Unfortunately, because I am using the Beta option of Blogger, I cannot post video here directly...yet! Hopefully, Blogger will be able to resolve that problem soon. Until then, paste the link and check it out. This week, a classic drum battle between two of the most iconic drummers of all time. Hope you enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eZeOgx6wUQ
Blessings,
Frank
9.27.2006
9.20.2006
Opening Creative Doors
Over the many years of playing, I have often found myself in creative ruts. If you have been playing for any length of time, you know what I mean: All your fills sound the same, the same physical actions are stuck in maintnenance and even the beats you are coming up with are dry and boring.
This is a common problem, with a pretty easy set of solutions. First, if you have the luxury of playing with multiple types of musicians, this can be real easy. Maybe you spend time making music with a violinist or a sax player. Second, if that is not a possibility, try playing on someone else's kit. The different tuning and feel of foreign drums almost always inspires new thoughts.
But one thing that all of us can do is change our set-up. Say that you are used to a double-kick, 3 tom, 3 cymbal set-up. Remove the double pedal. Then, take out the middle tom. Now, remove the cymbal on your left side. Grab those sticks and see what comes out.
Next, try to move your ride to the opposite side of normal and set up a tom on by your hi-hats. Play for an hour and see what comes out.
Changing the way I set up really made me stretch and really cool new ideas opened up to me, just because the physical motions required something new of me.
Then on the other hand, sometimes our ears need new stimulus. Exploring new sounds can lead to good creativity as well. Try tuning your snare down, or loosening the actual snares themselves. Just like computers, what is done can easily be undone! Tighten that first tom; take off the bottom heads. Play with different types of sticks: Brushes, Multi-Rods, mallets, empty coke bottles! Try playing with your hands!
Go back to having fun and watch that creativity begin to flow in a healthy way again.
Hope this helps.
Blessings,
Frank
This is a common problem, with a pretty easy set of solutions. First, if you have the luxury of playing with multiple types of musicians, this can be real easy. Maybe you spend time making music with a violinist or a sax player. Second, if that is not a possibility, try playing on someone else's kit. The different tuning and feel of foreign drums almost always inspires new thoughts.
But one thing that all of us can do is change our set-up. Say that you are used to a double-kick, 3 tom, 3 cymbal set-up. Remove the double pedal. Then, take out the middle tom. Now, remove the cymbal on your left side. Grab those sticks and see what comes out.
Next, try to move your ride to the opposite side of normal and set up a tom on by your hi-hats. Play for an hour and see what comes out.
Changing the way I set up really made me stretch and really cool new ideas opened up to me, just because the physical motions required something new of me.
Then on the other hand, sometimes our ears need new stimulus. Exploring new sounds can lead to good creativity as well. Try tuning your snare down, or loosening the actual snares themselves. Just like computers, what is done can easily be undone! Tighten that first tom; take off the bottom heads. Play with different types of sticks: Brushes, Multi-Rods, mallets, empty coke bottles! Try playing with your hands!
Go back to having fun and watch that creativity begin to flow in a healthy way again.
Hope this helps.
Blessings,
Frank
9.14.2006
Sensitivity
I have remarked in other entries about how thorough I am when it comes to preparation for any given worship session. I thoroughly, when given the information, think through the "list" and ready myself to play it. I would imagine a similar process happens for a "show" drummer, where every detail is sketched out and performed routinely, accurately and without any deviation. Worship is a very different "musical animal."
This is not to say that you should not prepare. But it IS to say that you should also prepare yourself for unplanned, unexpected changes in any given set list.
There are things as worship drummers that are just not in our field of thought on any given Sunday, Wednesday, etc. When I stepped out from behind the drums and began to connect myself to a guitar, I was forced to see the affects of my lists. In the practice prior to the session, the songs would often work out great, but it was the little things that I noticed when people got into the room that often made me reconsider the way we presented our songs.
