Reflect

Here are the five things I thought were worth sharing this week: 

1. A few weeks ago I started reading Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman about eccentric Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist Richard Feynman. I'm just over halfway through and can already tell I'll be recommending it to anyone who will listen!
    
2. Attention musicians and concert goers, if you don't wear earplugs you might want to listen to/ read this and reconsider — "an unprotected human ear can spend 8 hours a day exposed to 85 decibels (freeway noise, crowded restaurant) without incurring damage. But if you go up to 115 decibels (chainsaw, loud rock concert) your safe exposure time is only half a minute before your hearing could be affected."
    
3. I'm trying to build more time for reflection, creativity and free-thinking into my day. Detaching from social media and the distractions calling out from our smartphones is hard, but the cost of not doing so is probably higher than you realise. It might be time Hit the Reset Button in Your Brain.
    
4. So far I've resisted the temptation to play Pokemon Go. The concept is great and I'd probably love it... but for now it's an unwelcome distraction. This video on how free mobile games are designed to make money is really worth watching.
    
5. This last week I've made a conscious effort to listen to more unfamiliar/ new music. I love Spotify's Related Artists feature for this. Recent discoveries include Ludovico Einaudi, Chihei Hatakeyama, GoGo Penguin and Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra.

That's all for this week. If you liked this, check out my previous Five Things posts or sign up to receive future posts straight to your inbox. Enjoy!

A small part of my collection of drum books

I recently bought Jost Nickel's Groove Book. It's a really great drum book that I'd not heard of before. And as I wanted to share this recommendation with you, I decided to compile a list of my other favourite drum books. 

So here are my top five. In no particular order.

1. Jost Nickel's Groove Book — Jost Nickel
   Full of great ideas for developing new grooves. I'll be using this one a lot in my own practice and teaching. I can't recommend it enough.
    
2. Stick Control For The Snare Drummer - George Lawrence Stone
   The classic. It's in pretty much every list of top drum books and for good reason. Useful for beginners through to advanced players, its application on the drum kit is endless.
    
3. The Language Of Drumming Book - Benny Greb
   Benny Greb is one of my favourite drummers and I use his book a lot in my teaching. An excellent book for beginner to intermediate drummers who are trying to up their game.
    
4. Odd Time Sticking - Gary Chaffee
   This book isn't going to be much use to a beginner, but for intermediate and advanced drummers it's a source of great ideas, especially when it comes to soloing. Gary Chaffee has a number of other books which are all equally good.
    
5. Future Sounds - David Garibaldi
   Another recommendation for more advanced players. Full of intricate linear grooves, with a focus on developing dynamics and control in groove playing.

I hope you find the recommendations useful. If you have any recommendations for me, let me know in the comments!

UPDATE: Since writing this post I've bought a lot more drum books so I've written a more comprehensive and updated list here.