Gene Kwan

10/8/2008
1st Period
Scribner 3-7
Playing the drums is not merely making music, but rather like dancing. In dancing
you are listening to music and dancing to the beat. Depending on the music, your dance
moves change. In drumming, you are also listening to music, and dancing to the beat,
except the dance is with drumsticks and your feet. You are dancing to the beat because
you are keeping time. Drumming changes according to music also, if the music is soft
when you dance, you slow dance, in drumming, you play with a soft and mellow feel.
With every different genre, it’s like learning a new type of dance, just as salsa and
ballroom dancing is learned. So is rock drumming and jazz drumming. So it really helps
to listen to music and really dance to it before you get on the drums, because both
dancing and drumming incorporate the whole body, and it helps you feel the music. It
shapes the way you play, and most importantly, how much feel you put into playing.