As I mentioned before, the Beck performance on that new Nigel Godrich website is pretty rad.  I enjoyed his drummer, but I don’t recognize him.  Anybody know who it is?  My friend Bill thought it might have been ?uestlove, but Beck’s guy is a lefty, and ?uest isn’t.  Thinking about this gives me an opportunity to bring up my thoughts about left-handed players.

To clarify, I don’t want to pick on left-handed people, just guys who play drums in a left-handed way.  There are two main versions of this: 1) setting up the drums in the opposite configuration, and 2) playing “open” – with the left hand on the hihat and right hand on the snare.  These two methods of approaching the drums stem from the belief that left-handed people should play drums in a different way than right-handed people do, much like swinging a golf club or using a writing utensil.  Again, to be clear, I have nothing against left-handed people, but I do have an issue with this belief that drumming is dominant-hand sensitive.

My thesis is this: playing drums instrument should NOT be a right-handed vs. left-handed issue.  I’ve got a few reasons for thinking this, but I’ve narrowed it down to three…

1. Drums are hard for everyone when you start. If you’re a beginner, then trying to learn to play grooves feels weird no matter what.  Familiarity with the instrument grows with time spent practicing, and things that once felt totally awkward eventually become second nature.  If I, as a life-long right-handed player, committed the next 6 months of my life to playing only left-handed kits, I believe the scales would tip and my comfort and preference would change.  So, I’m basically saying that the traditional arrangement of a drum set is not a “right-handed configuration” that needs to be reversed for a left-handed player, because I don’t think the case can be made that playing the hihat with the dominant hand produces any actual advantage.  This leads me to my second point…

2. The piano has always been configured the same way. Right-handed… left-handed… doesn’t matter.  You sit down at the piano and you learn to play it the way that it is: low notes on the left, high notes on the right.  Wind instruments such as saxophones are also this way.  At some point drummers (and guitarists I guess) decided that the arrangement of the instrument should be reversed to accommodate for left-handed players, but this only happened because changing the instrument’s configuration is possible.  For the piano, left-handed people just learn it and do it… and they don’t seem to have any trouble.  This is the same with driving a manual-transmission car: you put your left hand on the wheel, right hand on the stick shift, left foot on the clutch, and right foot on the gas/brake.  You don’t get to select the “left-handed” version, and I don’t hear left-handed people complaining about it.

3.  Left-handed players are setting themselves up for inconvenience. This last reason is a pragmatic one, and probably the most compelling.  The short of it is that, as a left-handed player, you will spend your entire life dealing with the headache of switching around right-handed kits to fit your needs.  Professional drummers (and serious hobbyists) are constantly put in the position of needing to play someone else’s kit.  Maybe the gig has a house kit, or all the bands at the club need to use the headliner’s gear, or you’re just sitting in for one song, or whatever.  Taking the time to switch a right-handed configuration around will always be a nuisance, and not only to you.  I’ve heard of left-handed players not getting called for a tour because nobody wants to deal with reversing the drums.  Regardless of how “discriminating” this may seem, it’s reality.  I’ve talked with numerous left-handed professional players over the years, and they ALL lament the fact that they chose to reverse the instrument when the first began learning it, simply because of the annoyance.

To reiterate, my answer to the issue is to suggest that drums are not dominant-hand sensitive.  I have nothing against the left-handed folks of the world, I just think it’s a mistake to assume that left-handedness requires someone to reverse the drum set.

At this point it’s worth asking why I’m posting about this topic.  I mean, I’m right-handed, so I don’t have anything to worry about.  If the left-handed players want to reverse the way the instrument is set up, why not just let them?  I guess I’m bringing this whole thing up mostly on a philosophical level.  As I teach my private lessons, I always tell my left-handed students that they should really consider switching to a right-handed approach, because of the whole inconvenience thing.  I spell out my reasons like I did above, and they usually just respond with “well, I want to do it my way.”  That’s totally fine, but as a philosopher, I’m not satisfied with that answer.

I’m basically just hoping that someone here can give me a good reason for turning a guitar upside down like Hendrix did, or playing the drum set in a reversed configuration like Beck’s current drummer.

So… challenge extended.

