Re: Drumming Success

[http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert]

 > From: http://www.nospam.gov/~melorama (Mel Matsuoka)
 > Date: Mon  Aug 30, 11:41am
 >
 > On Fri, 27 Aug 1999 14:49:14 GMT, Steve R. <http://www.vcn.bc.ca/~sruel> wrote:
 > 
 > >Hey y'all
 > >
 > >I've been taking lessons on the drums for the past two months or so, and
 > >finally got up the courage to play in front of my church last Sun.  I
 > >can tell you that it was a lot of fun, and I only felt a bit nervous at
 > >first.  After I got into the ryhthms, and stuff, I didn't feel shy in
 > >the least and it ended up being a great experience playing with other
 > >musicians.
 > >
 > >For other shy drummers who read this ng, do you find you have the same
 > >experience - that is when you do something you're really good at and get
 > >into the rhythm, you feel quite confident?  How about for others who
 > >play different musical instruments?
 > 
 > This is a funny thing about me...as shy and lacking in self-confidence as I am,
 > i find playing music in front of crowds to be extremely fun and exhilirating. Of
 > course, i used to get nervous as all hell before getting up on stage, but once
 > im up there, i just concentrated on my playing, and any stagefright i had took a
 > backseat to playing the damn song right. 
 > 
 > Rockin' out on stage is so much fun, especially if you're not a dancer-type,
 > like me :) All of the emotions and things that i am too bashful to express by
 > "conventional" methods just come pouring out via my guitar (or bass, or
 > drums---my band was one of those wacky bands that switched off instruments in
 > the middle of the set :)). 
 > 
 > Ironically, one of my biggest phobias is trying out guitars at a music store, or
 > playing solo guitar in front of a very small group of people. I just cant do it.
 > Or if i /do/ try to do it, i play quietly, like a big wuss :P  I'm still rather
 > insecure about my playing ability, which is ironic, because back when i was out
 > playing shows, on many occasions people would come up to me after the show
 > telling me how cool they thought my playing was. Even though i thought i played
 > like crap, the only one who really noticed my screw-ups was me! One time, i
 > actually said "oops...sorry about that" to the audience after majorly screwing
 > up a portion of the song....later on, people were asking me what i was
 > apologizing about :)
 > 
 > Interesting parallels can be made from this to "real-life" situations. As hard
 > as it is to believe, you might not suck as bad as you think! :)
 > 
 > 1:40 am, Hawaii Time....far too late to be write coherent paragraphs. Sorry
 > about that. 
 > 
 > :P
 > 
 > ____________________________________________________________________________
 > mel matsuoka                                Hawaiian Image Video Productions
 > Editor/Digital Media Dweeb			http://www.hawaiianimage.com
 > (e-mail address is spam-protected. Remove capital letters and replace plus-sign

Wow, this sounds totally like me.  At least, when I _was_ drumming regularly
in a band.

Interestingly, my bandmate, Sue, is going to University of Hawaii for graduate
school in music.  You can e-mail her if you wish: http://www.hawaii.edu/~ssjlee.  She
was the guitarist, but she plays a number of stringed instruments.