How To Learn Your Music, Practice Your Parts And Perform Like A Boss!

After teaching for so many years, I realized how important time is to playing drums.

No, I’m not talking about how long you have to play drums. Or how you have to be on time to rehearsals.

I’m talking about the past present and future.

Ok…well, what does that have to do with learning music, practicing and performing?

For starters, in regards to learning music, I’ve always preached the notion of thinking or looking ahead when learning music for the first time. When you first learn music for the first time or if you’re in the process of learning something, what happens after you play a few counts or a few bars?

You forget what’s next.

That’s ok, you just learned it…how could you possibly know what’s coming up consistently?

One thing you can do is to think ahead to the next part. As you are playing the current bar, think ahead to what’s next so it doesn’t catch you by surprise. As you look into the future, you’ll be playing more of the music by memory and getting more correct reps of good execution.

What about when you are practicing?

This is when you wan to look back and look into the recent past.

What I mean by that is, after you have finished playing a few bars or phrases, think back to what could be better. Also take note of what you played well. Once you’ve seen into the past, get ready for another rep and improve everything that could be better and do more of what you did well. Then repeat this process over and over again, looking into the past every time.

Ok, so does that mean you want to focus on being in the present when performing?

Well, you don’t want to look back in the past too much because you are not practicing and you want to execute what you are currently playing at a high level. You also don’t want to get excited or too nervous about parts that are coming up, because again, you want to focus on the beats you are playing at that present moment to execute at the highest level.

I believe this is why sometimes, some performers don’t remember too much about a performance they just did, simply because they were so in the moment.

Now, I’m not saying any of these concepts is the absolute correct way to learn music, practice or perform, but in my opinion, if you think in terms of past, present and future, I believe you’ll be well on your way to drumming like a BOSS!

What do you think? Am I off base?

For further perspective, check out the video below: