MasterMind Drummer
Newsletter #17
April 15th, 2024
Are you preparing to fail?
Welcome back to another weekly mind-dump on subjects related to creativity, personal development, leveling-up, mindset etc – and looked at through the lens of a professional drummer.
At this point, it’s a solid 17 mind-dumps so far this year! Crazy.
Who would’ve thought I had that much to say about something?
Ummmmmmm, let me think.
Well… me, to be honest. Lol. I knew I did. And I’d wager any of my students knew I had the potential too, as they have definitely heard 1 or 2 of these newsletter ‘talking points’, in our lessons.
Actually, let’s just call a spade a spade. It’s a ‘rant’.
But who doesn’t love a good rant?
It begs the question too, at what point is it OK to have a good rant about something you have experience in?
Meaning, when does your experience qualify as authority, which in turn give you license to have a good ol’ fashioned rant about something?
When is it OK?
I genuinely love this question, as it actually popped up for me recently.
Its worth pondering over.
So, the question was –
‘When does experience become authority?’
Have a good think about this.
What I’ll do is save this for next weeks newsletter, as I’d like you to have had time to think it over also.
So, muse on it over the next week, and then let’s have a conversation after next week’s newsletter, once I’ve explored this topic a little more.
So, a reminder –
‘When does experience become authority?’
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I have had quite a big week this week. Lots on, as always.
Firstly, I released my latest ‘2-Mic Series’ video, exploring my favourite 5 grooves from the album ‘Blood Sex Sugar Magik’.
I’m always quite surprised at the sound I can generate from just two mics alone. I’ve learned so much from creating these videos. Its a blast.
You can watch it here.
Next, my new course ‘The Key To TUNING A Modern Drumkit’, is now out in the world now, and the feedback has been great!
A big thanks to those who have grabbed it. I am glad it’s been helpful.
Remember, as Newsletter Subscribers, you get $10.00 extra off!
Use the code ‘MODERN’ at checkout. Grab yours here.
But the most immediate thing right now, is the MasterMind Drummer Clinic in just two days’ time!
It’s a night of performances, stories, education, Q&A, and more!
And a big thanks to Agop, sE Mics, Remo, and Wincent, who all came to the party bigtime, and gave me a range of their amazing products to giveaway at the event, too. It’s very cool to have the support from such great companies.
I’m pumped, it’s going to be a fantastic night.
I will say though, (and this must be ‘Murphies Law’), on top of fracturing my toe two weeks ago, yesterday I decided to add 10kgs to my overhead press, and at the end of my workout, I slightly kinked my wrist in the process. No joke… hahaha.
But. The show must go on!
It’s not tooooo serious, but as I write this, it’s not great either, as my range of motion is now quite limited.
I’m well-prepared at this point, so I’ve just taken it as a sign to relax for the next 48hrs, trust that the work is done, and give the body some much-needed time to rest.
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On the note of preparation, that’s actually what I wanted to discuss today, as its at the forefront of my mind.
Two things I say to my students often is –
A. Always overdeliver and exceed expectations.
B. Always overemphasize the goal.
Just focusing on these two concepts alone is such a massive game changer, and will push you forward, and well ahead of the pack.
Both of these simply boil down to the idea of doing a really great job in everything you do, and holding yourself to a high standard. That’s it.
BOTH of these can be summarised in one word…
Preparation!
So let’s dive into this a little deeper. Today I want to take a look specifically at –
A. Always overdeliver and exceed expectations.
Whether it’s a lesson, a gig, a studio session, some content, whatever it may be, you should always aim to exceed the expectations of 1. Yourself, and 2. The people you are working with.
This is a guaranteed path to success.
Hold yourself to a standard where you always show up above and beyond what the average person would. People never forget this.
But how do we do that?
Well it’s quite simple to be honest, it ALL comes down to the prep you’ve put it. That’s it.
To exceed expectations, you will need to over-prepare, over-exaggerate, and overemphasize the goal. Thats it.
It’s the only way.
Do not let anyone tell you otherwise.
Average minds with average opinions, would argue this. Maybe even gaslight you a little bit…
“Man, why are you so intense? You’re always practicing. Relax.”
No. Don’t relax, and stay intense.
Average effort gets average results.
You are not average.
That’s why they are where they are, and you are where you are.
Remember? Success leaves clues.
In order to over-deliver, you MUST over-prepare, which, in turn, will ALWAYS exceed expectations.
You have to realise too, over-preparing is absolutely essential, as once you walk through the doors and leave your safe, warm, cozy, snug, practice room/area, that you’ve ever so carefully curated, things become VERY interesting. Things become very different.
I know you know what I mean.
