Drummin’, dancin’ & drawin’
The three D’s for a happy Gina.
I found a weekly drumming circle, thanks to my dear Melinda. Remo has a recreational facility in North Hollywood, and they have a drumming circle EVERY Tuesday (facilitated) and EVERY Wednesday (a non-facilitated jam). Beauti-fucking-ful.
I’ve gone to both, and I love both equally. I can’t choose. They both have their strengths. Since I have been on a very long hiatus away from drumming, it’s good for me to be in the facilitated circle to learn different patterns of rhythms that the facilitator suggests. I’ve learned that I can interpret the more complex rhythms easier than I thought, so I’m already getting better. I just have to develop the strength and quickness in my arms, and to NOT THINK, because when I think, I lose the rhythm. I need to feel it and make it a sense memory action. And then the jams are purely about feeling and interacting with other drummers in a non-verbal communication that is amazing. You can use any kind of drum or percussive instrument (shakers, chimes, tambourines, etc.) that they have there, or bring your own. I’ve been sticking with the djembes, but I think I want to try the floor toms and other things.
Drumming speaks my language, I speak its language. We understand each other totally. I am adequate as a drummer, but I am working to get damn good, if not great. Just to be able to play music. Music is still a mystery to me. Keys? Chords? Melody? Harmony??? How does one know what an A or E or G flat sounds like in one’s head? I want to solve the mystery, understand the language. I want to learn to sing, too. I want to learn what key to sing in, when to come in, when to go out, to develop my ear. I wanna learn it ALL!! I spent so many fucking years telling myself, OTHER people do that. OTHER people act and play in bands and dance. You know, people who were born with those talents and people who were born extroverts. But since meeting Brad Kay, who WORKED HIS ASS OFF to get to the phenomenal level of piano playing that he is currently at, I’ve realized that I can ALSO work my ass off and learn all that music has to teach me. I can do whatever I set my little mind to; I’m not limited to what talents I was born with. I can strengthen abilities that are weak or mediocre until they become just as strong as the drawing and painting. This is a revelation of monumental proportions, lovelies. It means living fearlessly. Dare to suck! On the way to getting better.
So, dancing...I have been going to shows of late (Dutch Newman and the Musical Melodians, The Bilgewater Brothers & Claudia Rose), and there has been dance space. So Claudia and I dance--sometimes with Mikal, sometimes with Rachel, but we are dancing! We are getting used to mirroring each other, we are so used to just doing our own thing individually! We need to practice—but mostly me. In mirroring, you are doing the same moves with the opposite limbs that the other person is doing (if her right arm is bent, your left arm should be bent), so it’s matter of making your brain adjust for that. I also noticed that my moves last night were getting a little stale and repetitive, so I brought a little Sally Bowles into things and it sparked things up. Yeah, cabaret!! Dancing is another thing I need to work my ass off to get better at. I might take the Intermediate Jazz class. I just need to know the classic steps and how to make my body do them. Sense memory again. But the more I do, the more I watch my friends who dance and perform, the more I ask them to show me steps, the more I’ll learn. And then I can make it my own. But I’m totally ecstatic to find that I am no longer afraid to dance in public. I no longer care how I look to people or what they think. I’m having a fucking blast, and that’s all I care about.
In the middle of my great musical odyssey, I’m also working on a new painting. Alanna and I did a photo session a few years ago, for me to use as portfolio material, but I never did. Now I’ve pulled those pictures out and used one of them as a springboard for a painting, where I’ve put her sitting cross-legged at the edge of a stage, either before or after a show, or during rehearsal. The sketch came together a lot more quickly than I thought—I thought there’d be tons of erasing and re-drawing, but it actually was the first draft that looked the best, with minimal adjustments. I adore drawing people—that’s pretty much all I draw—and I’m getting better and better all the time. When you look at a drawing and can feel the personality coming through, that’s when you’ve done it. That’s what I try to do. And then bring it out further in the painting. Now, I have drawing transferred to canvas, all is well, but I’m still working on what I want to say with it. With costume and props and background. Ay, there’s the rub! I’m thinking I want to add a blue snare drum and sticks. I’m thinking about it with much affection.
So if you ask me how I’m doing these days, I’m having a ball (as Jim Robinson always says)!!
