Drummer Cafe Community Forum

This has been around before, but it's to encourage new drummers to learn to read.
    My teacher transcribed a Peter Erskine lick I've been trying to figure out, in addition to showing me how to play it.  Once I heard it, I could easily see how the written music worked out.  SO, hey, why not try it some more?
   I got a copy of John Riley's Bop Drumming book, and started doing some exercises.  Tough at first, but the same deal... I can hear and see it. 
    So now I've learned two new rhythms from Riley's book, and I can read through his interdependence exercises, too.
    So why am I telling this?  A lot of guys figure that reading isn't cool or that it's boring.  But I found that it's as important as being able to learn to read written words.  There's a hell of a lot to learn and remember, but if you've got the book, you don't have to try to carry it around it your head.  And learning stuff from the Riley book is helping ALL my playing... very fun!
   

Good for you Bill!!!!!!!!! Reading is so important to a full development on the drumkit, I am so thankfull that my first teacher many years ago forced me to learn as well. Keep at it man!!!!

Very cool, Bill! When you can see the notation in your head as you play, that's when you know you've crossed that line and you've really absorbed it. Ironically, I think the more you learn about reading music, the easier it is to play things by ear.

Thanks, guys... I'm actually pretty proud of it.  I too wish my first teacher had emphasized reading, and independence... but hey, that was then, this is now. I work on it a little bit every day.  A friend of mine, terrific jazz sax player, said his teacher told him if he spent twenty minutes a day working on reading, within six months he'd be able to sight read.  I think THAT's stretching it, but a little every day adds up.
    I also think it's generally improving my playing.  Trying to read new stuff, like the Bop book, has improved a lot of otherelements... while I'm working on something else. How cool is that??
   

Reading is what has kept me in paycheques playing music. I'm reading several 1-hour long musical review shows a week and often have to sight read shows the day of. I'm so glad my father (a drummer) made me take piano lessons before he would teach me drums so that I could get a foundation in reading, harmony, and melody. Reading has been one of the most indispensible musical techniques I've ever learned.

But, I've found that at times I've become overdependent and overfocussed on the visual element, relying too much on the chart and not "hearing" what's happening around me. It's very important that you get the idea out of the chart/book/page and try to absorb it into your mind and body as quickly as possible so that you can shift your attention to the SOUND you're making. The most important parts of any chart aren't usually in the ink. Usually, the ink is just a sketch - you have to turn it into music.

Jim Blackley, a great jazz teacher and author who I study with now and again, has instructions listed for the chapters in his books. For instance, it might say,

1) Play all exercises this way.

2) Play all exercises that way.

3) etc...

4) etc...

5)GET YOUR NOSE OUT OF THE BOOK!

The value of that instruction cannot be understated.

I've just started lessons with someone who has a computer monitor in front of the student kit.  The computer plays the music while the curser moves through the sheet music.  I have to read the music as it comes up and play in time with the drum track.

If I misread anything, or deviate even slightly from the beat, I'm immediately aware of it.  Without this arrangement, it's easy to kid myself that I'm doing great.

I'm hoping to have the same arrangement at home soon.

FWIW, sight reading for a horn player and sight reading for a drummer aren't always the same exercises. A horn player computes every note and at the highest levels, they are also great interpreters of the music. They probably know some history of the composer and what the goal of the composition is supposed to be.

For drummers, the likelihood of being asked to sit down and read drum notation is about 1 in 1,000. Maybe less likely. I've never seen it, but I admit my professional experience is severely limited. You're more likely to get either a horn or keyboard part. I've seen a few vocal parts in my lifetime, too. One time I get a single line/four bars of notation rhythm, and that was very helpful, but I know to never count on that kind of help.

The most important thing for a drummer to understand about those charts is navigation. Because you won't likely be allowed the opportunity to read note-for-note, it becomes more of a challenge to know where you are at: verse/chorus/bridge/coda, or something to that effect. Drummers need to know how to navigate those charts primarily for things like transition fills, specified "horn hits," and how he/she will be moving along the song (ride cymbal on the chorus, tom-tom beat on the outro, etc.). Or even more common, you get a piece of paper with the song structure (A/B/A/B/C, etc) and some handwritten notes on what they want from the drummer. In Nashville studios and pro gigs, they often hand out something that looks like this: "1///4///5///1///" with a key at the top, which you are supposed to understand "C///F///G///C///" and that's 16 bars; a brief discussion usually takes place directly before playing about what the rhythm section will be doing.

