DRUMMER CAFE - Community Forum

What do you think about - Practicing with the TV on?   :)
I don't think you can do All forms of practice with the TV on.
When you're working out something new, you need to give it your full attention.

But when you're reviewing stuff or simply just Playing, do you ever play with the TV on?
Do you see any value to it?

I do.  I think, when in review mode, you can help get autopilot going / muscle memory by doing some playing while watching something.

Think I'm crazy?

YOU are some kind of modern day freak!!, crazy! aint the word!, you are seriously sick!. April fools. I agree with everything you just said N.Y.

I do that all the time.  Watch TV (audio muted), play with headphones on to a CD...

I almost always have the tv on.

I do the treadmill while watching TV, but have never tried it while practicing.  My drum room has no TV, so the situation has never presented itself.  :)

I seldom watch TV alone (except sometimes very tired in a vegetative state) so banging something, even my thighs, when others are there is not exactly the best way make friends.  I think it's better to play/practice with something musical, if not the metronome than the radio, a loop or track, CD....  A music video would be good. 

I always take my sticks and a pad with me if I sit down to watch the news or a movie. My girlfriend doesn't mind unless it's something she is really excited about watching.

I think it would be difficult to have a real productive practice time while watching TV ... unless it's Drummer Cafe TV.  ;)

Your mind isn't really focused on what you are doing if you are playing on a pad while watching LOST. I think that you can spend time working the muscles and developing endurance, but if we are talking about a complete/thorough practice session where you are learning new things, listening to what you are doing, making corrections and noting how you are playing, watching TV at the same time just isn't the best way to go about it.

I've sat in front of the TV with a practice pad and just worked on my left hand. That was productive, but that was because of the goal that I had with the process ... which was simply to build strength and endurance by using the weaker limb.

I don't watch much TV to be honest. But when I practice, I'm very focused. I tend to make a lot better progress when I'm alone, doors closed, and not disturbed. This is the same when it comes to creativity time; I don't like to be disturbed or interrupted. What I can achieve in an hour of good practice would probably take me twice as long if I were distracted and not focused.

Personally I think people watch too much TV. So any time you can get away from it, the better off you'll be (in my opinion). Use your practice time to give 100% to the art of drumming. If you want to grab some extra time on the pad, building some endurance or strength, then maybe that would work while you are watching some TV. Perhaps just mute the commercials and get on the pad. We always mute the commercials in my home; always.

By no means should TV practice padding replace your normal practice routine, but I think it's a fine supplement. I have put a lot of good extra work into my sticking during those LOST episodes. Most everyone watches T.V. once in awhile, despite how ashamed we may be of it. Why not strengthen your finger technique or work your flams while you're doing it? Just don't neglect your normal, "closed-door" practice session.

Agreed. I think you explained it better than I did.  ;D

I've tried, but usually am stopped by a volley of complaints from family. Even when I find something quiet to tap on. Heck, once for even practicing stick twirling! (apparently it was casting some annoying shadows or something  :()

Super well put.

And, I Do think there is something to the notion of Reviewing things while doing something else.  [i.e. TV]  I really do think it can assist the mind in muscle memory.

When I was learning to pedal quickly and strongly on the bass, while moving among frets and strings, it was an Enormous help to sort of mindlessly log alot of that time while I was in front of the TV. 

Kill Your Television

When I practice drums it's in the basement, so I leave the dumb TV off. There's one there, but I could care less. When upstairs I'm using a pad and wife will have the tube on, so I just plain tune it out. Ignore it and the wife will put up with me. I trained her young, while I was in the Army band. There was a time when I had a set in the bedroom and a pad in the kitchen/livingroom. TV, no big deal....Just a part of life. When you play in a band you'll have to put up with loud patrons. May as well get used to it.  ;D

When I was really focusing on foot technique I bought a bass drum pedal pad and hauled it out to the living room and started running eighth notes while me and my girl were watching a DVD. She stopped that one quick  ;D Sticking is fine but the foot was a little much for her.

I'm with Bart, whenever you practice, no matter what you practice, part of what you are practicing is paying attention to being musical. When you split your attention , even for "routine" things, what you are also practicing is NOT being in the moment. You are basically practicing "zoning out" and, for me, the last thing I want to deal with on the stand is somebody who isn't listening anymore cause they're out in the ozone on automatic pilot.

