Respect part 2

Recently a young band was featured in NOW magazine. I won't go into the details, you can find either online on their website or on Facebook as it generated a quite heated debate.

From my take on what they said, they were former college music majors who didn't relish their experience. They put out a video (filmed in the same college's practice room playing the school's gear, by the way) which got some hits on youtube. Good for them. What I find somewhat disturbing is how in the article they tend to dismiss the school, it's teachers, and the methods used to teach them. This is the sort of stuff journalists at independent weeklies love. "Young lions inject the staid conservative Jazz scene with new life, blah, blah, blah". Every year or so it comes along like clockwork.

The problem is:

A) They sound okay, but innovative? Hardly. Just because you've covered some current material?

That puts them squarely in a tradition that's gone on since musicians were trying to get gigs!

B) So they're young and cute and full of vinegar? They won't stay that way, and if they keep playing, how will they portray themselves as "innovative rebels" in 10 years?

and most importantly...

C) The music scene is very small. Cutting down people teaching at the schools just isn't smart. Those same teachers are active professionals that can help a lot if you treat them with respect.

I had teachers I didn't agree with. There's lots of music out there (some made by peers) that I don't care for and doesn't reach me, but in either case, I keep my mouth shut, particularly in a public forum.

We as musicians should be encouraging each other, not puffing ourselves up at the expense of people who have worked long and hard at this. It's a very poor long term plan.

...Then again, maybe if I wore a pig's head I'd get more gigs!

Lyricism and sentiment in music

A few weeks ago Jon McCaslin posted a mass email that Steve Wallace wrote about melody on his blog. Steve's musings really got me thinking about how many of the players I love to listen to and play with (regardless of what instrument they play) have a very singing quality. In other words they sound melodic because everything they play, no matter how abstract, sounds like a melody.

Steve Wallace is a good example of this himself. Mike Murley and the Detroit based trumpeter player Marcus Belgrave also come to mind.

Among drummers there are many examples of this. Max Roach and Ed Blackwell would be good examples of melodic, singing style players.

How do we work on this?

1) Try to play the melodies to tunes on the drums. Usually just on the snare drum at first.

Try to leave all the "timekeeping drummer type functions" out of this. In other words. don't play hi-hat on 2 & 4 while you do this, that's not the melody. If the tune has a lot of spaces in it, some much the better. Leave them. Get used to feeling like you're the Sax player or vocalist now, not the drummer. One of the big ways drummers tend to lose lyricism when they play is by rushing through ideas and not leaving space. Melodies breathe but we as drummers can play without needing to take a breath, so this is something we have to learn.

2) Now try to move the melody around the drums but try to:

a) Follow the contour of the melody. For instance the melody to "Sonnymoon for Two" tends to head down in pitch in each 4 bar section. Try to represent the on the drums even if you aren't playing the exact pitches.

b) Repeat pitch patterns. If we look at "SonnyMoon" again we realize that this is a riff blues, meaning the actual melodic material is only 4 bars long and is repeated 3 times over different chords of the blues progression. So try to play the same pitches on the drum set each time you play that 4 bar phrase. This will also help you remember pitch patterns when you improvise, which often helps with unity in drum solos.

Here's a video explanation of the same concept.

3) One thing that struck me a long time ago is Billy Hart saying in an interview that he was always singing. Not just tunes but scales and intervals. I try to do this as well. I think the more we can vocalize, the more we can translate that feeling to our instrument.

4) Finally learn as many melodies (and in the case of tin pan alley tunes lyrics) as you can. Try to use the storytelling aspects of these tunes in your own playing, rather than it being a storehouse of "hip drum things" to play.

Blog Roundup!

Hey,

I remember Dennis Mackrel saying at a clinic quite a few years ago that he thought the future "hang' for musicians would be on the net.

How right he was!

I don't get into Toronto to see music as often as I like and I'm also busy with family, playing and teaching. So one of the main ways I exchange ideas is with my peers around the world online.

Here's a brief overview of what's been capturing my attention these days.

Here's Peter Hum's excellent interview with Katie Malloch. Oh Katie! How we'll miss you!

From Cruise Ship Drummer there's some great exercises involving putting the hi-hat on beats 2 and the + of 3. This is why it's important to get input from other folks. I've been playing for 37 years and this never occurred to me!

Jesse Cahill has some great advice on practicing at his Blog.

I also have learned a lot from the samples he posts from his extensive record collection.

Wow! Ron Jefferson! You know, when my ego starts to get the better of me, it's humbling to realize how many great musicians go virtually unknown, despite playing so well. I really have nothing to complain about folks!

It's amazing the era we live in and how much great information is at our fingertips. (I know Kate thinks everyone overuses the term "literally", but in this case I think it's appropriate.)

