Are you a Perfectionist?

[Drumbledore]

I found this little quote helps me in my (im)perfectionist ways.

"In everything, no matter what it may be, uniformity is undesirable. Leaving something incomplete makes it interesting, and gives one the feeling that there is room for growth."

Yoshida Kenko, Essays In Idleness

In personal practice I do work on perfecting things....strokes, rhythms, tempos.....how well I can lay it with the click and so forth, and I strive to show a good example to students. But you can drive yourself to distraction with it, which in turn makes you stress out and then you'll be repeating that same mistake or worse. Just take a deep breath, relax and Zen out. As far as my kit goes.....well, I don't get too perfectionist with it, but I do make sure it's ergonomic, functional and somewhat ordered. Then again I've set it up in a variety of ways and packed it away so often that I can do it in my sleep, lol. But I used to have a little textbook of diagrams that I'd have of different set ups that I experimented with over time.....it's all pretty much committed to memory nowadays. And yes, I still experiment with set ups, because really, I listen to the music first and then I think of what I need to put into the set up.

In life outside of drumming, I think that sometimes you have to have some sense of order, but at times be ready for unexpected twists and surprises. If you're too much of a perfectionist, you wouldn't really too adaptable to quick changes...you would only have your vision as to what is right and what isn't. I like to say that I'm pretty much focussed on what I do, but at the same time, if there's a change of events, a lot of the time I'm fine with adjusting to it...to have a contingency plan or direction, so to speak. But then again, I'm pretty much a people person and a "centred", level headed sort, very rarely if at all I get phased by turns of events.

[TPO]

I'm still learning the basics, so perfection is some distance away yet. However, when I'm learning songs to cover, I have to get them right. It really bugs me when I'm missing out a bit of a fill or even just a single hit here are there.

The upside of this is that it pushes me to learn new things and expand my abbility. The downside is that when I realise that a particular part is a long way beyond my current abbility (e.g. the chorus in Sweet Emotion which I was trying to learn recently), I tend to give up and go to something else rather than accept a simpler version to play.

Sometimes I do accept a compromise though. The first song I learnt was Gimmie all your Lovin' and there are two snare hits in there that I still can't get and I have to play on the beat rather than between as Frank does. Not often though. I'm doing the same with that chorus in Sweet Emotion, playing the kick with the ride groove rather than opposed to it. This works, but sounds wrong, and bugs me every time I play it. :/

[LudwigLifer]

No.More of a particularist.

[Drumbledore]

No.More of a particularist.

Ha! That's a good one!

[pastor_bob]

No.More of a particularist.

I'll have to remember that one!

[Squeakthedrummer]

As far as my setup and practicing goes: yes! I'm extremely particular when it comes to setting up my drums and cymbals (lucky for me, my kit came with memory locks ). As for practice, I don't like making mistakes (even though I know everyone does). On the one hand, I'm driven to work hard until I get it right. On the other hand, I can (and do!) get frustrated very easily.

[Ketchup is a Vegetable]

Not per se. I aim for perfection, but all I get is better.

[AndyC]

Not per se. I aim for perfection, but all I get is better.

Brilliant Quote!

Andy

[AndyC]

Mmmmmm must admit I'm confused by some of the answers on here. Maybe I'm misunderstanding.

I cannot for the life of me think why having toms or cymbals at exactly the same height and angle should ever be desirable. They certainly should be the CORRECT height and angle. By that, I mean the best compromise between not having to reach too far, having them at the best angles for rebound and sound creation, general comfort and playability. If this results in them being the same height and angle, this should be a coincidence.

er, IMHO opinion of course.

Andy