Well... speed and drums is now a pointless endeavor

[Flint]

Until about 10 years ago nearly all drummers, and most fans, would be impressed if some drummer could play double bass faster than the last guy who was known for being fast, and keep a tight tempo and balance, etc. Well, that impressiveness become more and more common with the young death metal bands of the last 10 years where young drummers got it in their heads that all that mattered to being a good drummer was bass drum speed - I cannot tell you how annoyed I was at seeing teens at Guitar Center trying to play fast bass drum while they couldn't even hold a stick properly or remotely maintain anything resembling a steady tempo.

Well... now I've seen this guy, and he wins. There is no point in going faster except to test the measurement equipment (yes, you can buy an affordable drum speed meter to see how fast you can play).

Now, maybe (I hope), young drummers will try to play with at least a little class and emotion.

 

[Randy]

Flint,
I can certainly appreciate your thoughts on the "artistic" value of blast beats, but don't you think some of these guys pushing the limits of what was the norm will result in something new and exciting at some point.
What if we as human beings never strived to push the limits of anything we did for the sake of "what we have is good enough" or "It lacks class and emotion"?

 

[Flint]

Yes! If you read my post, I stated that. It was fun seeing the new fastest drummer - by the way, at one time the new drummer for Dream Theater, Mike Mangini, held the record for single-stroke roll speed. There is nothing wrong with that.

But, at what point does the fact you can consistently and accurately deliver 1,000 beats per minute on a double bass pedal matter? The craft of speed has become a commodity. When there are 1,000+ twenty-somethings who can deliver this sort of speed, and that is becoming common, what's the point.

 

[PaulyT]

There's a parallel trend, from what I can see, in classical piano these days. It's all about technique, being able to play fast and loud and with great virtuosity, without making any mistakes in notes. But ... it's all about the notes, only. Where's the music? Where's the SOUL? Where's the sensitivity of interpretation, the expression of the higher realms of truly great classical music? Generally lacking, because the featured players in many current competitions are so young, they just haven't had time to develop the more profound, subtle musicianship of the seasoned artists (who may not be known for "playing all the right notes"). I think it's a generational thing. Younger people just don't get it, but we (speaking for myself anyway) didn't get it at that age either. It's only in the past few years (and I'm in my mid-40's) that I feel like I've begun to actually grasp what MUSIC is.

 

[Randy]

But I still think those younger people may grow into artists. Artists with incredible speed, precision, and accuracy. Then, they find a way to fit that into an elegant, classy, and emotional piece of music and you have something new and exciting.

And, no Flint I never really read your posts as they are stated, I just look for the part I can disagree with.

 

[Botch]

There's a parallel trend, from what I can see, in classical piano these days. It's all about technique, being able to play fast and loud and with great virtuosity, without making any mistakes in notes. But ... it's all about the notes, only. Where's the music? Where's the SOUL? Where's the sensitivity of interpretation, the expression of the higher realms of truly great classical music? Generally lacking, because the featured players in many current competitions are so young, they just haven't had time to develop the more profound, subtle musicianship of the seasoned artists (who may not be known for "playing all the right notes"). I think it's a generational thing. Younger people just don't get it, but we (speaking for myself anyway) didn't get it at that age either. It's only in the past few years (and I'm in my mid-40's) that I feel like I've begun to actually grasp what MUSIC is.

Music education is just about dead in the States' gradeschools now, but would it be so hard to have every single fifth-grader listen to Kind of Blue, start to finish, every week for a semester?