Unmeasured

a raw, unbottled descent into drumming

Until this spring, I hadn’t played drums in 28 years. I never stopped thinking about it. Why start now? Would I call it a midlife crisis? My wife would. I’ve spent the spring and summer restoring an old pearl kit, peeling off the wraps with my daughter’s hairdryer, replacing every nut and bolt, buying stands and claps and heads and eventually cymbals and even recording equipment. Then I couldn’t put it off any longer…

What follows is a record of my journey. I start from a place of enthusiastic ignorance. I have no technique to speak of, just muscle memory and the urge to play—a real love of music and the energy it creates. I don’t care about the minutia of microphone placement or recording techniques. Double bass pedal? No. Obsession with paradiddles? Life is too short. That said, I do want to learn, to grow as a musician, technically and in confidence in my playing. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Whatever is?