Once at the White House I was asked to conduct the Drum and Bugle Corp. The man just handed me the baton and I finished the song. It was great. I got to keep the baton.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I do basically what a conductor does with a baton, except I also play along with the orchestra. So I have to juggle the roles of playing the concertmaster; sometimes I drop the violin and wave my arms.
My music wouldn't sound the way it does if I hadn't had the experience of conducting.
I did the one concert, and I was not bitten by the conducting bug, and I thought I was done, but then the phone started to ring, and gradually, over time, I started conducting more and more. Now a third of my performances are with orchestras.
I was a drummer, and I did a little singing too.
I really just wanted to play the drum set and match that. I was never really into the percussion thing.
As you know, I played a little trumpet with Elvis. I overdub a few drum licks here and there on a session, but I'm not a drummer by any means.
I quit my band in New York City in 1969 and I got really angry at them. I got angry at one of my guitar players and I dove over the drum set and we got into a fight.
Led Zeppelin was pretty much what made me pick up drum sticks.
Orchestra had a little brass ensemble on two tracks as well, but the rest was me. I knew I couldn't continue in this direction, even if people liked it, because I can only duplicate myself.
I kind of alternate between conducting and playing and kind of juggling those things, but I don't use a baton.