If there’s one thing all the greats have in common, it’s a mastery of the power, color, and drama afforded by great rhythm and masterful use of percussion instruments. Sitting in the percussion section for many years gave me some pretty strong feelings about rhythm, and the use of the multitude of colors back there, and I picked up a lot of great tricks which I now use every day in my writing. In these "epic” times, it’s not always clear what to use, when to use them, and how – beyond a wash of thundering bangs.