Drumsticks: not just for chickens anymore

My lesson is tonight. Got drumsticks from a friend, got a notebook from work, got the address of the drum teacher. I have no idea what to expect.



Drumsticks.org has some tips [bolding and brackets = mine]:



Drumstick Tips and Facts

1. Many drummers wear out their drum sticks in the middle of the shaft by playing rimshots all night long. They splinter and eventually wear completely through.

2. Some drummers adopt the name "Sticks" or "Stix" and insist everyone call them that instead of their real name. Hey, I guess we all want to be somebody. [This will not be me. Swear.]

3. Drumstick spinning has really gained popularity through the past several years. There are drumstick spinning books, dvd's, and even many more drumstick spinning.

4. Have you heard about pitch-matching your drum sticks? Many drummers swear by making sure their sticks audibly match each other in pitch.

5. Using metal drumsticks to practice with is still a controversial subject. Many educators believe in this practice while some are convinced that it is harmful to your wrists. [Heh. It's all in the wrist.]

6. Some drummers sand their drum sticks to remove the varnish. They like the feel of so-called naked drumsticks a lot better. Usually it's those drummers that sweat a lot. [That would be me.]

7. Most drummers in this day and time agree that you should roll drumsticks on a flat surface to check for straightness before buying them. [Does this influence the sound? I guess I would assume so, in the way that you want to make sure things are straight when making a guitar or whatever, but...these are the things I don't think about. I have enough time trying to figure out of a taped-up poster is straight. I am a flail.]

8. Some of the more common reasons drummers break drumsticks are; playing too hard, hitting at the wrong angles, and using the wrong drumsticks for their particular style. [This is interesting and something worth pursuing. So bongo drums - no sticks, but what other styles are there?]

9. If your drum sticks are slippery or you're getting blisters from playing hard, consider using drumstick grip tape or other applications such as drumstick wax or Stick Stuff.

10. Remember that buying cheap drumsticks will save you money, but they usually aren't weighted properly nor do they last very long. Stick with the name brands to be safe.

11. Some drummers need more instruction on how to hold drumsticks. You can't be too far back on the sticks, nor should you be too far forward. Find the balancing point. [This reminds me of something and I can't figure out what. Skis?]

12. Light up your drum performance with illuminating or glow drumsticks. Choose between painted glow drumsticks or lighted sticks like the brand new Vic Firth lite stix drumsticks. [Rave-tacular!]


More from drumsticks.com:



"The drumstick is made up of 4 basic parts. The bottom is called the BUTT of the drumstick, the long middle part is called the SHAFT, the taper is called the SHOULDER, and the bead is called the TIP...


Although different types of objects to beat drums have been around for centuries, drumsticks as we know them today have only been around for five or six decades. Most drumsticks are made out of wood. Maple, hickory, and oak are the most popular wood types."



[Heh heh. Wood.]



But until the last day or so, when I was instructed via email to bring a set of drumsticks 5a or 5b with me, I didn't know what that meant. I didn't think drumsticks would be sized. I guess it never occurred to me. Is it the same with guitar picks? I guess anything, really, would have its good products and less-great products.



http://www.rockband.com has forums in which this question is answered:

"Number:The numerical portion signifies the circumference of the stick. In general, the lower the number the larger circumference, and the greater the number the smaller the circumference. For example, the 7A is smaller in circumference than a 5A which in turn is narrower than the 2B. The exception is the 3S, which is larger in circumference than a 2B despite its number.

"Letter:The letter suffix: "S," "B," and "A" originally indicated the recommended application.
"S" model sticks were designed for Street applications such as drum corps and marching band, and are typically the largest diameter sticks.

"B" model sticks were intended for Band applications such as brass bands and symphonic concert bands. Smaller in circumference than the "S" models, they were easier to control and thus especially popular with beginning drummers. To this day the 2B is recommended by teachers practically everywhere as ideal starter sticks. [Um...I was told 5a or 5b to bring, so what's that mean, yo?]"

