As previously mentioned I have been playing drums with some friends on some jazz tunes recently. We have only had one rehearsal of this so far, but we had an open mic booked at a local bar. This is something we do now and then with our little community that built up around the pub session I started some years ago. I did not really want to take the whole drum kit and I was inspired by some 'suitcase bass drum' videos I had seen to make my own.
I just used some wood I had in the shed for this. I needed something to support the kick pedal and keep the case in place. That aspect worked fairly well, but as a drum it is a bit quiet. You will see the label on the back move in the video, but it is not really audible. I could try putting a microphone in there to resolve that, but it was just something to try.
Some other people asked me to play with them, so I did a couple of songs with Anne-Marie, part of one is included here, and a few with another duo. Then I played with the band. I included one where I play brushes as that is the first time I have done that in public. The final song is one I sang. Singing and playing drums can be tricky, so I kept the drumming very simple. It ought to have more of a swing feel. As a lot of our songs mention the Moon we are called The Moonshots. That is @purplesinger on piano, @daniellemurray on clarinet and Bob on flute. We should have a bass player at some point.
Harpreet runs this bar, The Angel's Share in Hitchin, and he loves music. He was egging me on to hit the cymbal harder. I was using 'rods' rather than normal sticks to keep the volume down. Drums are loud even without amplification. It is all experimentation as I have little experience of performing on drums outside my home studio or a rehearsal room.
We have another rehearsal next month. Conveniently Drumeo has a jazz course this month. I am two weeks into that and learning a lot. It does include some brush work.
I did give you a glimpse of my new cymbals in the video. I have not had much chance to play those yet, so you will have to wait for a demonstration.
Rock on!