Learning to read drum notation is important to your education and ability to communicate. It will accelerate exponentially the time it takes to learn anything. Unfortunately, only drummers read/speak drum notation.

I disagree somewhat about the utility of being able to sightread well.  The last year or so I've started getting more and more calls to play in situations where there is music and little or no rehearsal.  My sightreading is not nearly where I'd like it to be, but is apparently good enough to get me through most of these gigs.

Most of the drum charts are fairly vague about what they want you to play, and leave a lot of room for interpretation of the groove, but sometimes the arranger has a definite idea of what he wants, and ability to decipher it quickly while playing is a definite plus.  Also, charts are not always written so as to be easily understood, so that the better you can read the faster you figure out what you have to do.

Playing in big bands has also inculcated the necessity of keeping your ears open while your eyes are on the music.  Otherwise you miss your opportunities to change your playing to better suit what's going on at the moment, and a lot of the accents and kicks are not going to be written in the music.  And if you're sightreading you need to listen to the band to know how the chart should feel.

Finally, while I like the idea mentioned above of the computerized music play along, to really become a good reader you have to get in the habit of looking ahead in the chart to see what's coming.  Otherwise you're going to be blindsided when you suddenly see "solo for 8 bars" or the notation for a complicated rhythm you're expected to play with the trumpets.  My band plays an arrangement that has a two beat rest for the whole band in the first measure of page three of my chart.  I'd be playing along (at around 180 bpm), get to the bottom of page two, jump up to the top of the next page, and wind up being the only one playing through the rest until I got smart and penciled in a warning to myself about four bars from the bottom of page two.

Absolutely.  That's the one big downside of the computer system.  Without a monstrous monitor, it's impossible to read ahead.  I wouldn't recommend that as the ONLY way to practice site reading, but it helps.

I have to ask, though, how can you guys site read music while playing the kit?  When I play woodwinds, the sheet music is right in front of me.  When I play a drum kit, I can't get the music that close.  So how do you cope with deciphering fly dropping from three feet away?

Also, every time I glance at my kit, I lose my place in the sheet music.  Do you guys learn to play your kit "blind", do you have amazing peripheral vision, or what?

I always have a stand above my hi-hat, and there's no way that's three feet away. Maybe 18 inches?

If you don't have to read note-for-note, it's pretty easy to crunch what you have into 8-bar, 16-bar, and 32-bar segments. In most cases, I compile before hand and then turn away to use my ears. If I have a melody in front of me, sometimes I'll sing the melody to myself to help me keep track.

It's not that difficult to "read" when the music looks like this: http://www.smartassmusic.com/assets/pianohand.gif

The trick is deciphering something like this for drums:
http://home.schule.at/member/gnagflow/partituren/hauptbild.jpg

My music stand sits next to my hi hat.  I can play time and most fills without looking at my drums.  As you do it you figure out how to keep your place, although I do still get lost sometimes, especially when just playing time for 64 bars where every measure is written out.  I hate those.

When I'm reading actual drum charts, I put my stand next to my hihat, but I look up at the band and/or bandleader frequently. When I'm just using cheat sheets, I usually tape them on the top of my bass drum.

The stand usually goes near the high-hat, always within reach so I can turn pages.  It's also positioned between me and the conductor so I can see the baton with peripheral vision when not looking directly at him/her.

I used to do this until I had a guitar tuner thrown at my head for glancing down at my BD one too many times. The guitarist thought I was bored and taking an indifferent stage presence (and not paying attention to him and his excellent band leadership). I was just looking to see how many times we repeated the chorus before hitting the bridge!

see bill read.
read, bill, read!

see bill play.
play, bill, play!

see bill walk off with 20 more paying gigs coz he can read better than the next drummer.
GO, BILL!!
 
;D

reading is fundamental, as they say. i am definitely getting better at it, though i struggled for a while coz i have a bit of symbol dyslexia. after a while, everything looks crazy to me. i take it in doses, and when i o.d., i just stop and pick it up again. i've found fatigue just magnifies dyslexia. another good trick is to cover portions of the page when it gets overwhelming. it's easier to progress when you compartmentalize information.

Woo-hoo! Thanks, Smoggrocks!