For example, I remember many times when I started tunes too slowly and needed to change the tempo mid-tune. Other times, I recognized that some songs seemed too heavy handed for where the worship was going, so I asked my drummers to play a tune or two with brushes, to soften the list. Many times, especially in the more intimate night services, I asked the drummer to not play for a few tunes, just because I could see the faces of the worshippers, and how engaged they were in what was happening and I did not want that to be broken for them.
Now, I never heard either Richard or Isy ever complain about not getting to play certain things, but I remember back when I was younger, often feeling frustrated when I did'nt get to play the whole list! Now, I see that I could have been more sensitive to what the Spirit was doing on those nights. I could have trusted my leaders and let them lead what they were seeing more clearly than I could.
"A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." Proverbs 16:9
"We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps." NLT
Be sensitive to the situation. Tune yourself into the mood of the room. Sacred moments are happening right in front of you. Ask the Lord to teach you to play appropriately for Him.
Hope this helps.
Blessings,
Frank
This is not to say that you should not prepare. But it IS to say that you should also prepare yourself for unplanned, unexpected changes in any given set list.
There are things as worship drummers that are just not in our field of thought on any given Sunday, Wednesday, etc. When I stepped out from behind the drums and began to connect myself to a guitar, I was forced to see the affects of my lists. In the practice prior to the session, the songs would often work out great, but it was the little things that I noticed when people got into the room that often made me reconsider the way we presented our songs.
For example, I remember many times when I started tunes too slowly and needed to change the tempo mid-tune. Other times, I recognized that some songs seemed too heavy handed for where the worship was going, so I asked my drummers to play a tune or two with brushes, to soften the list. Many times, especially in the more intimate night services, I asked the drummer to not play for a few tunes, just because I could see the faces of the worshippers, and how engaged they were in what was happening and I did not want that to be broken for them.
Now, I never heard either Richard or Isy ever complain about not getting to play certain things, but I remember back when I was younger, often feeling frustrated when I did'nt get to play the whole list! Now, I see that I could have been more sensitive to what the Spirit was doing on those nights. I could have trusted my leaders and let them lead what they were seeing more clearly than I could.
"A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." Proverbs 16:9
"We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps." NLT
Be sensitive to the situation. Tune yourself into the mood of the room. Sacred moments are happening right in front of you. Ask the Lord to teach you to play appropriately for Him.
Hope this helps.
Blessings,
Frank
9.13.2006
"Anchoring"
One concept that I feel has tremendously helped my groove has been what I call "anchoring." An anchor keeps the ship in a stationary position, and until that anchor is brought up, that ship is not moving. Relating to time and groove, I have found one note to be most potent in this regard.
It is the offbeat 8th note, the "an" of any note. Somehow, when I get this happening, the time and groove seem to be so interelated and effortless that the music becomes a joy. Now, how I manifest it is simply either one of two ways. I can either accent that note on the hi-hats with my right hand or I can play that note with my foot on the hi-hat. Somehow, in my mind, just hearing that note accented, MAKES me play to that. All of a sudden other notes start coming from my left hand, ghost strokes that fill out the rest of the rhythmic spectrum, and it happens quite naturally.
How do you develop this? It takes work and mental energy. Start slow, but play an 8th note groove on the ride cymbal. Get that going for 4 bars. Then at the 5th bar, get quarter notes happening on the hi-hat with your left foot. You should have a duplication of 8th notes. Now, simply begin to remove the quarter notes. This will take some time to get used to, but when you hear it, I think something will begin to click.
Another way to approach this is to play a brush groove on your snare drum, 1 & 3 on the kick. Instead of accenting the 2 & 4 on your hi-hat, accent the offbeat 8ths. See what happens.
Now, as with anything, learning to intuitively make this musical is an art. IT IS NOT APPROPRIATE FOR EVERY SONG. That said, you might be able to employ it in many songs, at certain points in the song, perhaps a chorus or a bridge. What it will do is help your groove develop in new ways and your time will feel more steady.
For a master study on this concept, check out Bernard Purdie's work on the Steely Dan album "The Royal Scam." Rick Marotta is also credited on the album at http://www.steelydan.com/citizentracks.html, but if I was a betting man (I'm not!) I would say that the tracks that best represent what I am talking about were played by "Pretty" Purdie. For this concept, check out "Kid Charlemagne," "The Fez," and "Green Earrings."
