Juggling instruments

A couple of days ago, I just realized something that rendered me a rare gem. Me a rare gem! I humbly take the offer. Should I pursue drumming, I would be an open-handed drummer, a south paw drummer if you will. I read somewhere on the internet that if you put a 4 year old on a drum set he or she will start playing open-handed, no guidance given. I feel I am no different (although I am 20 years old, not 4). When I first started trying to teach myself to play the drums, I remember a moment where I realized that I could either hit the hi-hat (plastic bag) with my right hand or left hand. I decided to do what was most comfortable – and that was my left hand. An open-handed drummer is, in essence, a righty who hits the hi-hat with his or her left hand and the snare with his or her right hand. Usually, righties would hit the hi-hat with their dominant hand – their right hand (generally speaking, the hi-hat would be hit by the dominant hand). I guess you can say an open-handed drummer is a mix of both. Goodness gracious, the difficulties I would encounter when I play Rockband! But anyway . . . just thought I’d let you know because I myself am still surprised.

Still speaking of drums – and music in general, - my leisure life, I feel, revolves around a rotation of instruments. There was a time, when was it? Oh yeah, winter time. I was really into Jason Mraz a lot. I abandoned the piano and my make-up drum set, and even my djembe drum. All I played during those late night showdowns between me and the youtube videos of him was my classic guitar. Of course, the showdown was one-sided with Jason on the winning side. He could sing (that’s one point) and he could play better (that’s a second point) and he could play while singing (that’s a third point). I could barely sing well, I was just a beginner in guitar and I can’t even hold a note well while playing.

Then in early to mid summer, I got a new djembe drum. A 10’’ one. I switched gears and started playing the djembe drum a lot more often. I played as many Jason Mraz songs as my beginner skills would allow me and sometimes I played a song six or seven times in a row, literally – and it was a song that lasted seven minutes! Needless to say, that rendered some sweaty musical summer moments.

Then some day, as I was putting a book back on my shelf, I saw my collection of cd’s and thought back to which ones were my favorite and which ones I didn’t listen to for a long time. I noticed The Killers cd that I “borrowed” from Ate Sherry (for a year and a half, I must admit). Sorry Ate Sherry, but I love the cd, what can I do? Are you going to take it back? I learned some muay thai from Kuya. But anyway, I listened to the usual songs – those that are in my ipod. They would be: “Mr. Brightside,” “smile Like You Mean It,” “All These Things That I’ve Done,” and “Change Your Mind.”

I remember the first time I encountered the rock music of The Killers. I was at the computer upstairs – the main computer or family computer (we didn’t have all the laptops that we have now, back then) – and I saw this thing called Rockband. It sounded familiar. I had heard from Andrew, my cousin or something. No, it wasn’t Andrew. I heard it from my chorus class. Yes, on the last day of school, someone brought it in so that our teacher could play with it with the students. That night I played Mr. Brightside and the next day, that song was in my ipod. While I added it to Tiny, I saw other killers songs and added them too. Oops! Sorry for this little reverie of a deviation.

So I saw the cd on my shelf and started to listen to it again. But I was getting tired of the regular songs that I listened to. I started exploring. From that little curiosity adventure, I grew closer to “Jenny Was A Friend of Mine,” “Somebody Told Me,” “Andy, You’re A Star,” and “On Top.” But I was not satisfied with just four new songs, although at the time I felt that with each new song I started to like, I didn’t think I’d find a better one. Overall, I felt there could be more out there that I don’t know about, and why limit what I might like or even love? We only have one life, you know. A couple weeks later, I went to the library and borrowed the Killers’ second album and already I’m liking seven of their songs in that album.

Going back to my rotation of instruments, from listening to so many Killers songs, I started to rekindle my passion for smashin’ – on the drums that is. Not only that. Form The Killers’ “Exitlude” in the second album, I also started to return to the piano seat.

So I’ve gone full circle – the guitar, the djembe, the drums, the piano. Do I have a favorite instrument? Well, I’m in The Killers mode right now, although I’m going to see my favorite singer, Jason Mraz on Friday (I’ve been pumping myself up for his concert and trust me when I say this, I get pumped up easily). I would say that this question is expectedly difficult to answer because I don’t want to say that I like them all equally because that’s not true, to be honest. But at the same time, it’s hard to answer because I could be creative with each of them in their own meandering ways. I could hit my own little climaxes with each instrument, in other words. But the one that I enjoy the most, the absolute most, would be the drums, then the piano, then the guitar and then the djembe drum. But this count-down list may change in the future, of course. Oh man, I love the drums!