I found a weekly drumming circle, thanks to my dear Melinda. Remo has a recreational facility in North Hollywood, and they have a drumming circle EVERY Tuesday (facilitated) and EVERY Wednesday (a non-facilitated jam). Beauti-fucking-ful.
I’ve gone to both, and I love both equally. I can’t choose. They both have their strengths. Since I have been on a very long hiatus away from drumming, it’s good for me to be in the facilitated circle to learn different patterns of rhythms that the facilitator suggests. I’ve learned that I can interpret the more complex rhythms easier than I thought, so I’m already getting better. I just have to develop the strength and quickness in my arms, and to NOT THINK, because when I think, I lose the rhythm. I need to feel it and make it a sense memory action. And then the jams are purely about feeling and interacting with other drummers in a non-verbal communication that is amazing. You can use any kind of drum or percussive instrument (shakers, chimes, tambourines, etc.) that they have there, or bring your own. I’ve been sticking with the djembes, but I think I want to try the floor toms and other things.
Drumming speaks my language, I speak its language. We understand each other totally. I am adequate as a drummer, but I am working to get damn good, if not great. Just to be able to play music. Music is still a mystery to me. Keys? Chords? Melody? Harmony??? How does one know what an A or E or G flat sounds like in one’s head? I want to solve the mystery, understand the language. I want to learn to sing, too. I want to learn what key to sing in, when to come in, when to go out, to develop my ear. I wanna learn it ALL!! I spent so many fucking years telling myself, OTHER people do that. OTHER people act and play in bands and dance. You know, people who were born with those talents and people who were born extroverts. But since meeting Brad Kay, who WORKED HIS ASS OFF to get to the phenomenal level of piano playing that he is currently at, I’ve realized that I can ALSO work my ass off and learn all that music has to teach me. I can do whatever I set my little mind to; I’m not limited to what talents I was born with. I can strengthen abilities that are weak or mediocre until they become just as strong as the drawing and painting. This is a revelation of monumental proportions, lovelies. It means living fearlessly. Dare to suck! On the way to getting better.
So, dancing...I have been going to shows of late (Dutch Newman and the Musical Melodians, The Bilgewater Brothers & Claudia Rose), and there has been dance space. So Claudia and I dance--sometimes with Mikal, sometimes with Rachel, but we are dancing! We are getting used to mirroring each other, we are so used to just doing our own thing individually! We need to practice—but mostly me. In mirroring, you are doing the same moves with the opposite limbs that the other person is doing (if her right arm is bent, your left arm should be bent), so it’s matter of making your brain adjust for that. I also noticed that my moves last night were getting a little stale and repetitive, so I brought a little Sally Bowles into things and it sparked things up. Yeah, cabaret!! Dancing is another thing I need to work my ass off to get better at. I might take the Intermediate Jazz class. I just need to know the classic steps and how to make my body do them. Sense memory again. But the more I do, the more I watch my friends who dance and perform, the more I ask them to show me steps, the more I’ll learn. And then I can make it my own. But I’m totally ecstatic to find that I am no longer afraid to dance in public. I no longer care how I look to people or what they think. I’m having a fucking blast, and that’s all I care about.
In the middle of my great musical odyssey, I’m also working on a new painting. Alanna and I did a photo session a few years ago, for me to use as portfolio material, but I never did. Now I’ve pulled those pictures out and used one of them as a springboard for a painting, where I’ve put her sitting cross-legged at the edge of a stage, either before or after a show, or during rehearsal. The sketch came together a lot more quickly than I thought—I thought there’d be tons of erasing and re-drawing, but it actually was the first draft that looked the best, with minimal adjustments. I adore drawing people—that’s pretty much all I draw—and I’m getting better and better all the time. When you look at a drawing and can feel the personality coming through, that’s when you’ve done it. That’s what I try to do. And then bring it out further in the painting. Now, I have drawing transferred to canvas, all is well, but I’m still working on what I want to say with it. With costume and props and background. Ay, there’s the rub! I’m thinking I want to add a blue snare drum and sticks. I’m thinking about it with much affection.
So if you ask me how I’m doing these days, I’m having a ball (as Jim Robinson always says)!!
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Oh, wait...You meant...oh, dear...