Hey, it looks like one of my posts was a catalyst for a video by a semi well-known opaquely-named YouTuber. He has been the victim of some kind of smear campaign to make his videos […]
Category: rants
What’s with resting the sticks on the drum?
Item just in from the pet peeve department: there’s an extremely slovenly practice, apparently done by half the drummers in the world: resting the sticks on the drum head before playing. I have students who […]
Annals of wrong things: UNUSED POTENTIAL
Here’s a little sub-rant of my other recent teaching rant. I wrote this in January, and wasn’t going to post it— it’s kind of silly. But people seem to enjoy these, and it’s not totally […]
Authenticity
“I grew up happy and rich and I can play blues.” — Miles Davis “You’re not Art Blakey, you’re a white kid from Eugene.” — some guy I worried about “authenticity” for maybe a couple […]
New gear rules
NO I’m getting a little punchy from working on this new book, so I just started writing rules about gear. Consider the following to be LEGALLY BINDING. Failure to comply may result in a SUBSTANTIAL […]
Leave them kids alone
Dumbest, wrongest quasi-educational thing I could find to illustrate this post. This little rant has been kicking around my drafts folder for awhile. I wasn’t even going to post it, but then I had another frustrating […]
Amazingness in cymbals
Making videos of some new cymbals for sale today, so it’s a good time post this thing that has been sitting in my drafts folder for some months: In selling these fantastic Cymbal & Gong […]
A quick rant and etymological aside
La mano dall’inferno OK, I want everybody stop saying “dominant” hand, “weaker” hand— anything like that, as if it’s a thing. It’s not a thing. None of your drumming abilities are dictated by the hand you […]
CRUISE SHIP DRUMMER! rhythm guide
Everyone has seen things like this polluting the internet: What fun. I get that I’m the only person who thinks these are the trashiest possible associations to attach to anything musical— judging from the delighted […]
Anything at all, with energy
Why do they always look surprised. Today there is two big pieces in The Atlantic about social media advancing some very dark ideas, and about trolling and fascism, so maybe it’s a good day to […]