A new discovery ( for me )

Hey all,
I was just strolling about on social media when I came across a post with a clip of a drummer a lot of people are making a big deal about.  WAIT!!!!!!!!

It was at this point I was going to embed a video of this young drummer, but I've realized I'm not going to post it because, as the saying goes, if you can't say anything nice, don'y say anything at all!!!
I will, however, speak to what I see as the problematic parts of this person's performance which sadly, are common to a lot of the drummer videos I see lately.

Actually, I will start with a handful of positive things I saw.

1. It's a young woman.
Great! We need a lot more female representation in music!

2. She's playing (well, along to ) her own composition
Original music! Yay! Very cool!

3. She obviously has worked hard at playing the drums and does it at a high level
Good!  Physical acumen with your instrument is always a good thing.

Sooooooo


How come after I watched the video I sort of felt dead inside?

Well.......

1. The "band".
As usual in these sort of situations. The drummer was playing along to a track. Why do all these "drum channels" always do this?  Too cheap to hire a whole band?  Worried about somebody making a "mistake" ? ( It's a chance you have to take with live music folks! ) I think this is one of the factors that create the feeling of coldness I always get from these drum videos. Another factor is.....

2. The " composition ". 
Almost  always the tunes these drummers play along to have no discernible melody, are in a relatively indecipherable time signature ( or have mucked around with a common time signature to make it sound that way), and have feel changes that don't make any sense. In other words, it's a showcase composition that only exists as a place to put a drum groove/solo and I'm afraid those types of tunes don't hold up to much scrutiny or repeated listenings. and finally....

3. The "playing"
Well, there's usually a display of lots of chops. You know, lots of fast singles, heavy backbeats etc. There's usually very little improvising ( this was borne out when I watched another video the drummer made of the same tune. ) There's also rarely any humour, romance, or sentimentality either. Just physical drumming as athletic event.

Anyway, it's not like the drummer in these videos is the only one guilty of these things or invented them. That's why I didn't want to "out" her. There would have been no point.

I am going to "out" my new discovery, however.
Later, on the same social media platform I was introduced to the great Jimmy Hopps! Here is playing with Roland Kirk on the 60s hit " Ode To Billie Joe".



Phew! Okay Why did I like this so much? Well, first of all, it was playful and fun, and despite the great playing, they didn't feel like they were taking themselves too seriously! Mr. Hopps had a lovely sense of dynamics and drama ( reminds me a little of Roy Haynes ) and was really going for it and improvising. I liked the way he orchestrated the snares on and off during the tune. He has a great buoyant time feel and I liked the way he interjected triplet ideas into a straight eighth groove. Wonderful, high level playing that also leaves you with a good feeling afterward!

Now, let's all go and check out some Jimmy Hopps!

Assessment

Just a short post today. Inspired by this wonderful video of the great Allison Miller.





What I especially like about this video is that it addresses just finding new colours on the drum set, something that anyone who knows me will tell you I'm passionate about. I must admit that seeing the above clip brought out my natural competitive tendencies. By that, I don't mean, I need to prove I'm better than Ms. Miller or anything. It's more like she's saying to me" Remember Ted? You used to work a lot at finding new sounds on the instrument! You should get back to that, because it's so cool and fun!"
I once remember Hal Galper talking about how when one has a reaction to a recording ( or video, in this case) you need to figure out what the person on the recording is telling you about YOUR playing. Don't be afraid to assess any input you get in terms of how it relates to you and your art. As always, have fun!

Colours! I've spelled this word correctly (I'm Canadian!)

Hey,

I would like to thank Mike Yates for the suggestion for this blog. He asked to explain about getting different sounds on the drums and incorporating them into one's playing. This is a subject near and dear to my heart! Ever since I started playing, I have always looked for alternate sounds on the instrument. Like a lot of things in music, I think the more time we spend looking for sounds, the more we'll find them and be able to integrate them into the things we do. I might be so bold as to say I feel it's a drummer's responsibility to keep searching for sounds the instrument will reveal. If we spend time with the instrument, it will start to show us it's secrets.

I'll now discuss some of the ways I think about colours on the drums.

The way I see it, we can create unorthodox sounds in 3 basic ways.

1. What we're hitting the drums (or any sound source) with.

2. Treating or preparing the drums (or sound source).

3. Using unusual sound sources that aren't normally associated with the drum set.

Here's a little solo I improvised today. Let's look at it and then I'll discuss the types of sounds and how I achieved them. Oh, before I forget, don't feel that all your sound source ideas have to be completely original. When I can remember who I got certain ideas from, I will give them credit.

Phew! Not a particularly flattering camera angle.

Anyway, I started off with a toy noisemaker form the dollar store. You can experiment with holding toys like this against the drums to make them resonate.

I then was flicking the drums with my fingertips and rubbing my nails against the head surface. I've never really used my nails so much (although I do a lot of b.s. hand drumming) and I got the concept from a Don Vickery clinic.

Next some playing around with a coat hanger on the cymbal ( Other things I've used would include chopsticks and plastic cutlery) while I use a brush container in the left hand. Then I join in with a tambouring played with my left foot. That's a case where I'm playing a very standard thing , but it sounds more exotic because it's a different sound source than hi-hat. It's important to rest your foot on the tambourine and strike it with the heel of your foot. I copped this from Jeff Ballard. On to brushes/hand. Also I like playing with the snare mechanism to create effects and there's my bike bell! I've always thought cymbal stands use up a lot of space and if you can find something to hang/attach on them, it's always a good thing. I like to try to hear what all the parts of the drums and cymbals sound like. We usually view hitting the wing nut of the cymbal stand as a mistake but it's a great sound! ( Thank you Guy Nadon!) Also different parts of the hi-hat stand have different pitches (Sherman Ferguson).

A simple way of "preparing" the drum set is to place something on the drum surface to limit it's resonance. In this case I've used some splash cymbals but blankets, towel etc. work well too.

Different left foot sound source (bike horn). Back to the toy noise maker. and ended with getting harmonics out of a cymbal (hold the stick like a pencil and rub the tip across the cymbal). The great Montreal drummer Pierre Tanguay taught me that trick.

So, there's lots of sounds. Get experimenting and try to surprise yourself.