~ breathe ~ ~ call and response with rhythm ~ ~ think about posture and hand positions ~ ~ ride cymbal / four quarter notes ~ ~ ostinato patterns / variations keep it fresh ~ ~ wiki ~ drum rudiments (stick control) ~ ~ single stroke / double stroke ~ ~ flam / single roll / double roll ~ ~ 5, 6, 7 ... note rolls ~ ~ applying rudiments and rolls to a drum set ~ ~ accents ~ ~ dynamics / forte (loud) and piano (soft) ~ ~ call and response with rhythm ~ ~ economy of motion ~ ~ focus on breathing ~ ~ wiki ~ second line parades ~ ~ review and more to explore ~ |
"The drummer; he inspired me to play like no one else I have ever met. |
'Drum' nutshell, a place to start. The ideas above are things drummers think about, represented with some of the terminology at formal music school. Their listing is from notes I took at a recent seminar at the University Concert Hall, here in Anchorage, Alaska. Presented by John Damberg, founder and executive director of the Alaska Jazz Workshop, featured Boston artist master drummer, Berkeley educator and clinician Mark Walker, who took a dozen of us attendees through a '101 Berkeley' drum lesson. Walker's lecture moved through each of the topics, mostly in the order presented above, weaving their rudiment and academic necessities into the requirement of professional performance settings. Use the ideas above to further research these topics for drums. |
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| Jamm with recordings. All things considered, an easy way to get started with drumming in today's modern world is to take whatever is at hand that will make a sound when struck, somehow put some music on that is audible over your drums, and begin playing along with recordings. Emulate whatever you hear and begin to count along with the beats. Then count phrases and find the form of the song. Just build it all out from this starting point. It'll all grow as you grow as an artist and become the 'motor' for bands and everywhere a steady musical beat may be required :) |
12 bar blues and your own imagination. Developing the ability to 'feel' the looping of a four bar phrase, pro leaning drumming artists would do well to then consider the mastering the 12 bar blues form guided by the bare metrical clicks of the metronome. For once this skill is fundamentally mastered it'll provide for a longterm improvisational development format energized by chord substitution and the resulting melodies imagined, creating new bass line stories and ways to tell them. |
By having just the 'clicks' to motor the music, we're tasked with having to 'imagine' the entire sound of the music through a complete 12 bar chorus (s) and return to the top of the form; its 3 / 4 bar phrases completing its form. The drummers task is to anticipate key spots in the form and 'set up' structural points of the form with their rhythms and time keeping. The structure points are usually the downbeats for each successive four bar phrase as the form unfolds. |
That the 12 bar blues form can quickly fall into place and become 'second nature' by diligent study, drummers can creatively aim to set up of each of the three / four bar phrases that construct the 12 bar blues form. Once mastered, cats will begin to then work their way back from turnaround ( bars 11 and 12 of the form ), to create phrases of 12 complete bars and into the next chorus. This advancing ability is usually done in 'bright to fast' tempos where a full chorus might last all of 15 seconds; so really just biting off bigger chunks of real time to create longer phrases based on the 12 bar form :) |
While 'three chords and the truth' is the foundational harmony starting point, we can jazz up the chord changes in the progression which in turn can blossom out the available pitches in the melodies. As the harmony thickens up and we 'up' the tempos, we'll eventually bump into bebop, Americana's advanced 12 bar blues artform. Modern blues jazz artists today often evolve diatonic leaning changes; mostly Two / Five cell's, to make all of their chords V7 / dominant chord type and all the color tones. Once comfortable in a blues setting, modern artists today use this 'all dominant chord' approach in the improvisational sections of whatever songs or chord progressions come along; jazz it up. |
Author's note. Play-ing time. A pun on these words from a non-drummer, 'playtime and playing time', the nutshell here is about the 'rhythm motor' who propelling the music. That as we move through the spectrum of styles from the folk, through the blues, country, pop and rock then into jam band, the Latin dances and into the realms of jazz, the physical stamina it takes to 'play time' and be the motor, gradually increases to super hero levels of stamina, strength and focus. From tapping on bongos in a 3 minute folk song to the full orchestrating kits of today's modern players performing 30 minute jams, the strength and dexterity required to perform such songs is what is commonly termed 'playing time.' And while there's many aspects of this that can be individually sorted out and developed, the ability to just 'play time', for extended periods of musical / real time, and motor the band forward can become an important concept and a way to develop chops and stamina. Pop music top 40 songs last about 3 minutes or so depending, blues songs a bit longer. Country and rock tune 3 to 5 minutes or thereabouts. Jazz leaning ... 7 to 10 minutes or so, for every song in the set. Jamm band / reggae songs 10 to 15 minutes is not uncommon. That said. So if your a 'pop' drummer and get a call for a jamm band gig, good chance you will be asked to play songs well beyond the 3 minutes of a song on the old '45's. One trick to this is to relax and just ... 'play time' and fill and accent the riffs and build ups that the band and you create. And the same goes for all the instruments in 'long playing' songs ... strengthen up your chops and creative for in playing jamms and beyond, there's a wide creative vista to explore while filing the dance floor. Cool ? |
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Review. Keep playing, find a teacher and keep exploring !
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References. References for this page come from the included bibliography from school and the bandstand, made way easier by the folks along the way. In addition, books of classical literature; from Homer, Stendahl and Laudurie to Rand, Walker and Morrison and of today, provided additional life puzzle pieces to the musical ones, to shape the 'art' page and discussions of this book. Special thanks to PSUC professor Dr. Y. Guibbory, who 40 years ago now provided the spark to ignite a love within me of the weaving of the history of the arts into the evolutions of Americana musical art. |
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About being in a band; “it's like a job, any kind of job, it's an opportunity to develop.” |
wiki ~ Buddy Rich |
Find an e-book mentor. Always good to have a mentor when learning about things new to us. And with music and its magics, nice to have a friend or two ask questions and collaborate with. Seek and ye shall find. Local high schools, libraries, friends and family, musicians in your home town ... just ask around, someone will know someone who knows someone about music who can help you with your studies of the musical arts with this e-book. |
Intensive tutoring. Luckily for musical artists like us, the learning dip of the 'covid years' can vanish quickly with intensive tutoring. For all disciplines; including all the sciences and the 'hands on' trade schools, that with tutoring, learning blossoms to 'catch us up.' In music ? The 'theory' of making musical art is built with just the 12 unique pitches, so easy to master with mentorship. And in 'practice ?' Luckily old school, the foundation that 'all responsibility for self betterment is ours alone.' Which in music, and same for all the arts, means to do what we really love to do ... to make music :) |
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"These books, and your capacity to understand them, are just the same in all places. Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed, is more important than any other one thing." |
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Academia references of Alaska. And when you need university level answers to your questions and musings, and especially if you are considering a career in music and looking to continue your formal studies, begin to e-reach out to the Alaska University Music Campus communities and begin a dialogue with some of Alaska's finest resident maestros ! |
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Formal academia references near your home. Let your fingers do the clicking to search and find the formal music academies in your own locale. |
"Who is responsible for your education ... ? |
'We energize our learning in life through natural curiosity and exploration, and in doing so, create our own pathways of discovery.' Comments or questions ? |