When listening to music as a kid, I’d hum a different part of the song each time it was replayed. For instance, if the soundtrack from Rocky 4 came on, I’d hum the violin part on one play through, and then the electric guitar on the next. Without realizing it, I was practicing aural skills by listening for and identifying different instruments. It even got to the point where I even began humming echos or sound delays from vocals that I could hear. Purposefully training your ear to hear multiple instruments at once, or listening deeply to identify one instrument in a sea of sound, is extremely useful and necessary when performing with a group.
As a percussionist, I constantly find myself in a major role in regards to tempo: maintaining it, establishing it, guiding it to be slower or quicker. In one piece last season, my part was 90% repeated quarter notes while the orchestra had several type of offbeats. I had one job: MAINTAIN THE TEMPO. Pretty simple right? Well, yes but I couldn’t just play every note exactly the same. As a new section enters, I need to pay attention to how they are reacting to my downbeat. Are they directly with me, are they slightly behind, are they slightly ahead? Based on that, I have a decision to make: adjust to compensate, or stay where I am. If I have to adjust then I have to decide, by how much or how aggressively? I can’t just go on autopilot or take the tempo or groove for granted.
It’s definitely a skill that can be developed, and I feel that listening to different examples of this type of flexibility is essential to learning and becoming familiar with it. I often would try to sing along or even clap the tempo of the pieces I was listening, and really paid attention to whether or not the time was shifting. I’d listen over and over to a section that did shift in one way or another, and really tried to pinpoint by how much it changed and WHY it changed. Now, when a similar situation comes up when I play in any group, I know how to approach it. Even if that exact situation is something I’ve never been exposed to, knowing the variables as to who I need to listen to or support tells me enough to make a decision.
We as time keepers have an important job, that often is unnoticed, and for the most part, it should be. I’ve pumped the brakes on an orchestra so the strings could play a hard lick, and then brought the tempo back up, but I did it so nuanced, no one probably noticed…well except for the other drummer. It’s something we have to get comfortable and confident doing, because when the situation comes up, we sometimes are the only ones who can be helpful in a meaningful or audible way. It makes the entire group sound better and really strengthens your overall musicianship and sensitivity to the ensemble and musical moments in general.