A few summers ago I met Seth Earnest somehow.  I don’t think we’ve ever met in person, but we have mutual friends and connected through myspace.  Seth is a good dude.

Anyway, Seth plays drums for a hip-hop artist named John Reuben.  He recently broke his wrist right before a tour.  Not convenient.  Solution: learn all the drum parts one-handed and do the tour like it doesn’t matter you’re playing drums with only one arm.  Check out “Day 1″ of his prep, and the other days are linked below.

Day 2
Day 3
Day 4

UPDATE: I chatted with Seth a little last night.  Reuben’s tour just concluded and he had some great things to say about how it went:

Yeah, the tour went as well as it could have.  There were certain parts of the show where it was like, “Oh man… I’m incapable of producing as much sound as I normally do here…” but Reuben was happy with everything, so I can’t complain.  I definitely learned a lot about new limitations and using those to one’s advantage.  Like, “Oh, I can’t smash and bash this rock section of this tune right now… guess I’ll have to change it to something vibey/groovier/funkier/whatever it could be.”  It actually started to feel really cool after the first couple shows.  It’s like anything: relaxing into new ideas instead of trying to force old ones (e.g. how two arms are supposed to sound when you only have one!) always creates something unique and exciting.

Oh my goodness.  A website devoted to in-studio performances from awesome bands… filmed/recorded at Nigel Godrich’s studio… BY NIGEL GODRICH HIMSELF… without the typical television production constraints…

Yes. (fist pump)

That’s right.  And now you will spend the rest of the day being generally unproductive because you’re too busy watching these videos.  Be sure and check out the Beck stuff.  So rad.

I mentioned in the post about my newborn daughter Suzy (directly below this post) that I did a clinic at McNally-Smith School of Music this past Friday. It was actually a “seminar” led by my friend Cory Wong, the guitarist I played with at the AQ a few weeks ago. I was simply sitting in with his quartet for the seminar, and then I answered some questions from the students and whatever. It was super fun though. I love the opportunities to try and answer questions from younger musicians, just because I remember how hungry for any/all insight I was back when I began to get serious about being a musician.

Anyway, I came across this video as I was cleaning off my hard drive to make room for Suzy footage. This is Cory’s quartet at the AQ, but I forget the name of the tune we’re playing. Cory, if you’re reading this, remind me what this track is called!

PS. I was sight-reading the tune, so forgive me for having my face buried in the chart!

My wife gave birth to our second daughter yesterday morning (10/29/09).  She was born at 3:53am and weighed in at 8lbs, 3oz. We’re calling her “Suzy” for short (her middle name is my Grandmother’s nickname).  She’s asleep next to me on the bed with Kristyn right now.  Pretty great.

The whole process was amazingly easy for my wife Kristyn, which we’re both really thankful for.  We arrived at the hospital at 11:45pm on 10/28/09, got checked in, and right away the nurse confirmed that Kristyn was ready to give birth.  She was pretty far along in her labor at that point, so her contractions were getting real bad.  We were thankful to get an epidural right away, which made the rest of the birth very easy on Kristyn, pain-wise.  Our friend Karin Heitzman was with us the whole time in the birth room.  She’s a great photographer and it was really nice to have someone there to capture the moments with high-quality photos.  I also had my Flip camcorder and got a ton of footage.

Suzy was born just before 4am, and we spent the rest of the day enjoying time with her and getting visits from family members.  The only real bummer in the situation was the strict visitation rules, which had been recently revised due to all the flu stuff.  The policy doesn’t allow children under 5 years old in the hospital at all, which unfortunately meant that Betty (our other daughter) couldn’t see her new baby sister.  I slept at home with Betty last night, and when I got home we did a video chat with Kristyn and Suzy at the hospital.  My sister-in-law was there to snap a picture of Betty’s reaction to first seeing Suzy…

I had to do a clinic down at McNally School of Music this morning (10/30), but I got back to the hospital around 2pm, and we’ve spent the day enjoying visits from friends.  Here’s a picture from “awake time” this afternoon…

We’re really thankful for Suzy and all the support and encouragement from everyone.  I’m sure I’ll post additional pictures and videos at the Goold “family blog” over the next few weeks and months, so check that out if you want to.

