I want every performance, whether live or recorded, to be the best performance it can be, with the music being interesting and adventurous, and the audience entertained.  When I think of how to take a good performance and make it great, it boils down to this:

So I see my number one job being to entertain, to let the audience, producers, other musicians, etc. know I’m passionate about the artistic creation and not just “going through the motions,” that I am taking the music in, and giving back everything I’ve got.

But even a passionate performance falls short if the other elements of musicality are missing, so I strive to make them a part of my playing as well.

Quality Sound requires thinking about what color of sound I want - bright, dark, earthy, clean, warm, tinny, etc. - and selecting quality-made instruments, maintaining them, tuning them, and miking them to achieve the desired sound.  One of the most important musical aspects of drumming - How to tune a drum - is still too often overlooked or misunderstood.

Accurate Timing is essential for me as a drummer, because after entertaining, my next most important role is as time keeper for the other musicians (and hopefully a fair few dancers as well).  But timing goes beyond simply controlling metronomic time; it involves exploration of different time feels and subdivision phrasing to change the energy level in the room.

Efficient Motion is a different way of playing the drums.  Instead of playing a note, I just make a motion with my arm, and the note happens because the drum just gets in the way!  Analyzing my motions has really opened up my sound quality, and allows me to play faster, louder, and for longer periods, with less chance of injury.