Hope this helps.
Blessings,
Frank
It is the offbeat 8th note, the "an" of any note. Somehow, when I get this happening, the time and groove seem to be so interelated and effortless that the music becomes a joy. Now, how I manifest it is simply either one of two ways. I can either accent that note on the hi-hats with my right hand or I can play that note with my foot on the hi-hat. Somehow, in my mind, just hearing that note accented, MAKES me play to that. All of a sudden other notes start coming from my left hand, ghost strokes that fill out the rest of the rhythmic spectrum, and it happens quite naturally.
How do you develop this? It takes work and mental energy. Start slow, but play an 8th note groove on the ride cymbal. Get that going for 4 bars. Then at the 5th bar, get quarter notes happening on the hi-hat with your left foot. You should have a duplication of 8th notes. Now, simply begin to remove the quarter notes. This will take some time to get used to, but when you hear it, I think something will begin to click.
Another way to approach this is to play a brush groove on your snare drum, 1 & 3 on the kick. Instead of accenting the 2 & 4 on your hi-hat, accent the offbeat 8ths. See what happens.
Now, as with anything, learning to intuitively make this musical is an art. IT IS NOT APPROPRIATE FOR EVERY SONG. That said, you might be able to employ it in many songs, at certain points in the song, perhaps a chorus or a bridge. What it will do is help your groove develop in new ways and your time will feel more steady.
For a master study on this concept, check out Bernard Purdie's work on the Steely Dan album "The Royal Scam." Rick Marotta is also credited on the album at http://www.steelydan.com/citizentracks.html, but if I was a betting man (I'm not!) I would say that the tracks that best represent what I am talking about were played by "Pretty" Purdie. For this concept, check out "Kid Charlemagne," "The Fez," and "Green Earrings."
Hope this helps.
Blessings,
Frank
9.11.2006
"Intuition"
Let's see: How do I put this mess all together? Hmm... Some parts of drumming are subjective and it is sometimes a mystery as to how one drummer is favored over another. For one band, one drummer is the best. For another, well, they will get by with or without him/her.
I was talking with a music friend yesterday about this issue. He brought up the term "intuition." He defined it as "just being able to hear a suggestion, and then giving something back." Sort of like a music conversation.
For example, the worship leader, thoroughly a fine musician but never a drummer, turns around and tells you, "I really want more of a driving beat." Now, at that point, us drummers have the opportunity to reach into our bag of tricks and pull out something that we would describe as "driving." Then the worship leader says, "Well, not like that. More like..." and then he flails his arms and makes drum noises with his mouth, apparently unaware of the blank stare that has come across your face.
Intuition is the ability to reach for many options in that moment. For example, driving might mean four on the floor with a low tom mimic, heavy backbeat and a washy crash ride combo. Maybe it's the low tom, interspersed with a backbeat and the other toms thrown inbetween. Maybe it's open hi-hat 8th notes, accents on the backbeat (2 & 4) with a cymbal...
You see what I mean? Reaching into your bag of tricks, trying to make a term come to life which will serve the music.
But then, there's that bag of tricks. You might just be a one trick pony, which is never good in the musical context.
Before I move on, this is probably the most subjective part of music. One part of you might say, "I am what I am and that's all that I am." Well thank you Popeye! The other part will say, "I need to learn and expand that bag of tricks, but how?" It's to you that I write.
Our proverbial bags will be expanded when we open our minds to other types of music and truly explore the nuances of what makes that type of music special. For example, an R&B drummer has certain sound and feel. Same goes for the Heavy Metal drummer or the Jazz drummer.
The point is to be able to reach down and at the very least, fake a feel for any given song. That is what intuition is about. It is part negotiation, in that you should be able to provide several examples for a nebulous, magical part. But the other part of intuition, is to reach down into the bag of tricks and confidently copy some one else's work!
I told my shuffle story, so I won't repeat it. But there have been many other experiences where I was able to provide my "drum term illiterate" worship leader with something close to what he was hearing.
