One of the only brands of drum I have never owned is Noble & Cooley. After watching the video located below and seeing how much love, care, and craftsmanship that goes into each snare & full drum kit (not to mention how great they sound), I think that a N&C is at the top of my snare drum “Bucket List”!
(That said, I’ve played at least a dozen N&C snare drums, either as backline gear at gigs or in other studios around the city. I have yet to hear a N&C snare drum that I did not LOVE!!)
Since 1854, seven generations of one family has been making the coveted Noble & Cooley brand of artisan drums, and I don’t use that word “artisan” lightly (like some drum and/or cymbal manufacturers are prone to do). From slicing up the tree logs to attaching the hardware, these guys do every single thing themselves by hand. The machinery that they use is not the latest and greatest in technological innovation. It’s the exact same machinery and the exact same process that they have used since the 1800’s.
Take a look at the video above and you will see how inspiring these guy are to watch.
Here’s the one statement from this video stuck in my head all day: “We decided right at the forefront that the world did not need another mediocre product, and, if we were going to do this, we were going to do it ’top shelf’. We were going to go after the best quality of sound and find the best way to achieve that.”
Re-read that statement two more times… let it sink in.
For better or for worse, I have always had some form of that statement as my mantra as a drummer, audio engineer, music producer, and really all of the other things that I have done in my career. On occasion, it has caused me to butt heads with people who had a much lower bar for expectation for an idea or artistic concept. Sometimes, my commitment to excellence has been the driving force behind my decision to move on to some other project or some other group of people.
Committing to this level of excellence can make you seem like a headache to some people that you work alongside. I have seen those same folks reach for convenient labels like “High-Maintenance”, “High Nail” or ”Exhausting” to describe people who bring a high level of commitment and expectation to an endeavor. Labels like that are only being used to mask apathy, incompetence, or laziness in those doing just enough to get by within organizations or groups.
Usually, these lower achievers are individuals who have, as their default mode, adopted a practice of committing the least amount of effort needed to register as “activity” for anything that they participate in. For these people, putting some text onto a photo from their phone and loading it onto Instagram constitutes “making a flyer” for a gig or promoting a product. In the practice room, these are the people who label some jamming to Van Halen songs for 20 minutes as their “practice time”.
For these people, merely playing a gig… any gig constitutes a successful venture and leaves them feeling as if some elevated level of achievement has been unlocked. They see steps in a process as the end game itself. Sadly, they are usually the first to blame the club owner or the sound guy or the audience when few people actually attend the show or when the response to their “work” is, at best, tepid.
One of the best ways to rise above the glut of musicians or musical acts in your scene is to set the bar incredibly high for your own level of personal execution. Maybe it’s how well you play the songs on your set list, or the enthusiasm with which you present yourself on stage, or possibly it’s the attention to detail you bring to the visual aspects of your performance, or maybe the level of concentration you bring on-stage from the very first downbeat to the very last fermata of your show… or maybe it’s ALL of them. These are the ways and means that you can use to get beyond average, “garden variety”, or mediocre.
Requiring this level of consistent excellence is hard to do for a few hours at the gig, even harder to do for months at a time, and nearly impossible to do for decades but, it is the one thing that separates you from everyone else doing these activities that you’ve chosen to engage yourself in and spend your time on. It is how you get above the groundswell.
Now, I’m not saying that this level of commitment to your craft is the only thing needed to excel in your chosen endeavor, but everything starts from this defining point. All of the activities and steps you go through to move your proverbial “ball down the field” are fueled by this higher level of commitment. All of your choices are guided by it.
The quality of the sound coming out of those speakers and into the air depends on it. The photographer you chose for promo photos, the quality of your website, your engagement on social media, how thoroughly you advance your shows, and the experience that everyone has in engaging with you throughout the entire process stems directly from the level of commitment you make to quality and the lengths that you will go to achieve excellence.
We all have our days when you’ve only got enough energy to simply get through the day. But on the whole, those who achieve remarkable, consistent, and lasting success in any endeavor start at Step One with this commitment to over-the-top excellence and make this the Default Mode at every step along the way, day after day. Their focus on this commitment and the goals it creates is unwavering.
So, ask yourself, “Am I committing my whole self?” If the answer is “No”, “I guess so.” or “For the most part.”, then it’s time to reassess your motivations.
Why are you doing this thing? What are your REAL goals here? What’s stopping you for bringing your best self to the table?
When you drill down deep, the answers may surprise you. They may change you. They may even require that you do something different entirely. But, all of those are better than simply waddling along and wondering why you’re not progressing further faster or why the world doesn’t really care about what you currently have to offer.
Remember, your own excellence inspires others to be excellent themselves. In a world where we are not starved for choices, people want to engage with the remarkable. They want to spend their most valuable commodity (time) on people, things, and experiences that make them shout “Wow!” and leave them with a sense of awe and wonder.
Set your bar high, my friend. The genius in doing this is that, even if you don’t quite reach your own personal “high water mark”, you will have probably leapt far above anything that anyone else in your space or industry is currently offering the world.
What would have happened to Noble & Cooley if they had set their bar lower or compromised in their commitment to this elite level of craftsmanship? Would they still be one of the most coveted brands of drum in the world? Probably not? Would they still be around, more than 150 years later, making the most amazing instruments that any drummer has ever played? Definitely not.