Stan Levey

Hey everybody,

Here's some great footage of the highly underrated Bebop drummer, Stan Levey.

I find Mr. Levey especially helpful in terms of playing fast tempos because his comping always hits interesting parts of the bar yet isn't as "blatantly virtuosic" as say, Max Roach or Tony Williams. Some great recordings he's on are Victor Feldman's "The Arrival of Victor Feldman", Dizzy Gillespie's "For Musicians Only", and his own "This Time the Drum's on Me". (Although I just found it on iTunes and it was called "& Stan Levey" and was under Dexter Gordon's name.)

It's interesting, a lot of the musicians categorized as "West Coast" said that it was more of a marketing ploy than an actual style. Certainly if a kind of jazz could be labeled "cool" the music Lennie Tristano and his disciples ( all New Yorkers) were making is probably closer to that. Not that any of that matters. It's all great music.

Thanks,

T.

Shhh part 2

hey,

Here's also some exercises on dynamics, some of which were inspired by the late Lou Williamson.

TIPS ON DYNAMICS

Over the course of my teaching career, I have noticed that dynamic control is an issue for most drummers. In this article I’m going to outline some basic ways of working on this important aspect of drumming. For all these exercises, please use a metrenome or drum machine, as keeping steady time throughout drastic dynamic changes is an extremely important component.

1. FADE IN Pick a beat and tempo that you are reasonably comfortable with and you can play without having to think about it. Preferably a beat or pattern that uses all four limbs. If this isn’t possible, start with what you can handle and work up to it. Play time over a predtermined phraes length, e.g. sixteen bars, and fade the sound in gradually. Start at your lowest dynamic level and evenly play up to your highest dynamic level. Make sure that the dynamic relationship btween all four limbs does not change over the course of the crescendo. If the bass drum is the loudest part of the kit when you begin, it should dominate at the end as well. As always, keep the time steady throughout.

2 FADE OUT Just the same as exercise 1, but in the opposite direction dynamically. Experiment with different types of feels, tempos and phrase lengths.

3. COMBINATIONS OF EXERCISES 1 AND 2

4. PRACTICING READING ONLY DYNAMICS Find any kind of music that has dynamic markings. It doesn’t have to be drum music. It could be a classical piano score, choral music etc. Now play a beat you’re comfortable with, and concentrate on playing the dynamics correctly, keeping the time steady, and keeping your place in the phrase. The actual content of the notation (e.g. the actual pitches and rhythms) doesn’t concern us in this exercise. We are working on playing dynamics while reading. I find this exercise also helps with grades of dynamics. Most of us can play very loud or soft. Its all the range in between that gets tricky. This example also helps us work on not getting “stuck” dynamically. If our forte dynamic is already as loud as we can play, we will have difficulty if the music calls for fortissimo later on. We need to develop a good sense of relative dynamics. On the following page you’ll find a sample piece to work with.

5. PLAY EXERCISES 1 TO 4 WHILE SOLOING

Here's also a "fake piece of music to practice # 4 to. Sorry about the weirdness in size, but if you print it, it should be normal.

Shhhhh!

Hey all,

The lovely and talented Jon McCaslin recently requested that I talk about quiet playing and since I love not having to think of subjects for the blog, here goes!

A couple of things first though....

At around 3:23 in the video the talking may get pretty quiet (oh, the irony!) so please adjust your volume. Also, I mention earplugs very briefly. It's my belief we should all do a little of our low volume practicing sans earplugs. It goes back to hearing the sounds we're making and developing our touch. Absolutely it's important to protect your ears but I've dealt with drummers who never heard their instrument without earplugs! Not great for the sensitivity......

...and here's me attempting to apply some of these concepts to Dizzy Gillespie's "Ow".

Okay, I got a little louder in sections but I think the general idea is there.

Thanks so much! See you soon! I need to stop using exclamation marks!!!!!!!

Cold for teacher?

Hey everyone,

Today I thought I'd reflect on my days as a student, which actually includes up to the present time as I'm finishing off my B Mus. but even more importantly I am always trying to learn everything I can about music, drums, and especially being a better human being. If I look back on my early university days (sometime during the precambrian era, I assure you) I'm struck by the fact that I wasn't a very good student. Oh yes, I was keen and hardworking in a certain way, but there are many things I understand now that make me a much better learner. Let me outline them.

1. I'm much more open-minded

Back in the day, I had very specific ideas about what good teaching constituted. I tended to listen to and do what someone told me to do if I agreed with them (my study with Andre White would be a good example of this) but if I didn't like someone's method, playing. or even their personality I tended to dismiss them out of hand. I suspect in retrospect I didn't even understand some of the concepts I was dismissing, and certainly didn't give them much of a chance. It's interesting, in some types of Eastern based "guru" type situations, the student isn't allowed to question anything his/her teacher tells them. This is probably a bit extreme but it does allow time for the student to assimilate and understand what the teacher is getting at.

