I. You know the piece very well, but you do not know what you want to do with it!

Most students who are not at an advanced level usually feel that their problem is in their technique. They are so worried, thinking about the possibility of never achieving great technique. As long as you keep practicing consistently in the right way, you will get those techniques in time. I have been there as well. You just need to be patient.

However, my real concern is for advanced students. They say, “I know the piece very well, but I don’t know what I want to do with it.” At first, I didn’t understand what they meant. Then I was surprised to find that this kind of struggle is so common among advanced students. They do not know what to do after learning the notes!

As my dear teacher, Gordon Stout, says, “Always music first, then technique.” The point of this is that you feel the lack of technique because you cannot hear what you want to hear when you play. Technique is very important, but when it becomes your primary concern, it is dangerous. The ultimate danger is that everyone may end up playing the piece alike just like a computer, trying to play the right notes and nothing else.

If you feel that this is your problem, please go back to your main goal. Instruments are a means of expression and feelings for musicians. There are so many feelings that we want to express to the entire world, and music is our global language. We want to share what we have inside. That is why music has been essential to human life.

II. Is the way you perform this music from your own original ideas?

If you are not sure how to answer this question, then you are in big trouble in the long run. More or less, you are unconsciously mimicking what sounds familiar in your brain. It may be from the recording you listened to, or it may be the way your teacher or your favorite artist played the piece. It is always nice to be open to other people’s suggestions, but it is for you to decide, not to do everything that is said. You know a piece is yours only when the interpretation is your own.

Relatively speaking, there are many recordings available nowadays. Most students study their music along with these recordings. It is a great thing that we have sources to get an idea of how pieces sound before we begin learning them. However, if you do not feel anything for the music after learning it, then you have no message to relay to your audience. It means you have left out the most important part of your practice. You should be creating your own music from that piece.

Our common goal is to reach audiences through music. There is never only one right way to play a given piece of music. It always depends on the performer to give it character, and we are lucky to be the ones who decide what to do with the notes on the page. It is very important that the piece sounds like you.

Sometimes, we hear the same piece interpreted entirely differently by different performers, but that is what makes music so interesting and fun. Many well-known players say that their uniqueness in playing music comes from their life outside of music. If you have nothing to say, the music will not come, and you will not hear what you want to hear. All music will sound the same.

It is amazing how advanced percussionist techniques have become. It seems that there are so many good percussionists everywhere, waiting for their time to shine. As a dreamer, I really hope that each percussionist will keep creating their own style and express themselves in ways that will appeal to the world. If so, maybe there will be a great demand for percussionists (just as there is now for pianists) in the near future.