All the things that go into drumming

So my band leader is of the mind that a drummers first and foremost thing to do is to keep time as steady as humanly possible. The rest almost doesn't matter to him it would seem (but I know it does) He's like Father Time.

So I got to thinking about this, and for me...I think I spend more mental and physical energy getting the right sound from my kit than I spend on maintaining the time. The reason being is I have to stifle my volume a lot for the rooms I play, yet I still have to burn.

Anyway, this got to thinking of all the different things that go into playing good drums. I was hoping I could get some help compiling a list of the major bullet points. And minor too, what the hell.

After we have a list, it would be fun to ask people to put the list in order of importance...according to them, for their particular playing requirements.

Here's a few starter items to illustrate what I'm going for.

A. Physically making.... and keeping in balance....the individual sounds of the kit, to make a cohesive net tone.

B. Keeping the meter clock steady

C. Having a sense for the right tempo. (good meter at the wrong tempo misses the mark)

D. Playing whatever style of song you are doing as authentically as possible.

Little help?

All the things that go into drumming