    I agree with what's said about charts in general. I did a stint with a local college/community big band, and I'd tape the songs at practices.  Then I'd make up my own charts A-A-B-A (then 4 bars trumpets)...etc.
  Saved my butt. SOOOO much easier than memorizing every song.
On the few songs that had "drum sheets", I ended up pencilling in the best hits, and  the A-A-B thing, and that  worked too.
    Still, with stuff like the Riley book, or trying to learn the "Elvin-isms" in Peter Erskine's books, the note for note reading is a great teacher.  And once I can play them easily, THEN I have to make it swing.

Ah... that's what I'm doing wrong.  From your description, I assume your music stand has a boom arm so the sheets are "above" the hi-hat.  Correct?  Are such stands readily available, or would I need to cobble one together from bits of hardware?

I use a regular Manhasset stand.  I just pull it close to the hats, raise it so the bottom lip of the music stand is over the hats, and then tilt it back as necessary.  No boom.  Although you could probably rig one up if it was really necessary.

No boom. I usually fit my stand in between the HH and 1st tom, assuming no one's laid any cables are anything that would tip the stand over. This is more complicated if you have more battery or a lot of cymbals to your left.

At one point in my life I saw a very cool clip stand that attached to the BD hoop and boomed upwards. Maybe I wouldn't do that to a wood hoop, but it would be a great thing to have otherwise. Anyone know of the manufacturer? Possibly custom made?

On the floor or on the rack just to the left of my hihat and roughly level with same.

(http://www.justaddsticks.com/drums/turq-04.jpg)

[Minor derail]

Nice set up Paul.  And being a turquoise kind of guy myself, I love the color.  Just wondering - what tunes do you do that call for the set of temple blocks?

[/Minor derail]

The big band's leader has written several arrangements that call for temple blocks and we were going to perform one of them that day.  I've also hauled chimes and gong to gigs over the last few years.  The blocks aren't a normal part of the set, but I keep them handy.

Here's (http://www.pecosriverbrass.com/band/Arirang3.mp3) a chart that used all three.

Bill,
I think this is great and I support anyone that tries to better them selves.  I play by ear and have been doing it for 36 years.  I am reluctant to start learning how to read drum sheet music now.  I do read music but have never applied it to drumming.  Maybe I could learn too
but in the applications that I am involved in, I have never found a need for it.  My band stuff is done all by listening and my Church praise band is different.  My music director has handed me sheet music before but I told him all I need is the lyrics and I will make what ever notation that is needed for me to know what and where I am doing what.  He has been playing along time and keeps telling me that I play with more feeling than anyone he has ever played with.
I would hate to see that complement change.  Good luck and I hope it all makes you better.
Just to let you all know, I do respect all of you formally trained drummers and maybe because of my lack of training I am missing something that I could be doing better.  What I am doing seems to be working very well.  My band just split up after 4 years and right now, I have no shortage of good musicians to play with.  It is more about what chemistery will work best.
 
                                               Nutty

I love this kit.  Very nice.
                            Nutty

Nutty, I suggest you are reading music, and since you aren't a slave to drum notation, you're probably better at doing it professionally than a lot of guys who grew up being spoon fed the stuff through the Weckl books and what not.

Nutty,

FWIW, it's not to late until your 6 ft under.  :)  I would recommend starting off with Mark Wessels book; you can check it out on vicfirth.com.  It's pretty basic and includes music for you to play along wiht.  I use it for my begining students before "moving up the ladder."

If your drumming pleases you and others, learning to read will broaden your horizons.

Chris (Rhythmist)

Thank you Gaddabout,
I guess that you are looking at it as the glass is half full.  I really do play with feeling more than anything else and since I sing too, I key my changes on the vocals.  I do depend on a music stand most of the time.  It has nothing but lyrics and my notations but I usually am the one driving the bus so it works out very well.

Thank You Chris C,
You are right, it is not to late.  I have really been giving it some thought.  I have a great drummer friend in Louisville that I really respect and some training from him might be good.
I have been compared to him and he really knows what he is doing, I guess, I don't.  When I am doing Open mic night with all of my friends that are active musicains in town, When they tell me,"man that was killer", I kind of blow it off like, "yea, 36 years and I still don't know what I am doing". The Guitar player from the house band heard me say that and he said "Yes you do too know what you are doing".  He also plays with a few other bands in town.
I am really not sure what I want to do training wise but I love playing and will keep on playing as long as my health let's me play.
                                         Nutty

Why would you assume that having no formal training would make one a better drummer?  Do you assume that everyone who's reading charts is a "slave to drum notation?"

