Drumming as Embodied and Mindful Performance: Observations on the Aesthetic Theories of Bill Bruford and Shaun Gallagher

In this article, I explore some questions concerning the aesthetics of musical performance. I approach this topic from a perspective influenced by some theoretical works of Bill Bruford, Shaun Gallagher, and Richard Shusterman, and choose the musical practice of drumming as a promising case to exemplify certain concepts and themes. Following various insights inspired, in particular, by Bruford and Gallagher, I argue for a conception of drumming as embodied and mindful performance, in contrast to other influential conceptions (sometimes suggested by philosophers, other times by drummers) that understand musical performance in general, and the art of drumming in particular, as mindless activities; namely, as a sort of selfless ‘flow’ without thought.