Even with endurance stuff, really being in there and paying attention to your body, paying attention to execution and attack, consistency of approach, maintaining a relaxed and stress free physical approach - all of that doesn't happen if you're checking out the game or American Idol. There was a great line in one of the Robert Anton Wilson books - Never whistle while you're pissing. What it means is - don't divide your consciousness. Pay attention with your whole mind to whatever endeavor you're involved in. If you want to watch TV, watch TV. If you want to practice making music (and all the myriad disciplines and skill sets you need in order to have no impediment between the music in you and getting it out on your instrument), then practice making music.

As to muscle memory; your muscles don't have a brain that's separate from the one in your head. It's not so much muscle "memory" that you're working on as it is streamlining the pathways between intent and execution. And if you're throwing something else in the way of that (like Dancing with the Stars), well ya see where I'm going.

Oh and has everybody seen the spitzerface emoticon? You use it when you HAVE to apologize for something, even though you know that apologizing will do you absolutely no good and you'll still be just as hosed....
}:-[

That's hysterical.  Where is that?

Personnaly i can't do anything when T.V is on. Other persons can read with t.v on.When I play drums , is like reading something and i have to be concetrated to that, otherwise I am not gonna learn anything.

I believe that some technics can't be shown on tv, you have to practice with someone more experienced.

"I am the slime from the video, oozing across your living room floor...."  Any know where that came from???

When I practice in front of the TV with my pad and metronome, I've really begun to notice how many commercials have music in them.  It makes it hard to follow your metronome when there's another song playing!

Frank Zappa

lol!  Looks just like him!

I can't find the link now! Somebody sent me an e-mail, now it's gone....

...must...have...spitzerface...emoticon


Could not find it yesterday.  Somebody please post a link.

Ding, Ding, Ding.. The oversized stuffed bear goes to Mr. Lawless.  I don't remember how old I was when I first heard that line but I'll never forget. Everytime someone mentions TV as a negative influence, I have to bring it up. 

Definitely from an earlier life for me. I'll be by to pick up my stuffed bear with my zircon encrusted tweezers.

I practice something mechanical during commercials, with the sound muted.  Right now I'm practicing Moeller triplets with my left hand when a commercial comes one.

And if there's a good soundtrack I'll tap along with that.  Try watching "Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels" or "Snatch" that way.  I guess that's the drumming equivalent of doodling, though, it's not really "practicing".

What is it about this culture that we can't stand to focus on one thing? Music on in the background everywhere you go, TV in the background (even in freaking cabs up here , fer crying out loud). It's like everybody is deathly afraid of what might happen if there's a single moment of silence.

Anyway, there was a pretty interesting article some time back in the Times about runners who train with music. And how that had a subconscious effect on their performance, that they were not paying attention to their bodies signals about what reserves were left, where there was stress etc. and instead pacing themselves based on the tempoes and phrasing of the music to which they were listening.

I think any musician can benefit from the practice of mindfulness.Instead of mindlessness.

I practice on a pad in front of the TV too, but I don't try to learn anything new - and I only practice simple, basic things. It helps my playing without a doubt, but it certainly isn't a substitute for practicing on drums or pads, giving it your full attention.

Twiddling with drumsticks while watching TV?  That's just fine with me.
Doing a few exercises during commercials?  That's just good time management.
Having a TV on while I'm practing drums?  Forget it.

TV isn't something I try to focus on.  Drumming is.

IMHO, some of you have taken the discussion way too seriously.

There are Many kinds of practices, and frankly, many kinds of players.
Not all of us are working out to become the next highly sought studio musician
or call-for-tour player.   Many of us are at a much lower level of intensity.

And frankly, I don't know what some of you do during your Day jobs, but mine
happens to be, at times, very Intense and draining.  That means sometimes the best thing at the end of the day is some veg'ing in front of the TV.   It's not a sin.   :)    And, if while doing that, I can work my muscles a bit and keep my skills at least breaking even, and maybe even slightly increasing over time, then I have no guilt about playing and watching TV at the same time.

:)   So there.