I think we do most of our learning, especially as it relates to pop music and jazz, on the bandstand, and the best asset is often a good pair of ears.  That said, as a practical matter being able to read music can be a big boost to a musical career, and is an incomparable aid in communicating with other musicians.

I'm really dismayed sometimes by the implied lack of respect for musical education expressed here by the self taught, as if some musical tools are not only unnecessary but a hindrance.  Just because you've done well without formal training doesn't mean you wouldn't have done better with it.

Wow Paul,
I would have to agree with both of you. In defence of Gaddabout, he just said "A lot of guy's", he didn't say all formally trained drummers.  I think that a formally trained drummer can feel it just as well as a person that claims to be self taught.  I would say that your all's formal training defenitly gives
you all the edge when it comes to playing for the, Example. Detroit Symphony.  I think that after all these years, I am missing somethings that could keep me from  getting involved in some formal
venture.  I do read music and I have had much formal music training.  Just not with Drums.  I think that the more education, in most cases, the better. I really do wish now that I had gotten involved in
some formal training at the age of 9, when I started.  I am sure that I would have progressed much faster and I would be a completely different style drummer than I am now.  I think that you guy's ROCK and I respect you.  Anything I say about my personnal experiences are not ever ment to offend anyone and I think that Gaddabout was just trying to pay me a complement.   If I was giving advice to my children about this subject, I would tell them that they should learn the right way with formal training. Not that they would listen, but because I really care about them, and from me learning the hard way, that is what I really believe. I have learned much from you formally trained guy's and gal's
on this web site.  This is why I am here.
                                                          Nutty

I don't assume anything about a drummer without formal training, but Nutty has musical training. By that, I mean he can look at the chart and navigate and possibly sing the line, which is something a drummer who grows up studying only drum charts won't be able to do. So, yes, I think someone who has musical training in an area other than drums has an advantage over drummers with little or no experience elsewhere when it comes to reading charts.

If your'e successfully reading and interpreting a professional chart, you're no slave to drum notation. However, I do think there are many, many kids today with unlimited resources to drum books who think they're being prepped for a professional gig. They're being deceived.

FWIW, I doubt there's a bigger proponent of a formal education for any kind of professional endeavor than me. I am quickly irritated with fellow musicians who don't know a dotted eigth-note from spotted owl. But I'm working on my patience. ;)


I am in 100 percent agreement with this statement.


In another thread, I mentioned the same thing. I don't think there's any shame in being self-taught -- some people live in places with no real resources, some people grow up in abject poverty, and in fact there are no shortage of stories about great drummers who taught themselves. On the other hand, there is absolutely no honor in being proud about being self-taught. Clearly, any musician is better off understanding the language of music than not.

I enthusiastically concur.  Every tool we put in the box helps at some point.

Turned out to be an interesting topic!  I learned to play be ear, and for a stint with the big band, I made A-A-B-A kinds of charts, and that allowed it to breathe musically.  I had "drum charts" for some songs, but they were pretty lame; nevertheless, they helped navigate the song.
     Here' something that's been happenin' lately, and I want to add it.  I'm an aspiring jazz drummer.  There are a lot of skills I need, but one near the top is independence.  I've used Chapin's book, and didn't like it.  BUT, these days I'm using John Riley's "Bop Drumming" book.  He has about six pages of 'comping examples,' involving snare and bass figures, while keep the ride and hi hat going. 
   I love working with these, because it's a helluvan independence workout, AND it breaks some new sounds into my brain -- things I wouldn't do otherwise, but work themselves into playing.
    Here's the deal:  I have to READ John's examples. It isn't complex, but the ability to read and count sure help.  And I couldn't have done it a year ago, so... it's a nice tool  Of course, reading in and of itself doesn't make you swing!

I agree, the more skills the better.

I got a gig this weekend with a cover band I've never worked with before, they sent me a set list. We won't rehearse beforehand so I will have to read charts for the form and basic grooves. Without that skill, they'd have called someone else. On some gigs, I play by ear too, but I definitely am glad I have the option of reading when charts are available. If I have to learn a bunch of songs fast, I can chart them which is infinitely easier than memorizing them.

Come to think of it, the only drummers I've ever heard argue against reading, don't read well.

