On Dancing.

Learning the drums has been the most fun I've ever had in my whole life. For about two weeks, though, I got a little frustrated. I didn't feel myself progressing, and when I practiced I was just sort of going through the motions. I couldn't figure out what was wrong. I was tired when I sat down to play, sure, but previously playing just invigorated me in a way I had never experienced. I couldn't figure out what was happening.

Last night, I had my scheduled lesson and was again tired and a little unmotivated going into it. I was also nervous. I'd be playing along with my instructor and I just really didn't want to suck. I wanted to work on my posture, so I went into the lesson stiff, nervous, and tired. After playing for a few minutes, my teacher stopped me.

What you need is to loosen up. Try just counting with your drumsticks.

I had a hard time even with that. I was just so mechanical, I didn't feel the beat at all.

Clicking the drumsticks together is more than what it sounds. You can subdivide the beat by feeling it when your arms go away from each other. Going out is as important as coming in. You should feel the beat in your whole body, not just in your head. You need to dance behind the drums.

I can be pretty mechanical at times (or most times), so I filed his advice under ' life lessons.' We discussed how the out-and-in of drum clicking is the yin and the yang; you both silence and noise to make a beat. In art and in life, you need to demonstrate the contrast to fully describe the object.

If I could not just think the beat but feel it, I knew I could feel my way through everything in life. I just didn't know where to start.

Get up. Get up right now and dance.

He put on my favorite song and had me dance around with my sticks. He told me to let go, to evoke images of Andrew W.K. At first I was awkward. I was very aware of his presence. But then I got into it. Really into it. My hair went flying, my pants started falling down, my arms were flailing and my heartrate skyrocketed. I was having fun again. Dancing was what I needed to play the drums better and to just generally clear my head. I sat down again and he started playing Blitzkrieg Bop. I squealed in delight. He called me CC Hormone. He said what I needed was to dance, but it's not going to work every time. Sometimes you need to be technical, and to just sit back and do your math problems, but my stiffness and mechanical approach to the drums was holding me back yesterday. Dancing was the antidote to my frustration.