Mindfulness and the Top 40

I started playing drums when I was young and later worked the tavern, lounge and cabaret circuits.

I traveled back and forth across 4 states and 2 provinces with several different bands.?

I was a good and reliable drummer.

However, I always had a belief that I would never be a great player.? That held me back a lot.

Privilege and chance provided opportunities, but my practice discipline was not good.

Despite this, I continued to get offers to work with great, though lesser known, artists.

Decades later, after real and imagined responsibilities pushed my playing into the background, I practice with more discipline, determined to regain my chops and maybe more.

It’s good to play for the health benefits alone. Playing drums has rich mind/heart/body aspects.?

During one of several years as a working musician, I traveled with a married piano and bass team. The bass player carried most of the lead vocals.

However the show was about the bass player’s awesome vocals.

Grown men cried when she sang Joni Mitchell and Stevie Nicks covers.

Living on the road was strange but the three of us built in stabilizing routines. We managed our money well and only took good work, usually avoiding one or two night stands.

We dressed formally for performances (3-piece suits, long gowns). We even wore matching coveralls for load-in/load-out!

We did well with slow, quiet lounges–Ramada or Holiday Inns near the airport or downtown.

We worked out, ate right, and limited the booze. This left us with energy and focus for the music.

Of course, there were lazy afternoons poolside.

We enjoyed each other most of the time, and, as a player, It was a good gig for me. It was almost challenging enough, drawing on much of my musical range, though a bit staid. I focused on playing well, supporting the band. So pretty good deal.

Tragically, chronic disease forced her off the road.

So, once again, I became an out-of-work, good, not great, drummer. Gigs historically came to me through a small network of musician friends but nothing was in sight. Unsure what to do next, I took a temp job with a family-owned nursery/landscaping company.

Hello tree trimming and moving potted plants around.

I found the work boring, spending much of my time wanting to be somewhere else. The wandering mind makes for long days. I was adrift, often feeling sad.

One day I came home to find a message from the musicians union of which I was a long-time member.?

A 4-piece band was scheduled to open a month-long stint that night at a steakhouse lounge in a nearby town. Their previous gig was several hundred miles away. The band and their gear was at the venue.

Except the drummer didn’t make it. He was stranded in the middle of nowhere with a broken down car.

They needed a drummer. Now.

I don’t recall a lot of excitement, more of a calm awareness that this is mine to do.

I cleaned up, grabbed a couple pairs of drumsticks, and hit the road.

It was a pleasant 35-mile drive, downstream along a winding river canyon to the nearby town. Shadows lengthened as the sun began to dip behind the brown western hills.

Traveling to the gig is the next best thing to playing the gig.

I smelled steaks grilling as I pulled into the restaurant parking lot.

The band, minus drummer, was already set up and doing a sound check.?

The setup looked good. I had few adjustments to make on stage.

We grabbed a quick bite before show time. Steak and baked potato with all the fixings.

The leader/keyboard player gave me a song list.?

• 5 sets
• 45 minutes per set
• 4 minutes per song

Mostly top 40 and classic rock. It was a familiar mix of about 55 tunes. I had performed about half the songs at some time, the rest I had listened to about 100 times.

The leader said the drummer usually counted in the songs, but he would since I was not familiar with their tempos.

Count me in!

In my previous gig, the keyboard player was a real stickler for tempo, so I was in my lane.?

Awareness of tempo is like presence, the speed is set and there is a knowing–the meter is this, not that. It takes attention.

1, 2, 3, 4 away we go!

Not my first rodeo, I was more awake than anxious. This band played things pretty much on tempo, like the originals, which worked well for the steakhouse crowd.

These guys were pros–not flashy.

As we opened the evening, I could feel the bass player pushing the tempo a little, maybe excited about opening the gig, maybe testing me. I held steady with the given count.

Drumming is kind of like driving a team of horses. The drummer is responsible for keeping things in unison.

The band settled down as we got through the first couple tunes with no errors.?

Progressing into the evening, the conversation among the instruments deepened in nuance. On the slow tunes, I played just a bit behind the beat, a hardly perceptible lateness giving a sultry shade to the song. On the fast tunes, pushing the beat, where appropriate, to provide energy.

All night, I landed the intros, breaks, verse, chorus, and endings without fail.

I enjoyed the presence of the evening. Always uncertain as to what the next moment would bring, living fully in the present moment.

There is such joy in the present moment!

As we packed up for the night, the leader said, “You played it all perfect. You didn’t miss anything. How did you do that?”

“I listen.”

“Thanks man, you saved our butts, here’s your cut. See ya around.”

“Thanks, have a good stay.”

I set off for home a little after 2:00 AM. Driving upstream through the canyon, the moon glistened on the river.

As usual, after a night of playing I felt tranquil while awake in mind and body, content that I was doing what was mine to do.

And so it was.

Our work, play and hobbies can help us to engage with mindfulness. The wisest engage with what is at hand.

• work in the kitchen,
• the garden,
• picking the fruit and vegetables,
• building homes,
• teaching children,
• caring for the elderly,

with mindfulness.

Do you have a hobby, sport, or job that really engages your mind?

Please share in the comments.

#selfawareness #meditation #mindfulness #personal #mindfulness #joy #equanimity #concentration #music #drumming #mindfulcoachassociation #consciousmarketer