Hi LGM Fam,
I hope y'all can help me with this. Forgive me for my english.
Well, I have been in this thinking mode the last couple of weeks. What should I do. Let me start from the beginning. I've been playing music since the age of 7 and started to play the saxophone when I was 8 years old. I did that till I was about 18 years. But one day of my drumming hero Sonny Emory gave this clinic here in Rotterdam, Holland and my life changed. That day was one of the best days in my life. Seeing and talking to mr Emory was a dream come true. After that I started to play the drums. I was about 19/20 years old and I've been doing great since. At least that is what some people say. I've been playing drums for about 4 almost 5 years now and I have been doing some things that I even couldn't dream off. But the last couple of weeks I've been thinking about what I want to do in life. One thing is for sure. I want to play drums forever. But should I go to a music-conservatory or just go a search for a good teacher. The only thing that frustrates me the last couple of weeks is the fact that I started very late and that I'm still developing a good foundation on the drums. I even can't play a good long single stroke on the snare. I can;t read real good. But people come up to me and say that i'm a good drummer in terms of groove, fills, musicality. It's nice to hear that all those comments but I know deep in my heart that it still isn't. Also I really haven;t taking any drumlessons because I always learned everything by my own but listening, seeing other drummer play. But when I read all those biographies from all my favorite drummers like Sonny Emory and Chris Coleman, I read that they all went to musicschool.
But maybe it's too late for me to go to a conservatory don;t you think? I see younger drummers who have much better technique then me. Okay maybe my groove is better and I can lay doing a better rnb or funk groove. BUt in terms of technique i;m still lacking a whole lot I think.
Other things play a certain role aswell. That is the fact that I have to pay some bills which means I have to have a normal partime job just for the money. Because without money I can't do the things I love to do. I have a car, so you have to pay for insurence and gasoline. You have to pay to rehears sometimes, to buy new pro gear, etc etc. And at this moment I play in serveral bands. One of them is trying to go professional. In March 2007 we will play at the JVC Jazz festival in Jakarta.
So with all this going on is much harder to focus on your drumming in terms of practicing and that is really something you have to do if you want to be accepted at a Music-Conservatory.
I know this is a decision I have to make but I hope some of y'all can help me with this.
God Bless.
J
