Bonham quantized and the beauty of the human element

Hey all,
The great Paul DeLong hipped me to this recently. It's a great video on taking John Bonham's tracks and making them "perfect". Very enlightening! :)

My Letter to Hilary Jones Update

Hey all,
A week ago I attended a Black Lives Matter march here in Guelph. There were 5,000 people in attendance. ( I have been quarantining  and have gotten tested. Negative results. Yay! ) It was very positive and well-run, and the experience gives me hope.
What gives me even more hope is on a visit to the aforementioned Ms. Jones' site she has eliminated all references to any endorsements, because I'm sure they have all severed any ties with her. I want to thank everyone who took her to task and showed her these types of statements are completely unacceptable.
Yes, it's a small victory, but a victory nonetheless……..

Loops, and I'm not talking Froot

Follow you nose!

                                                      So, this isn't as much a rant as much as personal confusion. I increasingly see all sorts of people recommending "loops" to play along with. I get that they can be good for working on a specific beat or idea in a sort of isolated way, over and over. Or, although this is a practice method that needs to be used sparingly, a way to practice technical things in time, with the loop taking the place of a metronome or drum machine.

There's a few problems I see with this:

1. FORM!

Navigating the structure of a piece of music is an essential part of playing it. Marking the ends and beginnings of phrases etc. A loop removes all these musical challenges.

2. DYNAMICS!

A loop will always be the same volume, or in the case of a longer loop, always have the same dynamic curve. A whole piece of music helps us make decisions around item number 1 by using dynamics, or discovering how the person on the recording portrayed this..

3. THE FLOW OF NATURAL TIME!

If one plays along with a whole recording that wasn't done with a click, the time will have natural,  sometimes almost microscopic "dents'" in it that the person playing along with it will have to deal with. I recently played along with Weather report's " A Remark You Made" and was amazed at how far back on the time I had to sit to match the recording. What was extra interesting, however, is that the feel didn't lay back the same amount throughout the tune. This is nuance that one only gets to experience with the entire tune.

So, in conclusion, just as I say to not bother playing on a pad unless a drum set  is unavailable or its volume unacceptable, I would recommend working on a whole song rather than a loop, unless the tune isn't available.

Now, because I mentioned it earlier, and more importantly, because it's a beautiful piece of music, here is the aforementioned " A Remark You Made". See you soon and stay safe! 

My letter to Hilary Jones

I was vaguely aware of the drummer Hilary Jones through sites like drummerworld. To be honest, I wasn't a massive fan of what she did, but realized in an endeavour not exactly teeming with women   ( especially then. This was 15-20 years ago) that  she could be a good influence.
How wrong i was……
I recently became reacquainted with Ms. Jones in another way, mainly due to her racist rant originally published on her facebook page.You can read it here, but be forewarned, it is really quite disturbing and vile. I also found out that, within the music/drumming industry, her views have been known for some time.

After discussing it with my wife, I decided to email Ms. Jones through her website. While the condemnation of her ( especially through the music community ) has been swift, I decided to offer her my take on what seem to be particularly hypocritical statements on her part, especially considering the instrument and styles of music she plays.

Hello,
I am a drummer living in Canada. Like many, I was shocked and saddened to read your recent comments on Facebook. If these comments were not yours and you got hacked or something. I hope you are able to do everything you can to get the truth out, But, if those indeed are your comments, I am writing to you to ask if you don’t see the irony in some of your statements.
You refer to Africa as a “sh*thole”. Do you not understand or ever have studied where modern rhythmic music comes from? That very sh*thole you describe. Now, I understand many countries in Africa have many complex  problems, but referring to that continent that has given us so much in such a disrespectful way is, in my opinion, akin to disrespect of one’s parents, especially as a drummer!
And speaking of parents and lineages, don’t you also find it ironic that you share a surname (even though many of the people I am about to reference got that name from a slave master, and yes, many of people of colour are STILL slaves, even though their chains are hidden) with many great African-American drummers such as Elvin, Papa Jo, Philly Joe, Harold, Rufus, etc.People who developed the instrument AND the music that you currently play? Don’t you think you owe them and their people (who still struggle ) at least a tiny bit of respect?
All I am saying is that as musicians we need to bond together, respect one another, and give credit where credit is due. If it wasn’t for the ancestors ( as well as the current practitioners ) of the people you speak so disparagingly, you and I would be limited to playing, symphonic music, marches, and polkas, and our instrument would be basically unrecognizable.

I sincerely hope you think about these things.

Ted Warren
Guelph, On.

I have to admit I have very little hope that my letter will even be read, much less replied to or thought about in any meaningful way. i just feel that all of us, musicians and drummers especially, have to attempt to engage in dialogue around the unacceptability of racism. We owe music and humanity that, at the very least.

Stay safe,
Ted 

P.S. AND UPDATE  FOUR ON THE FLOOR did a great tribute to the recently departed master Jimmy Cobb. Please check it out.

Music is a very serious and dour endeavour

Here's more drumming to text, thanks to the brilliance of fellow Canadian Leslie Nielsen ….

You are your own curator

The definition of a curator is a keeper or custodian of a museum or other collection. How does this relate to us as musicians? Well, one can view one's playing elements or style as a collection. We live an an era with a VAST amount of musical materials and ideas to work on. Some of them will be more attractive to us than others. THIS IS NOT A BAD THING! Part of what defines what we are is what we are not. In other words, as the curator, we get to decide what does or doesn't belong in our collection. For example, I have very little together in terms of playing double bass drums. This isn't because I have anything against this particular area of drumming, ( truth be told, I think it can be quite cool ) it's just that I have only so much time to work on material, plus double bass drums isn't really an essential part of most of the music I play. Conversely, my extensive work on the piano over the last 10 years or so might be seen as not the best use of my time by an avid devotee of Speed Metal drumming. But, since I am the curator of my playing, I believe my work on piano has been very valuable indeed.
I played an online solo drums concert a couple of nights ago and it involved a fair amount of specific work towards it ( mainly involving, harp, piano, and performing tracks with myself ). Once I had completed my online gig, I decided i wanted to do something different. I have been fascinated for awhile now with people who drum along to speech patterns. Dan Weiss, for example, has done quite a bit of this.
When I was deciding what to play along with, I realized I wanted something short, but also iconic. I started by looking at a John Lennon quote about how most of the drummers that he met in his early years were idiots, but I found his dry, laconic Liverpudlian delivery wasn't very dramatic, and thus didn't lend that well to the drums. But drama I found, in the form of actor/firearm enthusiast Charlton Heston, in one of his most famous performances. Check it out!



I've already learned a lot around following freer rhythm, and applying drum pitches to match vocal inflections. I also had a lot of fun, so I see myself doing more of this in the near future. Stay safe!

Solo gig Tomorrow!

Tomorrow! 5PM EST. Online concert!