Steve Lyman - Inventing a New Drum Language

Chapters

1:14 - was Steve conscious he was creating something unique with the vector system 11:15 - resisting the pressure to conform 15:30 - should someone learn the basics before learning vectors 19:30 - the map paradigm 21:30 - what's Steve's coaching like from the student POV 30:55 - after a lot of throat-clearing, kids these days? 36:30 - biggest pros and cons of our current, hyper-online culture

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I’ve followed Steve Lyman’s journey for at least a decade.

He was a promising young jazz drummer, playing with people like Nir Felder, and appearing several times on Drumeo to talk about jazz drumming.

After a stint teaching college in Utah, Steve is back in New York, and if you haven’t checked him out in a few years, it’s…different. From a promising jazz drummer, Steve’s developed into one of those rare players who also completely changes the idiom.

He calls his new language The Vector System, and if you’re familiar with Ari Hoenig, Dan Weiss, Mark Guiliana, and Marcus Gilmore (all of whom Steve says are huge influences), you’ll recognize elements. But The Vector System is its own new language.

I wanted to speak to Steve about the process of developing your own language, and the courage it takes to be radically individual - as indeed many of the guests on this pod are.

In the process we touch on creativity and inspiration writ-large, teaching, learning and more.

I really enjoyed this conversation with Steve, and hope you do.