Continuing my forays into video, I dipped a couple of toes into the wonderful world of streaming yesterday, on the YouTube and Twitch platforms. I’ll do another one today.
I’m really figuring out what this product even will be, for me— starting out just streaming some practicing, with a little commentary, and not worrying about who the hell would want to watch it. The mundaneness of it makes it a good entry into making videos— there’s no pressure to make a presentation, and it can develop organically, which is how I do things. As I learn the possibilities, and gain more confidence that I can do it without making a horse’s ass* of myself, it will grow.
* – Or not. You can’t hide out from people knowing you’re a horse’s ass forever. It’s a reality of this business that people may find out what a horse’s ass you are, and the only thing you could do about it is to do nothing.
So, I briefly played on YouTube, whipping through the paradiddle diddle page from the other day. I think it’s time to replace my 15 year old web cam— it looks and sounds not-great:
Twitch is a different scene— mostly people playing video games, and DJs, a lot of vapid stuff. The few music things are light weight. So either it’s a plum ripe for the picking, or it’s totally the wrong venue for what I’m doing and this is dumb.
I used my iPhone with a lavalier mic, and it fared better on all accounts. I just hit the practice pad for about an hour, playing through the first third of vol. 2 of Gary Chaffee’s Patterns series— the stickings book. I talk a little bit about how annoying I find it.
As I play through there are parts that are difficult that I point out, and where I make mistakes— with all the video making going on there’s substantial pretense about people’s abilities, that we’ll have to address directly. Part of the point of it is to be transparent about mistakes, the difficulty of things, and limitations.
ANYWAY: If you want to do me a favor, you can sign up for Twitch and become a follower, and follow me on YouTube as well. Just having followers helps, I don’t expect my regular readers to be watching a lot of videos.
I am happy to help you with any of the materials on the site, and with anything else drumming related— contact me for private lessons, online world wide, or in person in Portland, Oregon. All levels of players, and all people, are welcome.
Email Todd | Call or text +1(503)380-9259 | Chat on WhatsApp