We live in a world where we can musically get out butt kicked without getting out of our pjs!

Now, there's a lot of info out there that isn't so hot, so I think I will do a post about sifting through and finding good quality stuff. In the meantime though, you can't go wrong with the trio of blogs I just mentioned.

Later!

Beginnings and encouragement

It was the recent passing of the great Regina -based Sax player Art Britton that got me thinking about this. I played with Art (as well as many other players in the local scene) when I was in my teens and early 20s. I was fortunate enough to be recommended for gigs from my former teacher Don Young (who is still teaching and playing great in Regina) and got to play regularly with Bob Moyer's big band with his wife, the wonderful Pat Steele, singing. Thanks to Vern and Carol Gay Bell, I also got invaluable experience playing with Saskatchewan Express, sort of a touring showband.

Now if middle aged Ted heard youthful Ted in any of these settings, I'm not sure he'd be all that impressed with what he would hear. I doubt the time was that strong, my taste was questionable at best, and I doubt I had any sort of concept of sound.

Perhaps what the people that were gracious enough to hire me did hear was a certain enthusiasm and love for the music that helped them ignore many of my rough edges and immaturity. When we're just starting, that initial spark is sort of all most of us have.

I guess what I'm attempting to remind myself of is that any fire we hear in young players should be encouraged and nurtured. Very few people play brilliantly when they first start, but if they have the drive and nerve to play in public, we need to help them along as much as I can. This is one of the great benefits of teaching, doing clinics, and adjudicating. (The last of which I will discuss further in a later post).

I would like to conclude with a big THANK YOU to the people I mentioned, as well as a bunch I've inadvertently forgotten briefly, and I will do my best to pay back the debt I owe you by helping young talent whenever possible!

You can't keep a good nerd down!

Hey,

This is another coordination thing. Three 8th note open/closed thing on h.h. w/ left hand. 7 beat figure in right hand. Tumbao bass drum pattern. A slight wrinkle in this is the right hand part always goes to the small tom in the middle of every 7 beat figure and also buzzes every

time I go to the small tom. I'm going to write an article about this shortly but what I'm getting at with this is that there are 4 different "levels" of drum set coordination.

1) Contrasting rhythms (i.e. 7 beat, 3 beat , and tumbao)

2) Moving from one surface of the drum set to another (i.e. floor tom to small tom)

3) Contrasting articulations (i.e. the buzzed note in the right hand)

4) Contrasting rhythmic groupings (str. 8th verses triplets, or quintuplets, septuplets etc. (There's no incidence of this in the following example. I'm only human, ya know!)

Anyway, I'll elaborate on this in the future.

Here's the vid.

The drummers of XTC Part 2!

Hey all,

In my ongoing series on the band XTC and the drummers that played with them, today we're featuring the great Prairie Prince.

Here's some info,

Prairie Prince was raised in Phoenix, Arizona, with two older sisters, who gave him a constant source of musical influences, including swing, jazz, blues, and early rock and roll. Both parents were music lovers and his father played drums. His mother was an artist and encouraged pursuing music and art during Prairie’s entire childhood, which he did and still does. During High School, Prairie started a band with his friend Roger Steen. The band was named “The Mouth”, later becoming “The Red, White and Blues Band”, which in turn, evolved into “The Tubes”.

Prairie moved to San Francisco after acceptance to the San Francisco Art Institute on scholarship. There he received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in painting and conceived The Art Rock Group The Tubes with his friend and colleague, Michael Cotton. Prairie continues to share a partnership with Michael in a number of branches of art, including set and stage design for some of the world’s biggest touring acts: Michael Jackson, Shania Twain, Bonnie Raitt, Gloria Estefan, The Tubes, and Todd Rundgren.

Some of Prairie’s earliest drummer influences were Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich in swing jazz, Stevie Wonder and Clyde Stubblefield in funk and soul, Sandy Nelson and Dick Dale in Surf Music, and Ringo Starr, Charlie Watts, Mitch Mitchell, Keith Moon, Ginger Baker, and John Bonham in The British Invasion of Rock. Later John French, Billy Cobham, Lenny White, and Jack Dejohnette were inspirational in fusion and more avante gard styles of drumming.

During the course of the last 30 years, while continuing to record, perform and tour the world with The Tubes (15 Albums and world tours), Prairie also performed and recorded with many of his heroes and fellow artists alike. Prairie has fulfilled his desire to execute many various drum techniques in a wide variety of musical styles.

