Saturday, February 23, 2013

Heel/toe stuff.

Hey all,
Just a quick post about what I've been working on lately.
I've been checking out doing sort of a rocking motion with each foot. In the right foot it creates either a muffled pitch bend sound on my relatively open bass drum (heel up, keeping beater in the head) or an open sound (heel down, rebound off the bass drum head). In the left foot it creates either a closed sound (heel up) or a hi-hat splash (heel down). Here's just a quick example. Sorry for the darkness of the video.



One of the issues when using this technique is having the feet moving the opposite direction from each other.   It's challenging! I'm also working at being able to throw this in in triplets etc.
Like any new idea (and different set of movements) it's a bit awkward and doesn't sound that great. Even when it's working better it might be a while before I can use these in a musical context, if ever.
I'm committed to letting this come out in an organic way and not forcing it on the music.

Try it if you feel like it.


Thanks.



Friday, February 1, 2013

Art Tatum

Hey,
Here's a great documentary of Art Tatum. Watch, listen, and learn. I certainly did!