The growth process

Hey people,

Had a busy weekend so there's been a bit of radio silence. Pardon me.

I have been playing for awhile, even when I looked like this,

.........I had been playing awhile.

I recently heard a recording I had done almost 15 years ago. For many reasons (some of which will become obvious soon) the recording will remain anonymous.

It was done with a group that worked a lot together and I think everyone else played great. When I listened to my own contribution however, I heard a lot of things I didn't like. I didn't like the time or the time feel, my sound, and I felt I bailed very early on ideas I had. I felt I didn't accompany very supportively or effectively and played very conservatively.

Now, this isn't necessarily the way I always feel when I hear an old recording back. In fact, when I heard Kieran Overs recording Off The Record that I recorded some years before it's release, I really enjoyed it because I brought fresh ears to it and enjoyed its general exuberance. Ironically I wasn't very happy with that performance around the time it was done.

In this current case, however, I think I've gotten a lot out of it because I have learned that's not where I want to be as a player any more. The playing on this CD (if it does see the light of day) that I did wasn't necessarily bad, it just wasn't very mature. How does one become more mature? Just by practicing, getting experience playing, and living one's life. Just as we aren't always going to be crazy about everything we said and did or the decisions we made when we were younger, we're not going to love everything we played once we have some perspective on it that comes with age.

For example, I might even hate that run on sentence I just wrote even MORE in the future.

Anyway, I would advise all of you when you hear something from the past that you did, just accept and love yourself as the player you were then. You can use the documentation of your younger self to gage how far you've come, and where you want to go. Music is a living art and living art will change over time. We all need to remind ourselves to enjoy the process.

Thanks,

Ted

P.S. I have a few very exciting guests lined up for "Inside the Drummer's Studio" in the next little while, so stay tuned!