Rolling on a River....

As an aspiring session drummer, I came to the conclusion in my mind that I should take part in as many projects outwith my own year at Perth college in order to gain as much experience as possible with playing with lots of different people as I could. It turned out that the musicians in the year below me were a drummer down and I volunteered to step in and help them out. I saw this as an opportunity to not only work with new people, but to repeat classes I had already completed in first year without the pressure of being evaluated, I felt that I would be able to gain other experiences that I wouldn't normally achieve in my own year group. Over the course of the past 6 weeks ive been working closely with a group of musicians helping them form a set list for their assessment gigs. After a couple of rehearsals with the group it soon became apparent that they needed a leadership role within the group as I noticed they had no sense of direction as to what they wanted to do for their gigs and couldn't agree on very much. I felt I could relate a lot to the groups situation due to my own personal experience so I began offering my advice to them which they seemed to really appreciate. So as well as filling in as their drummer, I became their sort of advisor and peace keeper. Also, working with the HNC's meant that I was able to put in a lot of creative input since the group wanted my help, I hadn't had the opportunity to do this before as I have always been in a band that has stronger personalities.After performing an assessment gig I learned that I am capable of a lot more musically than I originally thought. This gave me a confidence boost both emotionally and physically in terms of my playing. I also learned that if required, I could take the role as leader of a small group successfully which is a required skill when becoming a session musician.