Julia
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Everything posted by Julia
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I suppose this club wouldn't be complete without this gem I just found.
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Student Social Live Call - Saturday 1st April 6PM GMT
Julia commented on David's event in Members Social Hang Out's Events
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Hi magnificent followers,
I am so sorry for leaving the community for so long. I have been working through some difficult issues involving burnout (not the conventional type - the autistic type, which can be really debilitating). Life just gets overwhelming sometimes, and I find I am unable to do things even if they are interests or sources of joy, like drumming. It's similar to depression, but not quite the same.
It's taking me time to pull out of it, but I am covering all my bases and attending to all aspects of self-care to avoid falling back. It's really frustrating that this happens to me, but I am better off if I just call it what it is and do what I can to just keep swimming along.
There was a phase where I wasn't practicing drumming consistently, but hopping on the kit to mess around. Then I got back into practice but wasn't ready to come back to the community forum -- it was daunting to think, "What should I say about what's going on with me?"
I decided to just tell it like it is, this would be better than staying away.
I really have missed you all.
I am 90% finished with the Warrior Way. I need to keep going, I want to accomplish this. I'm stuck on Basics of Groove Lesson 23, it's not coming together for me for some reason. I am also on Lesson 2 of Hand and Foot Doubles (not difficult, just putting in the time and effort). It will definitely take me more than a month to finish the last 11 lessons of WW, but I am determined.
As I work on these, I have started to do a review of the entire WW. The beginner material is delightfully easy to play now (with a few exceptions of course 😆 )! I love going back, seeing my progress, and trying to perfect what I only did "well enough" before.
Tell me what you're up to, and what I've been missing here!
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Love to hear you are thinking about recording. I'd like to help with that, as it would be in my own benefit too 😃
I'm very good starting things and also on staying with them, but I'm awful going back. So my strategy is based on making them new enough to renew their appeal.
These things have given me that fresh start with drumming:
- attending the SDS retreat
- starting in person classes, with a new teacher that has a different method and approach to teching
- starting to play live
A new set of exercises wouldn nake it for me, but those things gave me anew perspectives on how to practice and what I want to practice, and most importantly a boost to my motivation.
At a lower degree, I had similar experiences with meeting the drummer of a local band that is so good and so nice that we had several long conversations where he game me too a different perspective, and motivation. Also when I attended a drum festival and immersed for a couple of days in drum shows and talks.
I'll be attending a intensive blues drumming course in June that will take place side by side with courses of the other instruments, so there will be jams and a lot of other musicians to talk and share with. I'm sure I'll come back gassed up.
SDS zoom calls sometimes have had that effect too.
In general, new experiences are what provide me with new goals, and then building a new practice plan and diving in it is easy.
If nothing like that is within your reach. I'd look for a musical subject that I could get excited about. I've just went or am going through a Blues and Old Time Rock crush. That made me not only play a lot of songs of those times, but also explore the style, the rhythms and look for exercises that I could relate to them. Some where things I had already learned, but they seemed new when practicing them with this specific purpose.
This would be a great topic for one of David's students community calls, or even a regular SDS one.
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@Juan Unfortunately I'm limited on funds and time, and the Zoom calls are always during my work hours 😞
I have a lot of patience when it comes to reviewing old material, but I sometimes lack a good strategy and don't discern when I've gone over it enough vs. too much. I do love to explore the songs on my playlist to see what I'm ready to learn next, but I need to stick with what I am learning now because I start too many and don't finish!
After the Warrior Way I have a list of lesson tracks I want to put in a "Warrior Way sequel" for myself. First, I need to make sure I am ready, and review the WW to really assess that I've learned it well. I've started reviewing Beginner Track 1 and picking the songs back up I first chose from my playlist. This allows me three topics to work on: finish TWW, review it, and My Future Set List 🙂
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I am taking a mental health break. I have a lot of tough things I’m dealing with right now. Nothing tragic, but just overwhelming. I can’t listen to music right now (just ambient nature sounds) and need to let myself just shut down a bit. I will be back, you know it!
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I totally understand @Julia . I’ll miss your wit and intelligence while you’re gone. You are a beautiful person and I’m sure you will find inner peace.
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I have heavier sticks that don’t buzz. It’s mysterious…maybe these sticks are just possessed by an attention-seeking spirit 👻
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I see what you did there 😉
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They reverberate in my hand. It’s bothers me a bit - it takes a while for me to stop noticing it and “get into the zone”. They’re otherwise nice sticks. Could it just be the manufacturing batch the pair happened to come from?
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I’m practicing “Dreams” with particular focus on two things:
1 - loops to master the transitions between parts of the song.
2 - bringing those loops up to slightly beyond the original speed of the recording so when I drop back I will relax and flow better. Original speed is 121 bpm, I did a few loops at a slower speed, but on the last one, I made this decision to ramp up the speed in steps. Last four measures of Bridge 2 into first two measures of Verse 2. It was rough for a while, but started to smooth out.
Despite the fact that I can play at faster speeds than I could before, I am still not where I want to be with speed. So I am now making the commitment to put in more time playing within the 120-130 range. It doesn’t have to be anything difficult — in fact, the simpler, the better. The idea is just to get that bpm range to feel more normal and natural.
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Well the base wages better be good then 😉 This is one kind of stick I have not experimented with -- If I do, though, it should be on my loud kit at Mom Sound Studios (TM), not on my delicate little Silentstrokes at home. I'm thinking they sound weird on cymbals though -- true or no?