And there's a wide range of ball player between the sandlot and Yankee stadium. It's generally only a problem when somebody wants Yankee stadium results but only wants to put in sandlot effort...

I don't think anyone is advocating replacing their focused practice time with a session in front of the tube.

I will respectfully disagree with the notion that exercising with your practice pad while you do something as mindless as watching T.V. would be in any way detrimental to your playing. We successfully split our attention during every activity we do. Should we ban listening to the radio while driving? Singing while taking a shower? Reading Faulkner on the throne? I think the human mind is quite capable of exercising accurate paradiddles and absorbing the complex character development of "Flavor of Love" at the same time.

OK

Well, say you're doing something on the practice pad while you're watching tv. But because you're slightly distracted, you're doing it slightly wrong in whatever way. Congrats, you just practiced and engrained into your mind, doing it wrong!

This is part of the reason experienced drummers always say to practice things at a speed that you can actually pull it off without making a mistake. Because you can very easily wind up practicing your mistakes.

Logically to me this would still apply to things we already "know how to do", ie, a paradiddle, but if you're not paying attention, you mightn't notice yourself playing it slightly off time, or with uneven dynamics, etc.

I do 'endurance' exercises on my practice pad while watching TV (mostly Rocket games) all the time. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Most of these 'exercises' are rudiments that I've been playing for 30+ years, so I don't think I'm going to learn them wrong.  :)

This is very important. Sure, one can work muscles out to gain a certain "tone" without attention. And it might even be true that you can do accurate paradiddles while watching the tube. BUT, is the goal just "accurate paradiddles" or even "accurate paradiddles while watching the tube"? Or is it something more, involving the creation and maintenance of a sort of attention which is of a completely different order than that which we usually give to everyday activities. If we learn to cultivate and pay the right sort of attention, we can increase our ability to learn, the speed at which we learn AND the ability to use what is learned at a later time.

An analogy: in the study of mnemonics, it's been shown that the more senses one can connect to the item trying to be remembered, the more likely the recall of the item will happen quickly and thoroughly. It seems that more neuropathways/synapses we use to experience an event/thing, the more likely it is that we can bring that thing back up later.

I believe the something similar applies to learning to play music. The more we put IN, the more we can get out. It pays to pay attention...

David Mamet, if you read his books on acting/theatre/film theory, has this idea I like very much: Concentration is like water, it will find its own level. Your attention naturally flows to the most interesting thing around you. "A man with toothache cannot fall in love." - Sigmund Freud

As a student of theatre and film, that just blew my mind. Now, when I notice I have a hard time focusing on something, I just let go and deal with what is capturing my attention before moving on to what I was trying to do before. It works better because you don't have to split your energies, and I'm not the best multitasker.

If you're trying to get something perfect on the practice pad in front of the TV, that's not going to work, because you now have two things that to you are of equal importance. If you have to catch this episode of Lost or Grey's Anatomy or American Idol, well, I'd put the practice pad away and make up for it some other time, you won't be paying attention to your hands anyway. On the other hand, if it's something tedious, rote and requires a lot of repetition - like building up strength, as Bart has mentioned, I don't see why not. It's going to be boring anyway.

I wonder.  I'm always criticized for being too mindful, for overthinking.

When I'm watching TV I like to do something over and over again, about a million times, at a relaxed tempo, precisely because I want it to be mindless or automatic. 

Mindfulness and overthinking are two different things. Maybe think aware or unaware.

omg. i just forwarded that spitzerface emoticon to all my friends. priceless!


regarding tv practice--well, about the only thing i can do while practicing drums is chew gum. i need to focus, even if it's just doing endurance or strength stuff. i used to do single strokes while watching cnn, and found that i wasn't getting much out of either pursuit. i agree that it's more productive to gain something by just staying focused on one task.

i am like that with the purely physical stuff, too. i noticed everyone at the gym is either glued to the tv or tethered to their ipods. i need to hear and feel and see myself running to feel like i've made some inroads. i like to connect to what the physical activity is. i like to be conscious of what my body is doing in space.

but if chillin' in front of the tube works for you and helps you decompress, that's cool.


oh and kohei--the tv in the cab thing. i literally gasped when i saw one.

What if i watch my shows on my iPod, where all my music is?  :P