Remember when I asked if anyone female or female identifying wanted to tell me why they started to play music and stuff? Well I did that like a long time ago. It was in response to only ever being asked about how much it sucks to be constantly subjected to sexism as a woman in a band. Which...it does. But talking about the music we make would be nice sometimes too. So here are 2 responses. I'm going to try and do a few a day. Read and enjoy.
CATHERINE TUNG. Hilly Eye and Antibodies
hi miranda! i'm responding to your post about female musicians--i thought i'd send in my experiences and hope they will be helpful to you.
i grew up on violin and voice lessons and classical music, and got interested in punk/rock when i was in high school. i played in a nascent band with a friend during those years, but it was largely confined to jamming in basements and garages--it was more about reveling in hanging out with like-minded people than building a serious music project. teenage projects are often that way, and i think they often should be that way! still, there was a bit of a disconnect in my mind: i was constantly going to shows, but never truly thought that i could be on the stage, rather than in front of it.
when i moved to new york after college, two things happened: first, i went to a halloween cover band show at the forts and saw a friend playing drums in a misfits cover band. he's primarily a bassist/guitarist, and had learned basic drums in two months for the cover show. i remember thinking something along the lines of, "if he can do it, i can do it." so i started learning drums.
the second thing that happened was that amy klein got in touch with me about lending my budding drumming skills to her new project, which turned into hilly eye. sleater-kinney and janet weiss were big influences for us.
i like drumming because it allows me to orchestrate things behind the scenes smile emoticon playing guitar at the front of the stage would be a bit too scary for me, i think.
hope this helps (and that it's not too long!). thanks for posting, and good luck with your piece!
Faith Layla Bocian
Hi Miranda, Sue's friend here. I started playing flute in orchestra when I was 7 and have picked up bass and guitar in the past and finally landed at drums when I was 15. This month exactly marks 10 years since I started playing drums. I picked it up when my neighbor gave me his old westbury Japanese knockoff kit and I played literally 6 hours a day. I was very antisocial, depressed and angry at that time. I had problems with throwing things around the house and verbal arguments with my twin brother who bullied me in my young life. I noticed later on that the drums were therapy because I haven't thrown anything since. To this day, I still use drumming as therapy and I feel the need to play when I start to feel the aggression again. It's also my passion and because I love it so much, I started studying other styles like Latin, jazz and funk, but I started out as a punk drummer, then hardcore, then pop/indie rock and now I'm in a metal band. I also studied under numerous drummers and taught myself how to read notation. And now I'm a drum teacher at school of rock baltimore, where I get to inspire the next generation of lady and guy drummers!! I will say, it definitely does not feel like work! I found something that I truly love. Hope this helps!(Yeah right now I play with my friend James Healy in a project called Boys Don't Cry. We just recorded our first EP and we're writing our first full length now. My dream drum set up would be 22, 12, 16 custom DW kit, 14 supraphonic snare(which I own already, love it) and all meinl cymbals. Haven't picked out the sizes on those yet.)
No comments:
Post a Comment