Yes, we've preserved the traditional functions, but nowadays we prefer to do more with our instruments.
Ask a musician what kind of time signature is 9/8 and you’ll no doubt get the answer, it’s compound time.
Faster Still!!!
When a young drummer asks about the best way to develop speed, the usual answer is “practice slowly”. And no, that's not an oxymoron. Your ability to play fast is 100% determined by the amount of control you have over your limbs. And the best way to develop control is through … wait for it … slow, regular, mindful practice.
You may ask, “Ulysses what if I don’t play gigs requiring brushes?”
I believe for any musician who plays the drums, it doesn’t matter. Learning the brushes is part of your due diligence on the drum kit.
Some of you may disagree, but to my mind playing time behind a drum set, whether it be rock, jazz, latin, or any other genre of music has to do mainly with the cymbals and snare.
just how do you decide whether you are going to do a job when there's no money to be had. In short, WIIFMAMB (What's is in it for me and my band)
A few weeks later, as I practiced, I was intrigued with not only how smooth my stroke had become, but also how much speed I'd achieved in a relatively short time. And the key component to this admirable accomplishment? I didn't pay attention.
4-Way Independence Rules
Our limbs typically cannot act independently, and so we must train them to co-ordinate their actions as a team. We call it independence, but what we're really talking about is “co-ordinated interdependence”... the limbs are co-operating and not acting independently.
Of course there are no rules, other than just do it. But there are good ways to practice and not so good ways. My goal for practice time is that it will invariably lead to the development of sound playing and sound playing habits. And it has to be fun.
Recognition vs. Recall
The goal is not to memorize the entire tune and arrangement. We just need to be able to identify and recognize the various sections as they come along. As long as we can follow the tune, the rest is just a case of getting organized. I like to develop a good understanding of the 'landscape' and leave the details until later. If I were to focus on the drum breaks, for example, I’d miss a lot of important information.
The following etude is a primary example of the idea that things sometimes look simpler than they are. It’s comprised of just quarter and eighth notes, but you have to concentrate in order to play from start to finish without stopping and, of course, without making a mistake.
One thing that I always admired about Buddy Rich was the way he set up figures. He had a way of announcing and drawing attention to horn lines that was absolutely beautiful.
We’ve all at one time or another been advised to "just listen” and we would be told the answer to whatever it is that’s is confusing us..
Micro Practice
We do ‘micro practice’ all the time. We work on a single thing: single strokes, double strokes, lines from Stick Control and the like. Why? Because it works. Reducing our focus to a single item reaps big rewards. When learning a new figure, I will often take a 2-beat or even a 1-beat section and work on it exclusively. Then, when I tackle the whole thing, I’ve got a good handle on each part.
My first introduction to Tony Williams was the Miles Davis album 'Miles in Europe.' Inconceivable to me that Tony was keeping time. He was playing his 'parts' (yes, plural) 'within' the time. (And killing it!) Elvin Jones with John Coltrane? More plural 'parts' within the time. (And more killing!) Max Roach played pstterns and melodies. Jimmy Cobb often played straight quarter notes on the cymbal. To me, that was his part in the music. And so on.....
When I was a kid, after hours trying to develop an open double stroke roll, I got a great feeling when suddenly discovering I achieved the ability to play clean, even, and fast double strokes with its resulting machine gun effect. The same holds true for many other aspects of learning to play my instruments.
It's always a good time to work on bass drum doubles. I find the first page helps with the timing and execution.
Many drummers feel “uneasy” when having to read a piece in sixteenth time. The uneasy feeling has to do simply with the fact that there’s not much in the way of reading exercises when one is first developing the skill to read rhythm. And the music can look a little frightening if there’s a lot of sixty fourth notes. But you can think of sixty fourth notes in sixteenth time as no more than sixteenth notes quarter time.
I thought I’d take some basic rock beats and render them in 5/4. I’m having fun with the result.
Having to read combinations of rhythm that are divided by two to a beat then three to a beat within the same bar can sometimes represent a significant problem for beginning students.
I’ve found that many drummers have difficulty when a drum arrangement is full of tied notes. No doubt one of the reasons has to do with the lack of practice reading material with tied notes in drum books.The rhythm in the following etude is simple, but it’s replete with ties. Reading it perfectly at sight may prove challenging even for drummers experienced in reading charts
I was actually unaware that there were tiny bottles of liquor for sale--I simply assumed they were free samples given to hotels for their guests as advertisements. Before going home I took all the small bottles from the fridge thinking I would give them to friends, and packed them into my drum case with the snare.
Editor’s Note: Richard Best sent me this thing he’s been working on for his students. He’s calling it variations on the classic 3+3+3+3+2+2 rhythm. There are two rudiments within these patterns.
The following article shows what I consider 40 basic two-way coordination patterns between the eighth note rock cymbal pattern and snare drum using sixteenth notes.
The guitarist was great, but the other members of the group had one pet peeve about him