"A" stands for Orchestra. "A" model sticks were designed for big band or dance type orchestras. They're smaller in circumference than "B" series sticks and lend themselves well for softer type playing. "

[I feel like I am going to be the kind of person who plays drums like "Animal" from the muppets.]

This kind of reminds me of bra sizes. But not really.

Then, for our 3rd randomly-found-URL-of-the-day to get me thinking, I went to drumtips.com, which says in its tip sheet:

"Drum Teachers: Use flash cards as part of your drum lessons to help your students learn note values, dynamic markings, etc. You can make them yourself on 3 X 5 index cards."

And I got scared! Note values? Dynamic markings? This is a complete different language, like Hebrew, I and I am scared of it.

I kinda really thought that playing drums meant that you just kind of hauled away at them. I hadn't realized there was nuance to it. There will have to be a beat. You will have to have rhythm (that, by the way, is a word I can never seem to spell right, never have). I don't have rhythm, I'm a white girl! I took dance sessions at overnight camp when I was 9. I loved it. I thought I was fabulous.

The report back said "tried hard."

And: I'm having visions of piano lessons from about 5-8. I sucked. I really did. While piano playing certainly helped me learn my right from my left, that's about all I could do. My ivories were not tickled. They were more like stressed.

When I was like 21 or 22, and still in college contemplating what was next (I was always contemplating what was next), an alternate reality had involved me moving to LA and learning to play the drums. I wonder how I would have turned out if that had happened.

Sometimes I feel like I made the safe choices too often.

I will not psych myself out. Trying something is good. It is what this is all about. The blog is not called 12 learns. It's called 12 tries. I am merely trying to play the drums. I highly doubt I can afford drum lessons, a kit, or anything else beyond introductory stuff. So it's a try. Being positive, being open.

Bye for now.

Tuesday

Drum lesson scheduled for Tuesday! I am going to see if I can borrow some sticks from a friend. Otherwise -- dumb question, where does one buy drumsticks?

And don't say a butcher.

I am now too tired to post about drumstick leanings.

5

That's almost the amount of weeks it's been since I posted here but not quite.

I love J. to death, but this is how how his presents oftentimes go: Kind of a misfire. No follow thoruhg. But he does try. I'm thinking of a hot-air balloon ride he once promised me for another birthday -- maybe I was 25? 26? Granted, we only had one day off in common--Sunday--and so it had to be on a Sunday, when the wind was right and when the person who would be giving us said balloon ride (someone he knew) was available. We tried maybe 2-3 times, and it never ended up happening.

I'm pretty sure that guy is dead now.

So here's the deal with the drum lessons. Nothing was scheduled yet. This is a person who works with J. I had to ask J. 3+ times for this person's contact info. Then I got the card. Then I emailed the woman...who got back to me right away.

Oh, J. I love you, but...

Anyway, I emailed her and I might be going this Tuesday or next Thursday if all goes well.

I have to bring:

Drum sticks (size 5a or 5b) and a notebook for her to write in.

Okay, first of all, I didn't know drum sticks came in a size? I thought it was something you had, or something that came with a drum set, or...something that you eat off poultry. That makes me wonder -- what are drumsticks called in other languages? Are they called the same thing as what you play drums with?

Drumstick sizes.

Drumsticks.org, here I come.

More in a bit. I can't research and blog at the same time.

Digression!

Especially since I am sitting outside, on the porch, with my battery rapidly waning, but I don't care because Portland is so.damn.good-smelling right now! We have 80 degrees and so the stuff that normally you don't smell this kind of year (vine on the front gate, I am looking at--and loving!--you) is wafting and intoxicating.

These are the west coast smells I moved here for. The smell of star jasmine (about june or so) ,too. The smell of a west coast morning is ... I wish they could bottle it. More than anything, it makes me feel like I am finally home. Even though I only moved here 3 years ago, I feel that this is where I belong.

