Most musicians play more than one instrument. For some it is for calls to more gigs (do your best to find me a flute player that hasn’t picked up a sax to make ends meet). For some it’s just the love of music. For others it is to gain a serious edge on their main instrument.
For me, it started off as trying to fulfil my childhood dream as a rock god. I was feeling rather unsatisfied playing smooth piano jazz in country clubs, and was looking for a spike in adrenaline. In high school I hermited in back practice rooms learning how to maneuver my way around a drum kit. The more familiar I became with the kit, the more solid my rhythm became at the piano. After getting around the awkward stage of coordinating my 4 limbs to independently play their own rhythms, I really felt myself understanding where each beat fell on a deeper level. I started fooling around with more complex groves. I began experimenting with different pushes and pulls throughout the beats. You can talk about pushing the *and* of beat one till the cows come home, but burning it into your muscle memory by stomping it out into the kick drum really changes how well you understand what that push feels like.
I never intended to use the drums for anything more than an excuse to get out of the band-geek squad, and into a genre the cool kids were into. It quickly became much more to me. Piano was still my true passion, and still is! However, I started to put a good deal of focus into trying to get something truly productive out of my skin bashing. Once that started, the results were there.
As a pianist, I no longer drag 2 miles behind the beat. Or hey, if I do, at least I know I’m doing it. I can HEAR where I sit on each beat. Sitting at a kit and thinking, hearing and playing nothing but rhythm for hundreds of hours forced me to hear things that the piano wasn’t forcing me to hear. It forced me to hear it, think about it, and damn well play it right (seeing as keeping solid time as a drummer is really your only job).
My rhythmic library drastically expanded. I started playing better in group settings. My song writing skills also had a significant boost. Picking up the drums has been one of best things I’ve done for my piano playing. I would highly advise anyone interested in taking a fresh angle at music to gain a huge advantage on their main instrument to give drumming some serious thought.