Drummers, man. Why can’t you guys sing? The answer may be obvious to you but not to the rest of the band.
Drummers need to learn to sing to become better and holistic musicians. Learning another instrument’s perspective is going to allow you to not only become at that instrument but also how to best support your drumming through it.
And therein lies our first challenge. A challenge to see if you’re capable to understand and willing to learn music from a different perspective and becoming less rigid than before. It’s not easy and my job here is to make it easier by giving you all the benefits first. So, let’s begin.
It Can Get One-Sided Pretty Fast
Drummers go all their lives getting educated in how to master rhythm. Well, that makes sense right? They’re drummers. They’re the masters of rhythm. It makes super sense. But, because of this reason, it becomes one-sided really fast as well.
What I am trying to say is this. Expecting to get holistically better in music isn’t aided by just doing rhythm. Drummers don’t get enough education on how melody and harmony and other things work.
Drummers get really good at timbre differentiation as well. Which snare sounds better? Which tom sounds just right? The bass drum seems hollow. You know what I’m talking about.
But, not being able to tell what the melody is, even though not exactly, is still important. It allows drummers to ‘understand’ music better. The best part is that melody is made up of two things. Rhythm (when notes are played) in time and notes (what is being played).
You have one piece of the puzzle already solved and my question is, why not allow yourself to know and understand singing? It’s not an isolated skill either. It can and will open up other avenues within practicing music that might surprise you.
What Learning to Sing Can Do For You
Here’s the kicker, learning to sing will make you better at production, and composing and allow you to be a better participant in other scenarios whether it’s in a recording booth or a practice session.
Better Producer
It also allows you to become a better producer. If you have ever had a knack for knowing how to produce, then you 100% need to know what good singing and what a good melody in its harmonic context is.
Production is also one of the safest jobs for a musician. Technically speaking. If you’ve ever thought of venturing into it then learning how to sing is only going to aid it.
You can reverse it as well, if you’ve ever wanted to learn to sing as a drummer then learning it is going to help you in many other things. It’s going to improve your ear to listen for nuances of melody and in return better equip you to become a better musician and if you dare to go into it, a better producer.
Better Composer
Composing is the cornerstone of learning music.
If you’re a veteran musician then you know that everything other than the singer/melody player is there to support it. The singer is the main attraction unless it’s a solo but they’re not the point.
To be able to do the job of supporting effectively is what everyone who is NOT a singer learns. But, that’s precisely the issue as well. Every other instrumentalist doesn’t fully grasp the idea of melody and much less of how it’s actually composed.
Learning how to sing aids that. It’s that one thing I know for a fact that anyone can develop regardless of age or skill level.
Goes Beyond You
So, the benefits of learning to sing as a drummer don’t just keep you captive in your own world of producing and composing; it allows you to expand your knowledge and give unto others a sense of music as a whole.
Whether you’re playing with other people or trying to make a song, your knowledge will find its roots in appreciating how music works as well. The opposite happened to me.
My Story
I went from playing the bass to composing to producing and then understanding how drums work. The world of the timbre of drums opened a newfound love for how drums sound and work.
In addition to that, I grew even more in love with virtual drums (don’t dismiss them unless you use them), the timbre, and how so many parts of drums could play off of each other in the way that I was writing music.
To this day I find myself in awe of what modern technology is capable of and that makes me have even greater respect for drummers.
If you’re a drummer getting into production and have not played around with writing for virtual drums. You need to. It’s amazing. You already know what to do anyway. So you have an upper hand with your existing skills.
Any edge you have over someone else is still better than nothing. If you can tackle writing drums, that’s amazing by itself but you don’t have to stop there.
Where You Can Learn to Sing
There are plenty of places online that you can go to learn to sing and in all honesty, I’m such a big fanboy of learning to sing online that I feel it’d be wrong not to tell you that online courses are the way to go. You can read it here.
Here is the link to the course (affiliate link) for you to buy. I personally own this course and would like to tell you to be patient because it bored me a little when I first began. Then the results started to come in and I knew that my investment was good. It’s called ‘The Four Pillars of Singing’ by Robert Lunte. You will get the book included with your purchase, which I don’t have.
You can also check out a full list of courses here. I suggest you pick the one that fits your budget and needs. But none of them will disappoint you.
The best part is that it’s perpetual for you to have. Buy it once and keep watching whatever you want to improve on until you get it.
My advice to that would be, to take it slow and be patient with your progress. It’s okay when you’re not ‘getting it’ in the beginning. With practice and time, you’ll be able to hear the difference and start singing better.
Whatever you end up deciding, always remember, if you keep at it there is nothing but success.