It's been a few days since I last wrote an entry. Not that nothing's been happening – for some reason I just feel a little dry lately. Maybe it's the weather. Cool, cloudy, and wet. Even in Haiti yesterday, and to a lesser extent today in Jamaica. I've been feeling unusually tired and uninspired.

Well, let's start with the new drummer, Piotr (Peter), from Poland. Peter is our third Pole, after Thomasz (tenor sax) and the other Peter (trombone). I think three is enough for our orchestra. There are plenty of Poles in other bands on the ship.

Peter comes on rather strong, like many drummers do. During dinner he told a strange joke about drummers and bass players not being able to play tightly together, and in the end not even being able to commit suicide together by landing at the same time after jumping off a tall building (?). Maybe something was lost in the translation, but it made me a little wary of him.

Peter brought some of his own gear, including a double bass drum pedal. This tells me right away that he's going to be a busy player. Maybe very good, but for sure busy. And this was born out during our first performance with The Drifters, an old-time rock 'n' roll vocal quartet (you remember Under the Boardwalk, Spanish Harlem, etc.).

Peter played well, but not quite appropriately enough. The leader of the group asked him to just play a basic, simple rock 'n' roll rhythm for the second show. Um CHA um CHA CHA. If he'd just play that all night, they'd be happy. Forget the fancy fills – it just confusers the singers. Peter agreed to simple up, and the second show went well, at least as far as the Drifters were concerned. Peter was a little bored though. No double bass drumming in this show.

Then the next day during the rehearsal for one of the production shows, Peter asked Simon if he had to play a particular fill as written. The fill is a lead-in into a dance number, and the dancers need to hear it the same way every time, or they might get confused.

“Yes Peter, please just play it as written,” said Simon. “Do you have a problem with it?”

“I don't like it. It's not cool. I can do something much cooler.”

“No, we'll just leave it as is, if you don't mind.”

He's a bit nervy, that Peter, considering he's brand new. He should wait a bit before suggesting improvements to the score. But he agreed without complaint, even though it meant no double bass drumming in the production show too.

That night Peter played the show very well indeed, considering it was his first time. He was strong, and dead on with the click. The only thing wrong was that he screwed up the fill he had been talking about. And badly, too. Who knows why? Anyway, it didn't screw up anything else and probably no one in the audience was aware of the little scuffle.

But after the show Peter cried out, “I suck!” He really seemed devastated by his mistake (I must admit, his fill sucked, but he didn't). I almost felt sorry for him. Simon, Omar and myself assured him that he didn't suck.
I've seen this kind of insecurity in some other drummers as well. Maybe it's their insecurity that draws them to the drums in the first place...

*** Addendum

Two days later we rehearsed and played the second production number. Peter let some of those rapid-fire bass drum fills creep in, thinking maybe that because they're so cool nobody would mind, or maybe we'd even like them. But at the end of the rehearsal, Sandra, one of the directors of the show, and one of the two female leads, asked him what was going on with his bass drum, and whatever it was, could he please stop it. It just confuses the dancers.

Poor Peter. No wonder he's insecure.

And speaking of insecurity, after that rehearsal I opened the door to my cabin (which I share with Omar) to see Omar sitting in the chair, looking rather forlorn.

“Hi Omar. What's up? Is something wrong?”

“I'm boring,” he said.

I didn't think he was particularly boring, so I said, “No you're not. What are you talking about?”

“Yes, I'm very boring. I don't know what I should do.”

Oh no. Now two insecure members of the orchestra.

“Well, first of all, you're not boring. But even if you were, that would just be you, so just forget about it.”

Oh. Wait. I know what he's saying...

“Ohhhh, you mean bored. You're bored, not boring.”

“Oh yes, bored. That's the word.”

His English is very good, but not perfect.