I should probably be more versed in local politics, history, that I should immerse myself in what was here well before me. But maybe that's the narcissist, maybe that's the intuition, maybe it's the can't-be-bothered-ness of it all, but right now, I don't care what was before. I am thinking now, and I am thinking about my future, but today it's more of the present, or breathing in this ... this now, and I love it. I have a porch I can sit on, with this smell, it's like...diving into sweetness, the sky is the kind of blue I've never seen back east, the colors are every shade of white and pink and blossoms litter the street like nature's new year's. Because that's what it is.

Good lord, how can spring not be anyone's favorite season?

Except I have wasps in the yard.

Okay, enough about me. And...my battery is low. Lates.

35 and 1/365th

Most anticlimactic bday ever! But that's okay. It's something I've never tried before: Being chill about my birthday.

J. had to do a 24-hour acid study. Fortunately or unfortunately, that means he's not on acid for 24 hours, but he had to wear a wire that went down his throat and into his stomach and taped to his and neck face, along with a box (huh huh, I said box) that looks like an old school discman that recorded the amount of stomach acid he produces in a 24-hour period.

About a week ago he'd called me and said the first day they could get him in was April 2. My first thought was of course, "Fuck." My second--split,split,split-second--thought was, well, better he do this sooner rather than later.

And it's all part of my new selflessness, well selfless attempt at it.

So I said, of course, it doesn't matter, you can still eat and drink, right?

He said yes.

Then he got it put in and then stayed the rest of the day at home.

I felt ok in the morning and went for an 8-mile tempo run. But then that afternoon my stomach started to bug me. I don't know what's up; I think it's a combination of a bug and too much Advil in too short a time. I've been popping J's antacids like mad today in hopes I can run tomorrow.

So my birthday was both of us on our respective couches, laid up in various ways (but not the good one). J. did make sushi rolls and I made some gluten-free cake and we had sake and opened cards and it was wow, super-low key, but hey, you know what? It's not all that bad.

I had expected to have more energy this morning but I slept *horribly* and my stomach was seizing in this weird combination of bloat and awfulness, so I'm kind of a mess today. I'd have stayed home even if I weren't already taking the day off. I'm hoping tomorrow will be better.

But: J. answered the question for me that I didn't even think to ask him: What will be my first of 12 things?

He got me drum lessons.

I've always wanted to learn to play the drums. I'm not sure why.

When I was a kid, I took piano lessons. Again: I'm not sure why. I don't think I actually wanted to learn it, I really can't imagine I would have. It seems like the kind of thing that my parents thought I should know, so I was going to take lessons. Or maybe I just said the word piano aloud a couple times, because I liked it. I was often saying words out loud that I liked. I was a weird kid. Anyway, I ended up taking piano lessons, was totally lousy, didn't enjoy it--my teacher was a woman that I had a feeling didn't like kids (at the time, I couldn't understand that, and now it's all I understand), and I just was totally "meh" on the whole experience. Part of it, I think, was the fact that I didn't want to play the music at the speed it was indicated on the music sheet. But I did like the written "language" of music, that it had its own notations in a language that was so foreign, beyond what I knew as letters...like, say, Hebrew.

It did, however, teach me my right from left. I had a problem with that. To this day, I think of my left hand as making a lower timbre noise than my right hand, which is somehow...lighter.

Anyway!

I'm so excited about drum lessons. J. knows someone at work who teaches, and all I need to get is drumsticks. All I know from drums is playing Rock Band on K & T's Wii and really fucking it up. It's got to be easier than that, right?

Maybe I don't have rhythm. (I have a bitch of a time spelling it, for one.) But I can at least try. Yes, this is actually something I want to try and have for a while, so I don't know if it entirely fits in that "12 things I cringe at, at first" mold...but this is all about breaking the mold. It's an awesome gift and I'm happy for J., not just because of this but because of who he is.

Anyway. I have so totally rambled enough. Posting.