Accepting Creative Input For this article I’d like to talk about a luxury that we don’t always get to experience as a professional drummer, I call it “The Empty Canvas.” This simply refers to the amount of creative input that we have on the music we’re playing. This concept can apply to any situation from playing cover tunes, to being in an original project, to backing an artist. All of these scenarios lend themselves to this notion. If you’re lucky enough to have been in a project where you are allowed some musical freedom, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. I’ve had this conversation with many of my students and I was actually surprised how frequently this happens. Over the years I’ve battled with this right for creativity in many situations; Anything from local cover bands to backing a national artist. And hey, you win some and you […]

March 2022 Issue