After traveling around a good chunk of the southeastern US, I sat down at my drum kit earlier this week for the first time in what must have been at least 14 days. It's nice to get out of town for a while, but being away from my instrument for that long is aggravating and - at the risk of sounding like a tool - creatively frustrating. In the time away and then after playing for a while today, I had some realizations: 1. It's good to stay musically active, even when I'm not

I've been into drumming and percussion for as long as I can remember. My siblings would compare me to Animal from the Muppets since I was usually being loud and - by their account - somewhat unruly. My favorite part of Sesame Street was when they had segments of Stomp performances. Those segments got me jazzed up because it showcased the rhythmic potential in everyday items and places: keys, basketballs, stair railings, card tables, and of course their iconic use of trash

Listening through recordings of my drumming from 5+ years ago, I sometimes feel a little pang like, "I don't know if I can still write stuff like that." On one hand, it's cool that I can look back at older stuff I wrote and not be utterly embarrassed by it. On the other, it does make me wonder if somehow I lost some chops between here and there. It's kind of a weird thing to think. I haven't taken any significant time off of playing. My musical tastes and listening habits

Until you've tried it, meditation can seem a little out there. I had never given it much thought before I was editing for the Learning Leader podcast and heard several of the show's guests talk about the benefits of meditation, so I started to give it a shot a few months ago. Since then, I've included meditation in my morning routine which I make an effort to stick to at least 5 days a week - optimistically - and it definitely does help my mindset as I start my day. Simply t

I've been playing on my current drum kit for 10 years now. In that time, I've broken more drum sticks than I care to remember, worn out numerous sets of drum heads, split several knuckles, and - most painfully - cracked a few cymbals. All of which is pretty standard fare for drumming. Granted, I probably played on all of those listed items longer than I should have after their integrity was compromised, but hey, cymbals aren't cheap and I've only got the one set of knuckl

I've been thinking about writing this post for a couple weeks now and trying to make sure that I construct it the way that I want to, because it's around one of the direct intersections of running and drumming and the effect on both is significant. Both activities involve repetitive movements of the arms and legs that are can cause some strain on odd parts of the body. The impact that legs absorb in running can be pretty monstrous as mileage starts clicking up and the seate