Hi PolyOstinato,
I agree with you as long as you can find all the charts.  If you are talking about cover tunes then all I need is a week to practice and a song list.  If I am singing most of it I will need more time.  Either way, It will take both of us some practice & time. If I print out the lyrics and make notations on each song, it is the same to me as having sheet music.  I am not trying to argue about this.  You by far have the advantage but there is always more than one way to skin a cat.
                               Nutty

Nutty -

I think you might have misunderstood Poly a bit - when he referred to "I can chart them", I think he meant quickly write out charts himself, rather than needing to find existing charts for each of the songs.

And while you're right about there being multiple ways of skinning a cat, in that the end results are likely to be identical. And every method requires some degree of practice and/or time spent. The differences in methods lie entirely in the amount time/practice required for the same end result. With putting on a tape and purely memorizing generally taking the longest and writing out (usually short-hand) charts taking the shortest. It sounds like you make use of a modified shorthand notation system yourself - one that relies more on lyrics than I would choose, but whatever works.

Besides the amount time spent preparing, there is also another issue many of us deal with, namely having to juggle multiple projects at once. I might have to prepare Thursday night for the new show I'm playing on Saturday, because I'm also rehearsing and playing a different show on Friday and playing a wedding with yet a different band Saturday afternoon. So whatever notation/learning method I use for Saturday nights show can't require that I keep it all in my head from Thursday to Saturday night. So charts that I can actually read with little recollection required is often a necessity.

Finally - a bit about fear of notation or learning to read notation. You expressed this a bit and it is something I hear a lot (and at times thoughout this thread).

Reading notation just gives you information about the music you're already hearing or are about to hear - on drum parts, suggestions of what to play; on lead sheets/piano parts. information on what the other instruments are about to play.  There is nothing about having this added information that is going to cancel or otherwise remove any of the things you already know how to do as a player. It sounds like you listen. play for the music, groove, and generally make the music work for the other players/singers - all good musical skills.  Knowing how to read notation wouldn't teach you to able to do any of those things - at most, it will only help you to do those things easier, in a more musically informed manner, and with less preperation.

As to earlier comments on the thread - regarding comparing players who can't read that play great vs. those that can read but can't groove, play musical, etc .... apple and oranges.  These are bogus comparisons.  As I wrote above, reading won't help you play in time, groove, understand styles, play with taste, play with fire, etc. Learning to do those things are seperate issues, seperate skills. Skills that all have to be in place to be a functional drummer - with reading not at all being one of the most important ones or at all the more difficult to learn.

That said - conversely, the otherwise skillful, grooving, rocking, musical drummer that can't read is not, and will not be, as effective as they could be if they did...period.  They are wasting time in their preperation, short changing their job opportunities and otherwise wasting precious time being inefficient.  Life's too short - and it is WAY too hard to learn to play REALLY well to skip over something as simple to aquire and as useful to have as the abilty to read.

Really finally - I don't agree that the bandstand is the place to learn the bulk of what we know about playing - particularly pop/jazz music.  The bandstand is there to gain experience and polish your skills, not waste your's and other's time learning about music and the basic playing of it.

Which means IMO the practice room is for a lot more than book learning and exercises. Every drummer's practice room should have, besides a pad, a drumset, music stand and books, the largest collection of recorded music the student can get his or her hands on - and headphones appropriate for hearing both the recorded music and their playing at the same time.  For all of my support of written notation, this is still an aural enterprise.  Notation can suggest, help you remember and even help explain some things; but the details are all in the listening and hearing.

The practice room is for working on the all of music - not just the technical.  Everything musical you can do in that room, you should - so that when playing with real players in an ensemble, you can focus primarily on that; the experience of taking all that work and exploration in the practice room and apply to a real musical situation.

David

GREAT post, David!

Mr. A and David,
I agree.  This was the best post on this subject that I have read on the DC.  David explains it very well.  I think that Polyostenoto may be doing the same thing as me and just talking another language that I wasn't clear about.  David however, sounds like he has been in my music room.  I never play out with out a music stand with my lyrics and notation. I have a 1650 watt 24 channel PA system with music from everyone I can think of. My home work and hard work has been the key to my bands doing well.  I always know the song stucture better than my band members because it is important for me to get it right. I do also include in my notation where the Bridge is or the Lead X 2 is or the change is.  Thank you David for this perfect responce to what has been said by me and others on this thread.  I Agree with all of it.
                                              Nutty

I'll add in -- it is a great reply and articulates many sides well. 
   ANother two cents that I have, about working from the "Bop Drumming" book with it's pages of fills, comping, solos, etc.  When it comes to practice, it's the Trifecta:  I work on reading and independence, AND learn some new licks.  A great way to spend time developing skills!

