Counting out loud
music blog #1
counting meditation:
After not counting out loud, or even in my head during practice, I have been counting out loud during my practice sessions consistently for the past 2 months. By this I mean, “1 2 3 4” along with whatever song, piece, exercise, or groove. Despite being taught to practice in this manner by teachers, fellow percussionists, in school band, and in drum corps, it slipped away over the years. Before, I would always count out loud when learning something new, or a passage in an odd time signature, or to keep place within a song form. I remember rehearsing in school concert band, we would put down our instruments and sing challenging passages while clapping, just focusing on our timing. In drum corps, we would sub-divide out loud, even in performance. And while playing jazz, we learned to sing the melodies before attempting them on the drums, and to sing along to what we were improvising. But as time went on, I had lost this habit of counting out loud, just slipping into counting inside my head, and then not at all. Why count anyways? I can feel where I am in the song. I can feel where the “1” is…. or can I?
I have been doing meditative practice for about 10 years. Starting off with sitting meditation, then work meditation, and walking meditation. While I wanted for drumming to be my meditation, it seemed unlike the experience and benefits I would get from sitting meditation or tai chi. It seemed too engrained, and my mind could wander aimlessly while I was drumming, also somewhat aimlessly. However, in these recent practice sessions, counting out loud has had a meditative quality that was missing from my musical experience.
One thing that I get out of tai chi, is how it demands attention. It is necessary to focus on your movement in conjunction with the breath and physical balance. There are different methods of breathing, either your stomach goes inward on the inhale, or it goes outward on the inhale. There is also the location of your attention on your breath; the nose, the mouth, throat, chest, solar plexus, stomach, and perineum, and/or all of the above. Then there is the physical movement. Noticing which muscles are working, noticing muscles you’ve never felt before. And noticing how you feel before and after, your attitude and emotional state. With all these things to focus on, the mind doesn’t get a chance to wander, for the most part, which brings me to vocally counting.
Rather than merely playing what I know, without intention, while practicing, my attention is on how it sounds. Does it sound good and feel good? Does it groove? Next, am I playing in time with the metronome, on the click, or for even more attention, placing the click on the off 16th notes “e” and “a”. Physical technique and posture as well as breathing are things that I need to put some effort into focusing on, or else they get ignored and forgotten, which doesn’t make for effective practice. While some of these things require effort, counting out loud can not be ignored. If I am counting, vocalizing, I am using another set of muscles, that seems to enhance my capacity for focusing on not just the counting, but the overall feel, and simultaneity or unisons. And musicality, is my voice sounding confident with conviction, or weak and confused? And that brings attention to what I am playing and how solid I really am in playing it.
There are dedicated advocates for vocalization in the percussion community. You can hear legendary drummers singing on in the background of the great jazz records. In some music cultures, you learn to vocalize everything before you get to touch an instrument. As some have stated, it enhances your timing, Its a key to your internal rhythm, feel, your internal clock. There are many valuable reasons to counting out loud. I had lost sight of that, perhaps not knowing some of the reasons. Counting, out loud, has re-ignited the challenge, joy, and focus in my practice sessions (especially the challenge.) More-so, it has begun a meditative practice that involves making music.