to definitely practice hitting the drum softer, which goes along with slowing down my playing

           All in all, Amir really helped me to improve the way I practice. Since the interview I have begun to make practice more fun, and create an environment where I am excited to play. I have begun singing along with the songs I play, and have attempted to take it more slowly, instead of going too fast and stressing out my brain. I have also begun to listen to some of the greats, in order to get a sense of the variety of styles of drumming, and how I will work my own style into that mix. I am excited to keep drumming with Amir’s tips in mind.  

           Well, I have decided to take a short break from learning new music, and go back and work on some of the rudiments and fills I started out learning. I felt that after attempting to learn a song, it would be good to go back and work of the fundamentals. This should help me play better in my next song, and will allow me to work on some of the improvements my dad and peers have suggested working on. I know I have talked a lot about rudiments and fills, but here is an opportunity for you guys to see what I mean.  In this video, I begin with the most basic fill that I learned, I then transition into a more complicated fill, that I have been able to master through playing the song that I learned. Then, in the middle of the more complicated rudiment, I play a fill of four eighth notes on all the toms and the snare drum. This is a lot of what helped me get started, and what I use to improve my stick work on the drum. Enjoy!

           

           Hey guys! I just finished my final week of research and I am excited to share what I have accumulated. I have decided to make the scope of my research, and ultimately my project, around the need for mastery of the drums. This might seem obvious at first, u need to master anything to be good at it right? While that is true, you don’t need to master everything to be able to do it, drumming, and other musical instruments, require and unhealthy amount of multitasking on our brains, which means that these musicians need to master every piece of what they are doing. This is a bit of a complicated topic, so let me explain.

            To begin to try to explain what is going on in your brain, let me tell you about a study done at Institute National de la Santé et de la Recherché Medicale in Paris. This study proved to scientists what they had been unsure about. They asked participants to perform two different activities. In the first example, they told participants f they performed activity A better, they would be rewarded. When they performed activity A, and put more effort into it then they were putting into activity B, one side of their brain lit up. Next they were asked to perform activity B better, the other side of their brain lit up. The findings here were that when you perform one activity, and you are focused 100% on that one task, your prefrontal cortex as well, as a whole, is focused on that task. However, when you attempt to multitask, your prefrontal cortex is split into two sides, you left and your right, and your attention switched between sides. Eventually these scientists in Paris asked the participants to perform three activities at once. This just caused some of them to completely forget one of the activities they were supposed to be completing. 

            While we are switching back and forth between the different sides of our brain, it is taking a lot out of us. Often after I play the drums, I wonder why I am so mentally exhausted, all I did was hit stuff repeatedly for an hour. Well the reason for the mental exhaustion actually has to do with the cortisol that is being pumped through my brain while I am drumming. As I attempt to switch back and forth and back and forth between the different activities happening in my brain, I am stressing my brain out, causing it to release this hormone. I then become extremely tired.

            

            Besides just the release of cortisol when multitasking, there is also a release of dopamine. When you attempt to multitask, you attempt to complete several small tasks simultaneously, and every time you complete one of these small tasks your brain is rewarded with a dopamine rush, this causes this multitasking to become addicting

           

There is yet another major problem with multitasking, which is that it can damage how you think. According to University of Cal Neuroscientist Adam Gazzaley and MIT neuroscientist Earl Miller, multitasking comes at a cognitive cost to the brain. There was actually a study done at the University of London which proved this theory to be true. This study had half of a study group multitask, while the other half completed one activity, similar to the study done at the Medical Institution in Paris. In this study, however, scientists noticed the cognitive ability and IQ of the people multitasking drop. It was observed the IQ drops were as significant as the IQ drop you get when you miss a night of sleep or smoke weed. This is a serious side effect on the brain!

            Now, I have begun playing the drums as you have all seen in my video. In each one I am clearly multitasking, as I am playing the foot pedal with my foot, hitting the drums with both of my hands, and as well counting the beats and measures simultaneously in my head.

           

            You have all seen me in class every day, and, hopefully, I have not seemed like I experienced any severe IQ drops. This is because of the sort of mastery required to play the drums. When I play the drums, I usually focus the majority of my energy on one thing, and that is the foot pedal. This is because I have very little coordination with my feet. However, I played the snare drum for a long time, which requires use of just your hands. This helped me to almost perfect the muscle memory that comes with playing the drums using your hands. You also might see me tapping in class sometimes when I am zoned out, this is further helping me perfect my muscles memory. With this I am able to play with my hands without thinking about it, as long as I have memorized the sheet music.

            I have also learned that counting the beats and measures simultaneously is very difficult for me. This is potentially why I am always so mentally exhausted after playing the drums. Professional drummers have mastered the foot pedal, the drums themselves, and memorizing and counting music. I have only mastered one of these things. This is what makes the drums so important to master. If you are not able to do at least two of these things without really having to think about it, you are causing your brain real mental exhaustion and potentially cognitive struggles. Practice is what is going to help me learn to play the foot pedal, so then all I will have to focus on is the music.