by thomas newton » Mon Jan 12, 2009 11:19 am
First, there is nothing wrong with not wanting to sit and play. Like anything else you are developing or learning, you will hit difficulties, plateaus, and just days when you don't feel like it. This is ok - it's normal, don't beat yourself up about it. After 4 years if you don't get bored sometimes, you would be a freaking superhero.
Secondly, just to comment on an earlier post by windhorse, hurting myself playing would be one of the best ways to put me off returning to the drums. In a year of playing, I have only had significantly sore hands, enough to keep me awake, once. Again a bit of discomfort is not a problem and is normal, like when you go to the gym, for example. I do strongly agree with him tho that teaching someone something is one of the best ways to improve yourself - in any field.
The best ways I have found are:
Make sure your practice place is warm, comfortable and without distractions as far as you can. Also that you are not hungry, tired, feeling like you should be doing something else, etc.
Put on a film or watch tv and just sit at the drum - more often than not I find that I forget what I'm watching and I end up practicing pretty enthusiastically once my hands and the drum have warmed up.
As congamyk has said, browse youtube. It's a very powerful stimulus to watch good players and remind yourself why you are practicing in the first place. It's also good to see bad players sometimes, try and identify their 'mistakes' and allow yourself to think just how far along the road you have traveled.
I use Percussion Studio to accompany me, so I don't feel like I'm playing alone. It doesn't stop, make mistakes, get cruzado, get tired, but doesn't comment when I do all these things.
Sometimes when I don't feel much like it, I say that I will just sit for ten minutes. I always find that I play for longer and often am loathe to stop once warmed up. If you have promised yourself to play ten minutes and you get up after the ten that's a success, if you say, 'Right I'm determined to play for 2 hours,' and you get up after an hour you will feel failure. Sitting down is the important thing not the playing for hours, that will take care of itself.
Remember that listening to music, reading theory, the forums, the history of your instrument and the culture it came from or just talking to someone with similar interests is 'doing congas' and can make for productive breaks from actual playing.
Just a noobs tuppence worth.
Tradition is not the custody of ashes but the propagation of fire.