Here’s a short video I put together of Suzy’s first day on earth…

Not to be a jerk, but Adam Clayton (bassist for U2… i.e. guy with the easiest job in the world) has a serious clam in the U2 Rose Bowl Youtube broadcast. Check out 17:30 on the video. Bummer man. Right after his huge rock star pose too (17:20). Apparently playing the main bass line in the CHORUS of a song you play every night while walking across a stage bridge is too difficult even for Adam Clayton.

Seriously though, the rest of the show is great.  The broadcast was live this past Sunday night, but the video (all 2.5 hours of it) is still up on U2’s youtube channel.  Well worth the time, and I don’t know how long it will be there, being that the “normal” youtube video is 9 minutes max.

So, I have a Twitter account. Nothing special there… everybody has one these days.  I’ve had it for a while, but lately all I use it for is “following” what other people are doing – drummers, musicians generally, news stuff, theology stuff… whatever. But, it turns out I can link it to this blog (look left right now on the blog template), so I think I’ll start posting more often show it shows up here. I’d love to hear more regularly what everyone who reads listens to, so this is the open invite to post comments about you’re listening.  I’m not sure what that looks like since you can’t post comments on the Twitter feed, but I’m just saying.  Everybody look for ways to fill me in on stuff that you’re listening to.

PS. I realize I haven’t been posting as often as I normally do, but my wife is about to give birth to our second child any day now, so that’s why the blog is less of a priority.  I’ll get some pictures up here when the baby arrives.

Been thinking this week about how, historically speaking, artists are normally slightly ahead of their audiences. In this way the artists themselves are always the ones responsible for the “progress” in the medium. Technology is driven by the market, Sports are driven by the competition, Politics are driven by the culture… but Art is driven by the artists, often to the dismay of the market/competition/culture. In this way Art plays a huge role in forming/influencing the future.

Sorry for being overly deep. I’m just really impressed with artists that take chances and intentionally move away from the comfort zone that brought them their success – pushing themselves into new areas that don’t necessarily promise the same results. Case in point: this cool interview with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois about the making of U2’s The Unforgettable Fire.

10/25/09 UPDATE: I’m watching the Youtube live broadcast of U2’s Rose Bowl show.  I am really struck right now with how HUGE this band’s footprint is on music/culture.  It’s hard to believe one band can accomplish so much.

I’m gathering up cool Paiste cymbals like crazy lately. I posted a few weeks ago about the Giant Beats that I bought, and now here’s some footage of my Dark Energy set-up: 21″ Mark 1 ride, 18″ Mark 1 crash, and 14″ Mark 1 hats. I also have the discontinued 20″ crash on order direct through the factory, but it’s not here yet.  The Flip camera gets a little over-driven toward the end… sorry…

UPDATE:  I couldn’t resist posting this also… it’s Phil Hicks (bass in Sanoski Band) giving a clinic on pocket…

Well, something happened to my blog. Not sure how, but all of a sudden I’m getting significantly more traffic than usual. Meaning, I used to get between 80-150 hits a day, and for the past two weeks I’ve been averaging 700 hits a day. Huh. Maybe the WordPress hit tracker is adding a zero onto all my stats or something?

Anyway, just to be safe, I changed the header photo on the site. Up until now I’ve been using this totally rad Basquiat painting of Max Roach, but… I don’t own the copyright to it and I’m afraid I might get myself in legal trouble somewhere. If anybody knows anything about that please fill me in, because I’d love to put the Basquiat back up if there isn’t a problem with that.  You can read about why I like that painting here.

And, while I was changing the header photo I decided to also change the tag line on the blog. “Drummers Are Musicians Too” might sound cheesy, but it really summarizes what this blog is about. There are plenty of drum forums and youtube videos out there that consist only of stupid hair-splitting drummer CRAP, so I decided right from the start to make this site about MUSIC. Being a drummer means being a musician – period. That means all the things that matter to musicians should matter to drummers. This blog often takes a specific look at how drummers are involved in music, because I myself am a drummer, but the concepts and discussions can and should occupy the broader world of music and art, not just drums.

PS. The new header photo is a shot of a band I’m in called the Bill Mike Band. You check our music out here.