Focus; One, Two!

[Isaac Lee]

I used to be married to a women who had a great sense of humor about a few of my "weaker" areas as a person. One of them was, and still is, my ability to focus on one thing for an extended period of time without drifting in my mind. Whenever she noticed I was struggling with this she would say excitedly, like a cheerleader, "Focus; One, Two!" We would both get a good laugh out of it!

What I would like to discuss in this thread are ideas, thoughts, advice, and personal experiences of my fellow intellectuals on the topic of focus and drumming. This isn't just a random topic I chose to draw attention but to gain some insight because it has been brought to my attention, through out my drumming career, that I drag tempos.

I don't really ever rush songs. What happens is this; I drift mentally based upon thought patterns, what I see visually, and will actually start to ruminate while playing and as a result not even be thinking about drumming and the song and start to drag the tempo and the musicians inevitably will start getting really antsy and looking at me with frustration. At that point I snap back into reality sort of panicking and thinking, "Shit!!! WTF am I doing I'm slowing down!".

I know for a fact I have played plenty of songs through all the way locked and consistent. So I know I have the ability to be solid. I just need to make it consistent so that I have that great "pocket" that everyone loves so much.

[Henry II]

For me, if the music is beautiful, or otherwise engaging, or just fun to play, it grabs my attention and keeps me focused without any effort on my part. On the other hand, I'm sure we've all played music that was tedious and repetitious and not particularly fulfulling, or, music that we may really like, but, because we have become so familiar with it, it has become boring to play. In those cases, my mind has wandered a bit. But, sometimes I actually come up with some new funky things when I'm doing a "walkabout" while playing.

Perhaps one of these two scenarious applies to you.

[Riddim]

Two thoughts:

1. When you play, think only about what the music needs, and deliver it. If you're thinking about anything else, you're not doing your job. Ignore the hot blonde in the front row with no panties, Dennis walking in the room - none of that has anything to do with your job right now, which is to play the song to the best of your ability. So do that.

2. Record everything you do. It'll keep you honest and give you an objective assessment of what's actually happening. You'll find over time that your minimum level of performance improves over time, because what gets monitored gets managed.

[DSOP]

Ignore the hot blonde in the front row with no panties,...

NEVER ignore the hot blonde (or brunette for that matter). If it weren't for "hot" women, we wouldn't be motivated to do anything.

[Isaac Lee]

Riddim good stuff! I just got back from rehearsal and I was super focused each song. I locked in the tempos and nailed it. Easy breezy. Just can't let the mind wander.

[Riddim]

There you go.

Glad to help.

[cjbdrm]

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[Matus]

Having a light case of ADD myself, I understand your trouble. It's hard and demotivating to realize your mind is drifting. The first step is to admit your problem and work on it.
In the early 00s I used to spend endless hours a day studying the instrument. My method was partially based on everything I've learned about studying techniques, and more exactly on the fact that any brain will have trouble focusing on the same thing for a long time. So I divided my practice time in relatively short "units" and assign very varied areas of drumming to each one of them.
For instance, early on I'd do 5 min of warming up, then start with some basic, ultra-slow coordination for 15min. Then 5 min of hand routine and then back to The New Breed or anything that gets you to a whole different area. I gradually stretched my practice time and also the "units". My ability to focus on the same thing without getting saturated would be greater than before and I could easily spend 30min working on othe same area (but subdividing that for using different patterns or ostinatos).
While playing, the only thing I could do is to develop the best pulse I could and work on almost perfect subdivisions. This way, I can instantly feel if anything is out of place. It just makes me feel awful right away LOL. It's a matter of sensations, I naturally go for what's "right" because it feels "right" and that keeps me in the moment, even if I'm paying attention to the aforementioned blonde.
You can always use a portable click track