4 Ways to Improve Your Timekeeping Ask any musician, especially a nondrummer, “What’s the number one role of the drummer?” Nine times out of ten, you’re going to get the same answer: keeping time. As I consider this, I’m amazed by the lack of educational material relating to the subject of timekeeping, yet there’s no shortage of material dealing with rudiments, independence, and other ways to fly around the drumset like a highly trained acrobat. This highlights an ironic situation for us as drummers: Our main purpose is to keep time in a variety of musical situations, yet there are limited resources available for students seeking mastery of this skill. My theory on why this is the case is because timekeeping is a very subjective skill. In other words, it’s based entirely in the mind and reflects a mastery of emotions and discipline rather than pure physical skill. Simply put, […]

March 2013 Issue