2. I value experience as a teacher

I think that when I was younger I viewed lessons as almost a commodity that one could buy, like soap.(This is an idea that has gained in popularity since then, I fear.) As I got older I found so many different ways to learn. This is especially true of music, which like life itself, is very complex and can't always be boiled down to neat and tidy exercises. In one of my earlier posts I mentioned how "on the job" experience, even when it's been quite painful, has been invaluable to me.

So I go forth and am trying to learn every day. I can only hope nowadays I have the bravery, maturity, patience, and understanding to take in information and growth from whatever source it comes from. I encourage all students of music (and life, which pretty well covers everybody) to strive to do the same.

Brush circle comping

Hey everyone, happy Thanksgiving to all the Canadians out there. I want to briefly touch on using circles of various sizes and note lengths in the left hand while keeping time with the right in 4/4 and 3/4 while using brushes. This is an idea used very successfully by great Canadian drummer Marty Morell, amongst others. The principles behind it are pretty simple. The longer the rhythmic duration you're trying to achieve, the bigger the circle. I've filmed a couple of examples to demonstrate this. First in 3/4 I've played dotted half notes, dotted quarter notes, and quartuplets in the circles with my left hand. Like so:

Another length of circle that I neglected to do in this is example would be half notes, which would give us something that would resolve every two measures. if you do that one make sure you're playing a one measure pattern in the right hand to still give it the feeling of 3/4.

Next up are some examples in 4/4. I start with a dotted half note and then go to a dotted quarter note, (all these examples will go across the bar line) then switch to a on again/off again figure that repeats every five 8th notes, then to a seven 8th note pattern of the same type.

I hope these examples give you some further repertoire to use when playing brushes.

P.S. For extra fun(?) try playing the melody to a tune in the right hand while playing some of these circle lengths in the left.

Happy turkey-day!

Don't phone it in!

Hey all,

I just briefly wanted to talk about something that occurred to me on a gig last night. I had a great time playing with Jules Estrin's band. I was subbing for an ailing Joel Haynes so I hadn't played the music or played with this particular combination of people before. I had a great time and really enjoyed the arrangements and all the individual musician's contributions to it. This really didn't surprise me but I started thinking about what the possible thread that ran through all the music we played and that runs through all of the music I feel passionate about. I realized it was that spirit of going for it, of giving it everything you have. If there's anything I would be egotistical enough to think I will be remembered for after I'm no longer around, I hope it would be that I always gave it my all, and never "phoned it in". There are always some reasons to make excuses, hold back, and not be fully engaged with the music. Some of them might be:

1) I'm playing some corporate event and no one (including the band sometimes) is listening.

2) My gear is crumby. If I had the latest (insert brand name here) I'd really be playing something. Or maybe....

3) The money on this gig is crap.

Let's look at these briefly...

1) You're probably make some coin. You're not digging a ditch, you're playing you're instrument! You're performing a function so don't sweat it if the "audience' isn't hanging on your every note. In fact, there's a lot of freedom in that. Also, if the band isn't listening, listen to them even harder! You'd be amazed at how this can affect the people you're playing with in a positive way.

2) Don't give me that! Make whatever you're playing sound beautiful. Remember, as Art Blakey once said, "You are the instrument!".

3) If you play like a bored lame-o who doesn't care about music, will that make the money improve?

In short, we're lucky to be doing something we love. We have a limited amount of time on the planet, so don't waste it thinking about what isn't happening. let's make the most of whatever is happening!

And now, a man who never phones it in , the great Billy hart!

Where's 1?

Hey,

I was just reminded of the many tunes I heard a as a young person that I originally had turned around. That is, I thought they started on beat 1 when they actually began in another part of the bar. A couple of examples would be "I Want to Hold Your hand" (+ of 3), "Walkin" (beat 4), or "Car Wash' (beat 2). It can be quite challenging to "unlearn" when you hear something in the wrong spot. Figuring out where a tune starts in the phrase is part of the detective work we do when learning a tune so use logic (placement of hi-hat etc.) to suss it out correctly the first time.

This whole concept got me thinking about reversing the bass drum and snare drum roles in rock and funk beats. This also occurs in Reggae. This is a great way to freshen up garden variety beats and work on coordination as well as hearing your place in the bar despite "sonic information" to the contrary.

Here's me playing around with this a bit. Hint, it starts on the + of 4.

If I am to be slightly critical of the above example, the time is slightly further "on top" than I would prefer it to be for this type of groove. That said, although I will continue to work on my behind the beat and laid back playing, I do naturally hear the time ahead. That's as much a part of me as my height and eye colour, and like those other two factors, I will accept it as I continue to work with it.

Here's the tune that inspired me.

It actually starts on the + of 3.

Thanks!