Improvisational Exercise, long form

Routine in our practice is a valuable thing. There is value in staying organized and focused in our quest to improve. However, too much routine can be detrimental to your growth as a drumset artist. This is an example of a long form improvisational exercise that I use with my students - I'll hold down a pattern (this one happens to be in 12/8), and the student's job is to not think - just create. It takes some time to free oneself from your own headspace. I recommend trying this for at least 15 - 20 minutes. Once you can spend a hour continuously in this headspace, some interesting things can result.

In this video, David Robinson comes up with some interesting ideas over the 12/8. Spend some time with this video and you will see what I mean.

If you are interested in studying with me, please click here.

The Odd Time Playlist

In my discussions with many of you throughout the last few weeks, we have addressed quite a few songs that are in odd time signatures (i.e. not in 4/4 or 2/4 time). I started a playlist of songs that I think are worth your time. One of the characteristics of these songs is that they don’t feel like they are in 5 or 7 or 13. That is the mark of skillful songwriting and arranging.

What songs would YOU add to this list? I want to hear from you. Email me here.

Documentary: Count Me In

We are not in the business of reviewing movies here, but this documentary really was an uplifting look at a wide range of professional drummers and the reasons why they started drumming in the first place.

The one thing in particular I found enjoyable was that the interview subjects weren’t all the usual characters:

• Stephen Perkins (Jane’s Addiction)

• Nicko McBrain (Iron Maiden)

• Cindy Blackman Sanata (Lenny Kravitz, Santana)

• Roger Taylor (Queen)

  (there were many, many more).

The filmmakers really took time to put together a unique group of pros for this. It is on Netflix, and parents - there is some strong language in the film here and there. Rated TV-MA.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE.

Experimentation & Repetition

One of the things that rarely gets adequately discussed in music lessons is the amount of repetition necessary to develop new improvisational ideas. While some musical ideas do happen spontaneously in the moment during a performance, those ideas are the exception rather than the rule.

One valuable use of your time then is to think about the kind of idea you are trying to develop, and then go sit down behind the drum set and work that idea out. Over and over and over again. The larger the sample size of experiments, the more you will discover about your own playing.

Here is an example: I was thinking about developing some licks that incorporated a nine stroke roll into a linear pattern. The video below shows only a handful of reps of that idea which were done during a one hour session on the idea. In a one hour block, you can play a variation on that lick probably 200 or 300 times. That is how you develop soling ideas. It takes work.

Required Viewing: Max Roach

Grace, creativity, composition. One would need many more words to adequately describe Max Roach’s solo playing. One of the absolute all times greats - he would be on drumming’s Mount Rushmore if there as such a thing. To my students - watch this intently, then watch it again. Required viewing that will vastly improve your soloing if you take some pointers from the great Mr. Roach.

ENGINEERING NOTE: This performance was recorded with a single overhead mic.

Incorporating Electronic Instruments into Your Percussion Setup

We’re not “just” drummers, we are musicians first. That is what I preach every week. Focusing on creativity during the pandemic has given us a bit of an opportunity to incorporate new sounds and new approaches into our playing that we might not have thought of before.

Lately I have been working on incorporating a couple of electronic elements into my set up, and the initial results have been very interesting. Here I used a Roland Handsonic and a Boss RC1 looping pedal to create a live loop that I could improvise over. By creating the loop live, I can build in some space so that the loop does not feel metronomically rigid. More of this kind of experimentation to come. (Best experienced with some good headphones!)