Post #1694460

whenever i listen to cumbia, i start to get philosophical about percussion. i start to think things like "the drummer carries the beat within themselves and they bring it to the party. without percussion, there is no beat." (of course this doesn't apply to people with the beats in their computers.) also, percussion can basically be played on anything. it can even be played on your body, or just by clapping hands. some people think that percussion is simple, but it's not so straightforward to keep the beat...to play with the beat and around the beat. not everyone can keep a beat! the beat-keeper's job is to keep everyone on track. they're like the foundation. if the beat falls apart, the rest of the instruments are easily lost. a beat-keeper can sometimes lose the beat, but a good beat-keeper will get back on it. that's what i mean when i say that the beat lives *inside* the percussionist. with percussionists, the beat is always playing inside them (a heartbeat is a beat, after all)...they just bring it out sometimes. this is what i'm saying: i get philosophical about percussion! sigh. really wish there was a crew around here with whom i could play shekere. it's one of those instruments that's meant for playing in groups...not super fun to just play shekere on one's own.