It would not be called fundamental if it were not believed to be always true. A condition is fundamental because it is basic, a premise, understood to be the case, always. Like supply and demand. Like how to read. Like simple mathematics. Like trust. All are fundamental. Until there is a major paradigm shift, or the sun starts rising in the west, the fundamentals are always required.
I believe I barely qualify in calling myself a musician. In fact, I’m a drummer. A drummer is to musician as a kicker is to football player. No respect. But I am a musician nonetheless.
As a drummer, and as a musician, there are certain fundamentals to be respected. You have to stay on the beat. You have to respect the dynamics of the song. You have to please the listener.
I occasionally play in a duet with an acoustic guitar player on Fridays nights at a small bar and restaurant in St. Louis county. On a recent Friday night, during a break, I got into an interesting discussion with the guitar player about the fundamentals of musicianship.
He was complementing me on both my fundamentals and my musicality. I was playing within myself and I was pleased that he noticed. I took this as an opportunity to explain my philosophy of drumming. I told him that I believed that it all starts with the fundamentals: I have to fit in with the music, I have to maintain a steady beat and I have to be a pleasing performer. That is my fundamental job as a drummer. I could be flashy, I sometimes am flashy, but I feel that I first have to earn it. If I am playing, doing my job, sticking with the fundamentals, then I may sometimes earn the right to take some liberties. By liberties, I mean an interesting, different, creative and yes, sometimes flashy, fill. I may not have the best skills, the fastest hands or the fanciest equipment, but if I am getting the job done, and can continue to get the job done by respecting the fundamentals, then I can sometimes show off a little. Be creative. Do something to make the audience swoon. Have a drum solo. But I can only do this if I continue to remember the fundamentals.
By contrast, a drum machine is steady. A drum machine is programmed to stick with certain fundamentals. Some drummers are not as good as a drum machine. Some are better. But the bad drummers fail the fundamentals, no matter how fast and flashy they play. So what can make me preferable to a drum machine? Because I am human. I can do more than a drum machine. I can be creative. But it only works if I never forget the fundamentals. Otherwise, just go with the drum machine.
Why should anyone care about the philosophy of drumming, or guitar playing (the guitar player completely agreed with me)?
Because what is true for music is true for internet stocks, the housing market and the supply and demand for tulips. It’s fine, and beautifully human, to take some liberties with the regulations and the financial structures that frame those markets. It's great to make the people swoon. It's great to take liberties and be fast and flashy. But it only works if the fundamentals are respected. When they are not respected, the fundamentals don’t go away. Rather, they come crashing back into our reality and people get hurt. It’s not nice to mess with the fundamentals.
I believe I barely qualify in calling myself a musician. In fact, I’m a drummer. A drummer is to musician as a kicker is to football player. No respect. But I am a musician nonetheless.
As a drummer, and as a musician, there are certain fundamentals to be respected. You have to stay on the beat. You have to respect the dynamics of the song. You have to please the listener.
I occasionally play in a duet with an acoustic guitar player on Fridays nights at a small bar and restaurant in St. Louis county. On a recent Friday night, during a break, I got into an interesting discussion with the guitar player about the fundamentals of musicianship.
He was complementing me on both my fundamentals and my musicality. I was playing within myself and I was pleased that he noticed. I took this as an opportunity to explain my philosophy of drumming. I told him that I believed that it all starts with the fundamentals: I have to fit in with the music, I have to maintain a steady beat and I have to be a pleasing performer. That is my fundamental job as a drummer. I could be flashy, I sometimes am flashy, but I feel that I first have to earn it. If I am playing, doing my job, sticking with the fundamentals, then I may sometimes earn the right to take some liberties. By liberties, I mean an interesting, different, creative and yes, sometimes flashy, fill. I may not have the best skills, the fastest hands or the fanciest equipment, but if I am getting the job done, and can continue to get the job done by respecting the fundamentals, then I can sometimes show off a little. Be creative. Do something to make the audience swoon. Have a drum solo. But I can only do this if I continue to remember the fundamentals.
By contrast, a drum machine is steady. A drum machine is programmed to stick with certain fundamentals. Some drummers are not as good as a drum machine. Some are better. But the bad drummers fail the fundamentals, no matter how fast and flashy they play. So what can make me preferable to a drum machine? Because I am human. I can do more than a drum machine. I can be creative. But it only works if I never forget the fundamentals. Otherwise, just go with the drum machine.
Why should anyone care about the philosophy of drumming, or guitar playing (the guitar player completely agreed with me)?
Because what is true for music is true for internet stocks, the housing market and the supply and demand for tulips. It’s fine, and beautifully human, to take some liberties with the regulations and the financial structures that frame those markets. It's great to make the people swoon. It's great to take liberties and be fast and flashy. But it only works if the fundamentals are respected. When they are not respected, the fundamentals don’t go away. Rather, they come crashing back into our reality and people get hurt. It’s not nice to mess with the fundamentals.
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