Hi Bill,
I think that I have gotten to the point where I am telling people that I would tell my kids to get formal training and I have none.  If I learn how to do the right thing then I can push my son to learning it the right way.   I can help him read and practice music but drum wise, all I can do is teach him what I do and how to play by feel. I am talking to Bart right now about doing some of his Video Lessons. We shall see?  Couldn't hurt me, all I can do is keep playing like I do, or get better?
                                      Nutty

Great thread and excellent comments.  I would emphasize the "need to read" to any young (or not so young) drummer that doesn't have that skill.  My formal music education ended in highschool when the demands of the music director clashed headon with that of my athletic coaches.  But at the time, I could sight-read a big band chart with the best of them.  That level of skill has since corroded badly, but for me, now playing in a bar band, that skill is being put to use.  Not by reading others charts, but by being able to write my own to music that the band wants to play that I have never heard before.  The ability to sit down with a sheet of staffs, and back engineer a beat from someones MP3 has proven to be a valuable tool for learning new material more quickly than if I had just tried to sit down at my kit and spend alot of wasted time trying to learn inherently difficult passages.  In my opinion, an hour spent listening and charting the tough parts = a great savings in time , energy and frustration (especially amoungst my bandmates) in learning new material.  So, learn how to read...you'll learn how to write and make learning more difficult material much much easier.  one mans opinion...Bob

Hello gentlemen!
I hope that I am welcome on your terrific site! Do you accept foreigners .. as I live in Holland? You sure have a tremendous forum. All subjects are of interest and I will spend a lot of time reading about them.

May I say something about reading music? I started reading music with a teacher about 40 (!) years ago. Do not ask about my age, I am probably the oldest guy on the forum.  A couple of years I have worked as free lance drummer but the nightly hours and the early rising the next day proved to be too commanding.  Moreover, not having the opportunity at home to exercise on the drumset and full time occupied with a job and kids, I lost interest in drumming. So, I dropped the music. By music I mean what was ordinarily played during parties, celebrations and the like (foxtrots, waltzes, latin) being the "paying" part and jazz whenever there was time and opportunity for it, being the "rewarding" part.

Quite recently i found out that "V-drumming" is (although not everybody's opinion!) a valuable surrogate for the real stuff. So I bought myself a Roland and am quite happy with it.

I had a look at the old study books. Rich, Chaplin, Colins, Abrahams, Page, etc. Compared to modern books I can only say that the stuff has hardly changed. However, exercises that I have played currently a long time ago nowadays proved to be very tough. Coordination and stickcontrol had gone down the drain.

But, fortunately, - and this is the point I would like to stress - the art of reading music proved to be, like swimming, bicycling, etc., something one acquires for life! Very quickly music reading is becoming quite comfortable again and with that, coordination and stickcontrol are rapidly improving. I found out that what your 4 limbs have learned but your brain has forgotten, will quickly restore itself.
Therefore, I will underscribe the advice of all the forummembers to young drummers: Start reading music. And do not forget: slower is better!
Speed will come with reading experience and stickcontrol.
When playing exercises from the drum books remember that a 16th note is a 16th note and should be played as such. But, when you can play the excercise with just a glance at the book, hit the cymbals, set yourself for a swinging tune and swing the notes on your snare, toms and bassdrum.
Many exercises, however dull they may be when studying them, with experience and technique can be turned out into swinging rhytmes. Believe me! mastering music reading is something that will stay with you for your whole life.

I apologise for my poor command of the english language!

Hi Ricton welcome to board and congradulations on getting back to drumming, nice kit that you own by the way, I always liked the Rolands.

Hi Riton Ancien,
There are drummers from all over the world on here. I think that I am not alone by thinking this is the best forum for drummers.  Welcome to The Drummer Cafe.
                                        Nutty

Welcome, Riton.  No need to apologize for your English.  It's better than that of some of our native speakers.

As for being the oldest on the board, I suspect you're not even close.  I've been playing drums for almost 50 years, drumset for 43, and will turn 59 in September.

Lots of us old farts on here.