In the early 70’s Prairie worked with the legendary pianist, the late Nicky Hopkins, recording two albums with musicians such as George Harrison, Mick Taylor, Ron Wood, Ray Cooper, and Klas Voorman, among others. He started the band Journey with Neal Schon and Greg Rolly shortly after, recorded demos that got them their first contract, but Prairie opted for his dedication to The Tubes.

After session work with Tommy Bolin, Brewer and Shipley and others in the 70s, the 80s brought work with Chris Isaak and Prairie played drums on his first four albums. Prairie was honored to record with Brian Eno and David Byrne. With Todd Rundgren, he recorded 7 albums and toured the world several times.

He played drums on XTCs Skylarking LP in the mid 80s, then again on their latest 2 CDs Apple-Venus Vol 1; Waspstar Vol 2 in the Last Part of This Century. Also in the 80s, Prairie recorded with Glen Frey, David Pack, 3 albums for Richard Marx, and did a Showtime special with John Fogerty.

The 90s brought performances with Tom Waits, 3 CDs and classic resurface performances with the legendary “King of the Surf Guitar”, Dick Dale, and the reformed “Jefferson Starship”, with original members, Paul Kantner, Marty Balin, Jack Casady, and Papa John Creach. After 4 CDs and several world tours, Prairie continues as their drummer.

In the last several years, studio work with renowned producer Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads fame, brought records by Bizou Phillips and Noella Hutton, both young innovative female artists. Also performances and a double/live CD with Grateful Dead Bassist, Phil Lesh, and a CD with longtime friend and former Tubes and Grateful Dead member, Vince Welnick (Missing Man Formation), brought acclaim from a unique base of music fans.

The man's been busy, that's for sure. He was kind enough to answer my questions specifically about his involvement with XTC.

1. Do you know how you came to the attention of XTC? Did someone

recommend you?

Todd Rundgren brought me in as the Tubes had recently worked with him and

he had helped built the studio for us that XTC recorded the rest of the

album in.

2. Did the two songwriters, (Moulding and Partridge) have different

working methods in the studio? Did they have specific suggestions for

drum parts, or did they talk in metaphor and you jammed until you

found something that clicked?

each had their own ideas of course. Both very different in direction and

approach. Andy was very specific for most songs and had done demos with

basically what he wanted recreated. Colin was more general in his advice as

to the feel etc. Both were easily satisfied with the tracks I delivered..

on songs like man who sailed, It was suggested I played like a jazz drummer

on junk.. Not sure if I knew but made a guess and was handsomely rewarded

with applause.

3. Andy Partridge has mentioned in interviews that he and producer

Todd Rundgren butted heads a lot during the recording of

"Skylarking". Did you notice this and did it affect the way you

approached the recording?

I wasn't really aware of the stress in the relationship at first but as

the sessions wore on over the next few weeks it became apparent they had

their differences in opinions and attitudes began to heat up. I think things

got worse after I had finished my parts. Todd was hired to produce and

that's what he does in most cases.. Produces and makes the final

decisions..Andy just didn't want to give him that much authority with his

music. As far as affecting me .. I had worked with Todd before and new what

to expect.. The guys in XTC treated me with very much respect and seemed

glad to have me drumming on their songs.. I was in heaven being a big fan.

4. You have the distinct honour of being the most recorded drummer of

XTC's "studio" years. What do you attribute this quantity and

longevity to?

just a lucky guy

5. On albums like "Skylarking" and "Wasp Star" you're playing with

more conventional Rock band instrumentation whereas on "Apple Venus"

the textures are much more symphonic and light. Did making this

adjustment pose any particular challenges for you?

for example on "I like that" Andy wanted me to play the groove on my legs

slapping away the beats throughout. Being a hambone enthusiast , I had no

trouble handling the order. The more ethereal percussion parts such as

cymbal washes and snare rudiments were fairly common to me from sound track

work in the past

6. You've recorded as both as session player artists such as XTC and

as a longtime member of the tubes. Does the recording process differ

depending on how well you know the people you're working with?

It always helps to know well the other musicians your collaborating with

but not entirely essential. The Tubes have been friends and family so long

we can practically read each others minds. XTC and I became good friends

quickly and we worked well together from the get go. All the best to them

today, Prairie Prince

And here's some examples of some of the songs he mentioned. Here's "The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul" from the first recording Mr. Prince played with XTC "Skylarking". (Also dig the references to The Prisoner in the video. Hip!)

And here's "I'd Like That" from "Apple Venus"

Finally, here's some great playing from the last official XTC album "Wasp Star". The track is "Stupidly Happy".

Thanks so much Prairie and stay tuned for future installments!

Yeah!

This fits in with what I've been talking about lately involving open form music.Here's the great Tony Oxley and Derek Bailey playing duo.

Check out all the sounds Mr. Oxley is getting. Brilliant!