I hope this helps.
Blessings,
Frank
I was talking with a music friend yesterday about this issue. He brought up the term "intuition." He defined it as "just being able to hear a suggestion, and then giving something back." Sort of like a music conversation.
For example, the worship leader, thoroughly a fine musician but never a drummer, turns around and tells you, "I really want more of a driving beat." Now, at that point, us drummers have the opportunity to reach into our bag of tricks and pull out something that we would describe as "driving." Then the worship leader says, "Well, not like that. More like..." and then he flails his arms and makes drum noises with his mouth, apparently unaware of the blank stare that has come across your face.
Intuition is the ability to reach for many options in that moment. For example, driving might mean four on the floor with a low tom mimic, heavy backbeat and a washy crash ride combo. Maybe it's the low tom, interspersed with a backbeat and the other toms thrown inbetween. Maybe it's open hi-hat 8th notes, accents on the backbeat (2 & 4) with a cymbal...
You see what I mean? Reaching into your bag of tricks, trying to make a term come to life which will serve the music.
But then, there's that bag of tricks. You might just be a one trick pony, which is never good in the musical context.
Before I move on, this is probably the most subjective part of music. One part of you might say, "I am what I am and that's all that I am." Well thank you Popeye! The other part will say, "I need to learn and expand that bag of tricks, but how?" It's to you that I write.
Our proverbial bags will be expanded when we open our minds to other types of music and truly explore the nuances of what makes that type of music special. For example, an R&B drummer has certain sound and feel. Same goes for the Heavy Metal drummer or the Jazz drummer.
The point is to be able to reach down and at the very least, fake a feel for any given song. That is what intuition is about. It is part negotiation, in that you should be able to provide several examples for a nebulous, magical part. But the other part of intuition, is to reach down into the bag of tricks and confidently copy some one else's work!
I told my shuffle story, so I won't repeat it. But there have been many other experiences where I was able to provide my "drum term illiterate" worship leader with something close to what he was hearing.
I hope this helps.
Blessings,
Frank
9.01.2006
"I Wish I Would Have..."
Hindsight is always 20/20. Knowing what I know now, I would have done things different. Of course, the trap is that if I had done things different, I might not be the person I am now. Oh, what a tangled web! However, here are some of my top thoughts about what I wish I would have done back when I was a young drummer.
- I wish I would have enjoyed the time I spent with my fellow musicians more.
- I wish I would have obsessed less about all the minute things that would go wrong during a service.
- I wish I would have been more open to other types of music earlier that were not my taste.
- I wish I would have taken the time to see more live music and meet more of those musicians.
- I wish I would have paid more attention to the formal side of training for drums.
- I wish I would have taught my students to enjoy their instruments more.
- I wish I would have practiced better when I had all the time in the world, rather than fiddling around with my favorite beats.
- I wish I would have invested more time in people who wanted to learn about the drums from me.
Maybe you could add about a hundred things yourself. The beautiful thing about such lists is that people who are on the other side of time can avoid the pitfalls of my past. The beautiful thing for me is that my past does not have to dictate my future. I can learn and grow from here.
I pray you would do the same.
Hope this helps.
Blessings,
F.S.
- I wish I would have enjoyed the time I spent with my fellow musicians more.
- I wish I would have obsessed less about all the minute things that would go wrong during a service.
- I wish I would have been more open to other types of music earlier that were not my taste.
- I wish I would have taken the time to see more live music and meet more of those musicians.
- I wish I would have paid more attention to the formal side of training for drums.
- I wish I would have taught my students to enjoy their instruments more.
- I wish I would have practiced better when I had all the time in the world, rather than fiddling around with my favorite beats.
- I wish I would have invested more time in people who wanted to learn about the drums from me.
Maybe you could add about a hundred things yourself. The beautiful thing about such lists is that people who are on the other side of time can avoid the pitfalls of my past. The beautiful thing for me is that my past does not have to dictate my future. I can learn and grow from here.
I pray you would do the same.
Hope this helps.
Blessings,
F.S.
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