Yesterday I was rehearsing for a musical. I must say it is stretching me in my playing. The notes on the score are quite straight forward. However, there are changes in tempo and different ways of counting in. This coupled with changes between sticks, soft sticks and brushes brings things that I am certainly not completely comfortable with yet. I am used to playing to a set tempo or going to a timing within that tempo. It's easy to make excuses and feel a bit rubbish, but hey it's a chance to grow in this type of playing. So here goes today's practise and rehearsal.

The night shift, book reviews and coffee.

How beautiful are my two girls:) So we have experimented with different routines since Eliya was born 5 weeks ago. For the last few days I have decided to stay up with Eliya (whether she's asleep or awake) until 2 am while Carina sleeps, then she is doing the other half of the night. That way we are both getting a decent amount of uninterrupted sleep. Much coffee is therefore being drunk and I am slowly persevering through my 'Lost' boxset.
The book that I mentioned in my last post has had a few outings this week. It has such a huge amount of content in it. The best practice manual I have ever seen for serious drummers in both Rock and Jazz styles. If only I had more time:)
Gary Chaffee is the man.

I'm writing this post with my two girls asleep beside me. I've got alot to be thankful for. Our Baby girl Eliya was born last wednesday. She is now 1 week and 1 day old.
I have had this week off work and it has been a fantastic week at the same time as a huge learning curve.
I didn't really know what to expect, although I had prepared myself for sleep deprivation.
It is generally feed and change the baby every 3-4 hours, although Eliya slept for 6 hours uninterrupted last night. This means you never get longer than a 5 hour sleep in one block and I'm used to atleast 8. But it seems that I'm adapting slowly. The psalm says enter His gates with thanksgiving in your heart, it's easy for me to do this at the mo. It also says enter His courts with Praise, I've read recently that giving Praise to God is all about Praising God for who He is rather than what He has done. So I give thanks for our little one, but I also know that it won't always be as easy to Praise, but I know that He will still be worthy because God is who He is no matter what's going on in my life. Anyway, end of my spiritual bit for now.
My birthday is coming up. My mother asked me what I wanted. There is a book I have wanted for a while it's called time functioning patterns by Gary Chaffee, looking forward to getting stuck into it. Will do a review when I've got into a little bit. Am also planning to get a new drum track on www.drummingsolutions.co.uk and on my myspace page every week from now on. There finishes the ramble of a man trying to balance family life, spiritual life and drumming development. Until the next time...

Summer holidays 2009

The school holidays 2009 are nearly at their completion. I'm enjoying a few more restful days before going back to school. Here are some of the highlights.
1. Painting and decorating the babies room. Our first baby is due in a few weeks, the room now has my dad's Cot taking center stage. I love walking in there and imagining what life is going to be like!
2. A week aboard the Maylee (my parents boat on the Kenet and Avon canal). It's always a highlight of the year, I've now also dicovered that the local pub do a great beef stew and dumplings... looking forward to the next time already. We also caught up with many friends, as they came to visit over the week, and I went Canoeing!
3. Cardiff Carnival was a new experience and the first outing for the drumming solutions samba band. We played on St Mary's street Cardiff for a while. There were some fantastic samba bands there!
4. Wedi 7 with Gruff Rees. We played on S4C's equivalent of the one show at National Botanical Gardens. I've never played balanced on a Rock Garden before.
5. Drumming solutions workshops... we've been kept busy providing drumming workshops in the RCT area over the summer, long may it continue.
6. The U2 concert at the Millenium stadium was incredible. The best put together show I've seen, when you take into account the organised way that the band and crew kept every one fully entertained for 2.5 hours.