Less Cymbals

Written by:Eric Hultgren

In Death Cab for Cutie’s “I Will Possess Your Heart,” there are no cymbals other than the hi-hat. At every point where you expect a crash, you get a ghost note or a tom. For me, it makes this the song from the band that I go back to again and again because I find it to be such a bold choice. Jason McGerr talks about how the magic is in its imperfection, the melody he creates with that lo-fi drum sound played in quarter notes, and why that lack of cymbals creates such an incredible track.

Last night, I taught a graduate-level public speaking course called “Communicating Effectively.” It is my friend Nikki Sunstrum’s class, and she was gracious enough to invite me. As luck would have it, I have spent the past 4–5 months writing about my process for presenting for another project, which meant this was the perfect chance to try some of that work out.

Which brings me back to Death Cab for Cutie.

At one point, a student says, “I have always thought that I need to get right to the point when sharing a story, and I find myself cutting out all the details.”

I nod, understanding the question before it comes.

“But I just watched you for an hour tell story after story loaded with details. How do you know which ones stay and which ones go?”

Immediately, “I Will Possess Your Heart” leapt into my head because that is a musical version of her question. When do you decide a third of your drum kit is unnecessary to the song? When you know that instrument cold enough to break that rule.

So when do you subtract a detail?

When that detail doesn’t move the story forward.

How do you know?

You play it live.

The stories I told last night, some I have told a hundred times, and each time I learn from them. But the one thing I don’t mess with is the details that give the story shape.

The story she was interested in had a woman in it, and what you never discover about her is what she does for a living, her age, if she has children, or why she loves San Juan.

Why?

Because playing those cymbals doesn’t make the story better, give it more impact, or help it connect. They just make the story longer, and in almost every case, the story never needs to be longer.

It just needs fewer cymbals.