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I’m going to need some of those to open up my Drumstick Museum 😆 Oak laminated over bamboo…I’m trying to imagine the feel and the sound. May be overkill.
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NAEJ EILLIB
Julia replied to Julia's topic in Challenge Accepted's Click here for the index of challenges
@chantale j’ai débuté ce nouveau club avec les défis qu’on a posté et pour le tien je t’ai présenté avec le compliment « extraordinaire » mais pour celui de @Bob je n’ai dit que « SDS member » (ce n’était pas exprès) et il est devenu jaloux le pauvre, il m’a taquiné 😄 donc je prends ma revanche 😉 -
NAEJ EILLIB
Julia replied to Julia's topic in Challenge Accepted's Click here for the index of challenges
Uh oh @chantale your evil twin is acting up again, can’t help but like him though 😆 Ok @Bob for that I’m adjusting the challenge: now you have to play AND sing Billie Jean backwards. Video or it didn’t happen 😉 -
NAEJ EILLIB
Julia replied to Julia's topic in Challenge Accepted's Click here for the index of challenges
None intended, @Bob, thank you for pointing out my uneven descriptors. It was at the end of a long work day I came up with the idea of the new club and I was running out of steam. Apologies, I will change it up 🙂 -
Shedheads are geniuses at finding new ways to hone skills while entertaining and inspiring themselves and each other. A common theme in the forum threads is "Hey, I tried this, it's cool, see if you can do it!" Now we have a place to keep all of these ideas so they're perpetually browsable and discussable. You are invited to try what's been posted here, link to interesting ideas other members have suggested in the forums (there are many, please help gather them here as you find them), or post your own new ideas. Come back and test your skills, see what others have experienced when they tried a challenge listed here, and cheer each other on. Have at it!
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Amazing what you hear when you play a song backwards -- try this one from distinguished SDS member and money-beat-reverser @Bob (original post below):
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From Shedhead extraordinare @chantale, see her original post below:
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Bucket o’ sticks, bucket o’ sticks before and after the Bob treatment:
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Well hey, if that’s lame then I admire the genius of lame things! I could never wear those bands in my hair, it busts them right open. Drumstick holder has got to be their true use kept secret from us until now. I used to use a lovely big glass mosaic cookie jar to hold my sticks but that’s now in my kitchen holding utensils that don’t fit in the drawer. Now my sticks are in the stick bag but as I rotate through each pair in the ongoing challenge, I put it on a shelf. Thank you for the clever tip!
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My most recent forays to play the drums at the music store have been purchase-less, but the time before last I indulged in a pair of neon coral pink Zildjian 5As. I like the paint coating almost as much as taped or grip sticks. The color is cheery. I wish these came in 7A but I can do 5A. As you may be able to see in the photo, the paint suffers wear and tear easily, but I figure they will be a testament to all my practice after long enough 🙂 They play fine on both my muted and my loud kit — nothing remarkable, but I wasn’t looking for anything but a bit of zing to add to the stick collection.
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Copeland’s soundtrack to the movie Rumble Fish (1983) is worth a listen not just for “Don’t Box Me In” with Stan Ridgeway but also for variations on his inimitable style.
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The Challenge saunters on -- I'm really having fun with it. Today, Mr. Selector chose the Promark Forward Balance sticks for me. His explanation was that he had chosen Promark's Rebound sticks yesterday, and he wanted me to have a contrasting experience. Contrast it certainly did. My practice exercises included grooves with 16th note hihats, which the sticks had me pushing to achieve smoothly. Due to that and the fact that I was working on these exercises towards the end of my practice session, I really started to feel it in my right hand, which is my non-dominant hand. (I'm a lefty who drums on a righty setup.) This was a good experience to discover limitations. I need to develop more strength and endurance using maple sticks and more normally balanced hickory sticks before attempting this daredevil feat again. That said, my right hand has come along way since my early drumming days when it would entirely miss the 6" practice pad more often than it hit it 🤪 I often felt like that hand was being remotely operated by someone else who was trying to mess me up.
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I was glad to be able to keep my first kit. It’s an older version of the SPL Unity that I got used for very cheap. I thought I’d get rid of it as soon as I upgraded, but when I did, I had a hard time parting with it. After paying off some bills I’m going to replace all the heads and really see what it can do.
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So today’s practice sticks were my VF 8Ds. While they are not my favorite to use at the moment, as I practiced I looked down at my hands and was suddenly caught up in emotion. This was the first pair I bought five or six years ago when I started my drum journey with just the sticks and a practice pad, the YouTube videos of a certain amazing drum instructor, and a brand new subscription to his online drum school. And lots of hope beyond all reason for a drum kit, which everyone in my entourage kind of rolled their eyes at. I could not imagine then where I’d be today with drumming - solid skill progress, confidence (and justification) to call myself a drummer, a band of brothers- and sisters-in-rhythm, knowledge about drum hardware, and not just one but TWO kits, one in an “off-site practice space” (thanks for that last one, Mom! 😄 ). No one rolls their eyes at me anymore. They see what drumming has done for me and they tell me to go practice. Whatever my favorites happen to be at any time, these sticks are keepers.
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Could you post “meeting minutes” from it? That would be great so those of us who miss could add to the discussion and carry it over to the next time. -
Your description makes me think they’d have a similar feel to my Promark Forward Balance sticks. They look worth trying out sometime, but I have to admit that I like the look of a drumstick with a shoulder and tip. I’m a sucker for aesthetics — probably made obvious as I am always going on about my signature sticks and the array of tape colors I use for grip. That said, the good rim shot/click potential is appealing.
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