"Because we love it". Taylor Hawkins

2 thumbs up!

​David

Drumming is all about time, feel, touch, and endurance. This blog address time.

Ten tips to improve your time feel

1. Practice with a metronome.
2. Learn to count aloud rhythmic patterns with a metronome.
3. Slow down. Slow practice with a metronome will teach you to subdivide the beats evenly. Forty beats per minute is professional tempo.
4. Play with people who have good time.
5. Record yourself practicing, checking your progress daily. Feedback in the practice room is imperative.
6. Practice softly.
7. Learn proper hand and foot technique. Chimpanzee technique is not going to help.
8. Seek feedback from a teacher.
9. Be determined, but patient.
10. Study the different time feels in the various idioms you are learning.

If I can help, call me.

​David

Drums are loud.

Playing loud is fun! We are the peace disturbers. But drummers are required to play softly in most situations.

1. Rehearsals
2. Concert bands
3. Jazz bands
4. Home practice
5. Churches
6. Singer songwriter bands
7. Orchestras
8. Theatre orchestras

The question is how to play at softer dynamics without losing intensity. There must be a way to play your beautiful drumkit without stuffing them full of pillows, covering them with tape and otherwise muffling the death out of them.

Ten Tips on playing the drums softly

1. Learn proper drumming technique. Chimpanzee technique will not serve you well in your quest to play musically and softly.
2. Practice softly.
3. Work daily on pad technique with your metronome. You will need to be able to control the hands in small and precise movements. This regime will last a lifetime.
4. Use smaller drums and lighter cymbals. For Jazz I use a Paiste 602 flat ride and Paiste Masters 20" crash ride with rivets. 
5. Most drums are sold for their “cutting” qualities. This means loud. I’ve been using a Tama SLP spruce snare drum for softer situations not my hard maple, brass, or oak snare drums.
6. Use smaller sticks. I use lighter maple over heavier hickory in Bebop sizes. I leave the clubs at home.
7. Learn to use brushes, brooms, and rods/rutes.
8. Use a softer beater on the bass drum. Play heel down.
9. Play with unamplified instruments. I play weekly in jazz bands. The best sounding ones rehearse with no amps, including the bassist. If I can’t hear the bass I know I’m too damn loud. I learned quickly.
10. Learn to tune your drums. Well tuned drums will sound lovely at lower levels. No need to beat the “you know what out of them” just to make them sing.

These are a few of the techniques that will help you survive and thrive in a lower sound level environment and avoid the indignity of either being fired, required to play behind a plexiglass barrier, or worse play some crappy electric drum kit though an amp.

Bonus? It will help save your hearing.

​If I can help, call me.

​David

Some thoughts on eliminating the gap between our current skills and our aspirations. Click on the photo for the whole story from Ira Glass.

​David

I needed some new inspiration for tomorrow's jam session. So, I spent twenty minutes with Elvin Jones and made some notes. 

1. Rufus Reid on comping: " when they take a breathe, comp."
2. Jim Finlayson: "the Charleston man, play the Charleston rhythm. Oh, and bass drum on the "and" of 4." 
3. Mark Eisenman: "keep the comping underneath the ride and high-hat patterns. Let it ride drive the band like a Rolls Royce"
4. Mike Whitla: "you are rushing the fills, play behind the beat".

Thank you, fellas. 

David

"Sitting in" is the time-honored tradition of asking to join in and play a song or two with strangers. It is a high stakes gamble. If you are an accomplished drummer, you risk embarrassing the current drummer and vice versa, you under play and embarrass yourself. But there are ways to do it all gracefully and get what you want: musicians to play with.  

It requires some courage and a little hubris. But it in the end, it is how musicians announce themselves into a new scene. It is how musicians find others to play with. So, get ready. 

1. If you can, go hang out for a few weeks before asking to sit in. Be friendly, at your second appearance the musicians will acknowledge you with a friendly smile. At the third appearance you will be one of the family. 
2. Make a note of the repertoire performed by the band. If you know the tunes, great. In a public jam session, the tunes will be standards. I’ve a list here of jazz standards. For Rock and Blues standards try these lists. Blues. Rock. Then go home a learn a few from memory before you ask to sit in. The tune need not be a complicated one, but it you should have it solidly memorized and in your hands. 
3. At home spend half your practice time learning the standard tunes of the genre you want to play. Play with the recordings over and over and over.
4. As a drummer learn the grooves of the genre. 
5. Practice with a metronome to develop your ear for time.
6. Be humble! Nobody wants to play with a jerk.
7. When you decide to get up their, be fully sober. Save the drinks for later!
8. As a drummer you will have to play a drum solo. Be prepared. My advice keep is simple and uncomplicated, save the fireworks for later. 
9. Be fully vaccinated, don't endanger the rest of the band. I know one band personally that spread covid amongst themselves. 
10. When preparation meets opportunity music will be made and magic happens. 

extra tip: Bring your stick bag and ear plugs!

When I moved to Toronto in my fifties, I put all of these into action. I now play regularly in lots of different scenes: Rock, Jazz, Improv, and more.

If I can help you get ready, call me. 

​David

2 Pm to 3:30PM I will be drumming in a jazz quartet. Music will made, tarts and tea will drunk. Come on down and join us. Remember your masks and covid passports. 

​

Tartistrywww.tartistry.ca
1252 the Queensway, Etobicoke ON M8Z1S2

Tomorrow is rock band rehearsal day. I'm on drum kit. Here is the process I follow to prepare, which you may find helpful.

1. I have a set list of the 10 tunes sent to me earlier.
2. I've made a play list of the tunes. I've listened enough times to have internalized the music in a general sense. 
3. I've written out the drum charts by ear and scored them.
4. I practice with to the tracks.
5. I've made a list of the tempos so that I can call them out tomorrow for the band. 
6. I studiously do my pad work with a metronome daily.
7. I will to bed early this evening. 
8. I've tuned the drums, they are ready to Rock! I'm packing a 4 piece Yamaha Club Custom set with 22'' bass drum and a set of Zildjian Custom A cymbals. 
9. I will stretch carefully today and tomorrow. Sixty-two year drummers need to warm-up carefully. 

​If I can help you get ready for your rock band practice, call me. 

​David