A Journey Off the Beat(en) Path When I was a young boy, the wonderful Gloria Estefan sang the eternal words to me: Turn the beat around, turn it upside down. I didn’t quite know what that meant, until just recently … it was 4:20 pm on a Wednesday, to be exact, just before tea time (beer o'clock, to some). And so, I started off on my quest to better understand those teasingly elusive words, thus creating this book, Drum Twisters: The Book That Will Make You Smile With … Frustration! I know what you are thinking … just what is a Drum Twister, anyway? Well, you take a tongue-twister, but spoken in the language of Drum, then tuned all the way down to the key of thud. In other words, we’re collecting drum exercises and throwing them (and caution) into the wind, to see where the pieces land. Then, yours truly picked them all up, and assembled this mess into the book which you are currently holding in your hands. (If you are looking at this on on a screen, then you are just a plain old fancy pants.) We’re talking about drumming exercises that are very different from your average lot, which is a good thing, because I’m sure that you are not exactly enamored with playing in the pocket ALL of the time … Hear ye, we are gathered here today because we are bored with hitting things the same way, over and over and over again. We are here simply because we are crying out for something fun, yet challenging. We can no longer accept hitting things on just the 1, 2, 3 and the 4!!! (Wait, drummers can actually count … ?) Our hearts hunger to Turn the beat around, turn it upside down. Ladies and gentlemen, we will be looking at things all topsy-turvy from now on. Please prepare yourself and delve into an alternative (but no eye- liner, please) look at playing the drums. With a polka dot cherry on the top. You should be excited now. Really, you should!