Picture this. Ever been in that situation when you’ve done a good amount of prep for an upcoming show, and by in large are feeling pretty good about it all. But then, something happens…
You’re on stage, you’re doing the show, and for some strange reason it feels like you’ve NEVER worked on that part or track before. Everything feels very foreign and very uncomfortable.
Of course. We all have. But why does this happen? “I did the work!”
Did you? Are you sure?
This is just a case of being unprepared, that’s it. Nothing more.
Actually, let’s choose our words carefully here. Yes, you did some work, sure, but not THE work. There was more left on the table.
I only ever let this happen to me once, in my late teens, and I DID NOT like that feeling.
When I was 18 years old, I was a full-time drummer.
I had about 20 students, and I played live 3 (sometimes 4) nights a week, in a well established covers band.
I remember one week the bass player gave us a bunch of new songs to learn.
I looked over them, and because I had heard them all in some shape or form, I decided that I’d be fine not to learn them in great detail, as I was confident my memory would serve me in the moment, when it was needed.
Long story short, it did not.
At our next show, the new songs were scattered throughout our 3 sets, and every time we came to one of them, a state of panic came over me. I didn’t know where I was, or what I was doing.
“Was it a single chorus?” “Is the bridge on the toms” “Was the 2nd verse twice the length?”
It was awful. I spent the whole time tense, and second guessing.
Now, did I mess up the show? No. Of course not. I would never let that happen. I just felt very uncomfortable. I felt lost. And I would have looked it, too.
I wasn’t as settled and relaxed as I thought I would be, and it was all due to my lack of preparation. That feeling wasn’t great, and wasn’t something that I was going to let happen again.
And I never did.
You have to keep in mind, things are very different when you are on stage…
A wobbly drum riser, the lights (or lack there of), the smoke machine, tough onstage sound conditions, crowd noise, an angry sound guy, an average backline kit, no brown M&Ms in the green room (how dare they!)…. All of it.
These environmental changes are VERY tough to factor in and navigate through when you’re in your practice room, so it’s super important that EVERYTIME you practice, you are present, have intention in your playing, and you over-prepare.
•Overdeliver
•Overemphasise
•Be present
•Focus!
It’s the only way you can somewhat survive those environmental changes that can throw you off.
A great example of this is preparing for my appearance on Drumeo.
What an honour! Drumeo? And asked by Jared, himself.
– I’m actually going to be sharing my full Drumeo experience in an upcoming newsletter, so for now, I’ll keep this anecdote brief.
An honour, yes, but if I’m honest, a very intense experience, too.
I mean, how could it not be, right?
I’m telling you now, the feeling of walking into that studio is not like anything I have ever experienced before. I could literally feel the energy of all the greats that had been in their prior. It was immense.
I knew going into this, that the environment was going to be very different to anything I had experienced before, and not at all something I could’ve created in my practice room, leading up to it, so ALL I could do was be prepared. Thats it.
To the point where everything was second nature.
I wanted my performance so dialed in that if I was jet-lagged (I was), or if I was sleep-deprived (I was – I had not slept for 36hrs at the time of my performance), I could at least fall back on to my muscle memory I had built in.
Just to intensify things even more, 1000s of people were streaming my Live Lesson over 3 of their platforms, and I was made aware of this just 10 seconds before we went Live. No pressure at all!
There were no redos with the Live Lesson that you can now see on YouTube. What we captured at that moment, is what was put online, for the world to see. I had to be able to swallow that.
I just made sure I stayed present, I focused, and did not think any more than 1 bar ahead, at any given time. Just 1 bar.
But because I had over-prepared, I was able to rise above all the environmental changes that could potentially throw me off.
Playing in front of drummers is one thing, but playing on Drumeo is a whole other thing.
All I ever wanted from that experience, was to be able to look back on it, be tagged in it, have it pop up from time-to-time, and just be happy with it. And I am. Phew!
I was able to over-deliver, and exceed even my own expectations, and 100% due to the preparation I did prior. Thats it.
As a parting note, I’ll leave you with this… If you are ever wondering if you’ve done enough preparation for something coming up, you most likely haven’t, otherwise you probably wouldn’t be asking yourself that.
As I said earlier, remember, success leaves clues.
In order to over-deliver, you MUST over-prepare, which, in turn, will ALWAYS exceed expectations. Both theirs, and your own. And that is a great feeling.
Nothing is hard when you have prepared.
So I ask you again…
Are you preparing to fail {first_name}?
Food for thought.
I always appreciate your feedback. I read all of them. So please, send any thoughts through that you may have, and lets get a dialogue going.
Stay Hungry, see you next week.
Stan
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