Getting the timing right, is one of those things that I find the hardest to teach. Mainly because it takes a lot of individual exercise to improve this. Music. It needs to be trained and stimulated. It’s all there inside us. From the day we were born. The heartbeat of our moms and conscious and unconscious singing in our childhood. Naturally, music has been a part of me even before I started thinking about any form of identity. Maybe this is where the key to succes is hidden? Music before identity.

I remember having a discussion with my brother (a professional musician) around this topic. He would say that the ones, that played and expressed music for a long time and also a long time before even thinking about who they were or who/what they would become in the life, was the most natural musicians he’d play with. I’d agree with him, however thinking that this (timing & expressing music) is a skill that could be improved throughout life. It seems to me though, that the skill of timing and the willingness to express music freely is more of an individual journey one has to take, rather than something that someone can learn on to you. For sure you can be guided in the right direction by mentoring, but the ultimate change has to come from within.

I know this becomes very much pocket philosophy, however I’m just sharing my view and my experiences on this very important issue. Timing & musicality. It’s something I see mostly when teaching beginners, but also when teaching more experience players. Here’s a short list of what I think drummers should realize on timing and musicality.

• Always establish a sense of pulse before you play anything. Everything is pulse & beat. This is one of the biggest issues I see with beginner drummers. Some struggle a lot with remembering that this is the essentials of music. Every time you hit the drum you must have established, imagined and considered some sort of pulse. Every time.
• Imagine, listen, sing, move. Do it. Open your mouth and sing the pulse and the melody. Any one leading a group of musicians would know this. You need to show to your surroundings where the pulse and the beat is. To change the habit of not doing this to singing the beat/pulse out loud, is the hardest of everything I’ve ever taught anybody. This is so fundamental of music, I think. The ability to get it out of your body and first of all convince yourself, that you know where the pulse is – and then convince others that you’re grounded and in charge of the beat. To train this, a big change of habit is required. This is tough. Imagine what it will sounds like when you play. Drum-hum. Sing – often, and also with music in the background. Move to the music – even just finger tapping. Listen to music with your friends & family and openly discuss and express what you like about this of that piece of music. Listening to music with others has opened up my mind of music (and refined my sensibility of music) throughout my life.

Below this I’ve made a small drawing of how I usually get around music consciously and unconsciously on an average day. I’m sure many of you can relate to this. The idea with this drawing is to show, how you can fill a daily life with listening to and expressing music.

A listing of what’s happening, on that drawing.

• Alarm clock stereo. It wakes me op in the morning with music. Right now it’s the CD “Tower Of Power Live!” that gets me out of bed.
• Eating breakfast and checking emails/facebook. I usually finger tap parts of a recent solo or band drum score – for most time unconsciously.
• In the shower. When in the bathroom in the morning I usually put on some of my favourite music on the stereo. Stevie Wonder, Phil Collins, Genesis, Peter Gabriel or Björk are some of the ones in my CD player right now.
• On the bike to work. Again finger tapping away to current drum scores or humming/singing some pop music tune. Sometimes this would also be the time I memorize some drum scores or chips of current band drum scores. Refreshing the image of the drum score that is already captured in my memory/brain.
• At work. I usually teach 2-3 classes of music every day besides from teaching history, choir and chess. I often play piano and sing throughout these lessons as well as a variety of other rhythmical instruments. To get other people to follow me, I need to express the music and very clearly and I need to be very accurate and aware of pulse & rhythm.
• On the bike home. Same as on the way to work. Maybe a little less finger tapping than on the way to work. At this time of the day when riding home, silence is often preferred.
• Cooking dinner. I usually but on the DAB radio when I cook and sometimes dance a bit. Often I tune into the Danish jazz channel DR P8Jazz, which has a nice combination of all kinds of jazz – instrumental, vocal, classic, modern, up tempo, slow.
• Later in the evening. I’ll usually play a bit on the drum pad – current material or old stuff. I also typically put on some music whilst checking emails/facebook before going to bed.

The idea with this article is to inspire. And also to get to you to reflect on this matter and to discuss it with fellow musicians/drummers.