Wake Up Game

Just Listen!
I spent most of the day practicing for the concert tomorrow at the Jazzpel fest in Del Mar. It was the most productive practice I’ve had in a very long time and I learned a lot.

I got to work on everything. Swing rhythms, triplet rhythms, grooves, techniques—I covered it all. It was definitely a gruesome experience but it paid off. In the rehearsal today, I felt confident, my grooves were funkier and I felt like I said some “headroom” which is what John Riley, a professional drummer. talks about when you’re playing better than the band. I wasn’t necessarily playing better but I definitely kept up with them which is a huge step up from last weeks practice.

God also gave me a revelation about my playing and how to play with more flare while keeping the pocket, or the beat. I normally tend to pay attention to the rhythms of the instruments when playing the drums, which is what I’m supposed to do but that’s the only thing I pay attention to. When there are vocalists involved, I try to play according to both but what I realized is that I was listening wrong. I would still mostly pay attention to the instruments while only garnering the feel of the singers. God challenged me to listen to the rhythms of the singers instead and play-along with those.

Completely opened my playing up. A lot of what troubled me on my phrasing doesn’t anymore. My playing is a lot more exciting too!

Key revelation: Listen! It’s true in drumming and it’s true in life. Just listen and you’ll be able to phrase things nicely—just like in drumming. Let the learning begin!

The Highest Praise
After a productive, gruesome rehearsal, Gwen and I set off to get me back home. On the drive back, she mentioned that she was going to attempt to carpool to the fair tomorrow but she scratched the idea. Figuring she’d driven me to and from church and to other various places so many times, she went back and forth from Riverside, spent much money on gas, I figured I’d pick her up so that way she didn’t use her car. What happened next was something I wish I could have recorded.

I’ll try to paint the picture as best as I can. If you know her, this will be a lot funnier.

We are on the freeway at this point. When she heard me say that I was getting my car tomorrow, her head jerked straight up, her eyeballs went wide and she began to steer hysterically. So hysterically that she needed to pull over. She popped on her emergency lights, hopped out of the car on the shoulder of the freeway and began shout dancing—for a at least a minute and a half!

After she finishes shouting, she hops back into the car and lowers her head down and basks in the joy. She sits here like this for about three minutes going back forth from head down to resting back in her seat. Even one points where she screams “Glory!” or at least I think it was that. I don’t remember. It all seemed like she got released from something. I couldn’t stop laughing. It was funny to watch but I’m glad I wasn’t the only one rejoicing about getting this vehicle.

My friends, this was true Hallelujah praise—the highest praise. If I could have got it on video…