drums too loud!

July 5, 2007 by randomguru 

So, I was playing with the Flamenco Group the other day on July 3rd at the Turquouise Cafe.

This was the second time for me and the third time for the rest of the group. They had gotten a substitute drummer for me on the night that my son had his graduation ceremony.

Anyway, I think I was in the middle of my second drum solo, focused and concentrating pretty hard, when all of a sudden the owner of the restaurant comes up to the “stage” and says I’m too loud.

Of course, I wanted to comply because he’s the owner. It’s his restaurant and he’s concerned about the volume. So, embarrassed, I immediately brought my drum volume down and tried my best (without much success) in finishing the drum solo.

To me, this is the equivalent of any performer in the throws of a passionate performance onstage, suddenly confronted with someone coming up to you and yelling, “turn down the music”! I’m not the greatest at expressing myself musically, but my aim is to try and create as artistic a performance as can possibly be done given the circumstances.

But, my first obligation is to the owner of the establishment, and second (or maybe further down the line after the customers/audience) my need to fulfill my passion for artistic expression. Well, the bass player didn’t think I was too loud, and I usually build my drum solos from a lower volume, so the owner unfortunately walked in when I was in the middle of my drum solo’s climax, and he didn’t like the volume level at that moment.

So, the owner approached me during the break and repeated that he thought I was playing too loud, and I immediately apologized. And for the remainder of the evening, I played much softer and felt quite nervous about upsetting the owner again.

And later in the evening a big rush of people came in and the place was packed. And people were dancing to our rhumbas and tangos. And we went over our designated quiting time. Maybe in my mind, I didn’t mind playing an extra hour and a half, doing my pennance for playing too loud earlier. But we also needed to play to the crowd that suddenly arrived. After all, this was the eve of the Fourth of July and we need to please the crowds and invest our time into the venue, hoping to continue playing here for the weeks to come.

But overall, I still like playing at the Turquoise Cafe. Nice ambience and they seem to really like the Spanish Flamenco style fusion we’ve been dishing out.

Hopefully, we’ll continue on…

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