As previously mentioned I have been playing drums with some friends on some jazz tunes recently. We have only had one rehearsal of this so far, but we had an open mic booked at a local bar. This is something we do now and then with our little community that built up around the pub session I started some years ago. I did not really want to take the whole drum kit and I was inspired by some 'suitcase bass drum' videos I had seen to make my own.
I just used some wood I had in the shed for this. I needed something to support the kick pedal and keep the case in place. That aspect worked fairly well, but as a drum it is a bit quiet. You will see the label on the back move in the video, but it is not really audible. I could try putting a microphone in there to resolve that, but it was just something to try.
Some other people asked me to play with them, so I did a couple of songs with Anne-Marie, part of one is included here, and a few with another duo. Then I played with the band. I included one where I play brushes as that is the first time I have done that in public. The final song is one I sang. Singing and playing drums can be tricky, so I kept the drumming very simple. It ought to have more of a swing feel. As a lot of our songs mention the Moon we are called The Moonshots. That is 
Harpreet runs this bar, The Angel's Share in Hitchin, and he loves music. He was egging me on to hit the cymbal harder. I was using 'rods' rather than normal sticks to keep the volume down. Drums are loud even without amplification. It is all experimentation as I have little experience of performing on drums outside my home studio or a rehearsal room.
We have another rehearsal next month. Conveniently Drumeo has a jazz course this month. I am two weeks into that and learning a lot. It does include some brush work.
I did give you a glimpse of my new cymbals in the video. I have not had much chance to play those yet, so you will have to wait for a demonstration.
Rock on!
