NUMBER
THE MUSIC THEORY IN 10 SENTENCES
SOME
ADVICES TO BE EFFECTIVE
POUM
TAC
THE GREAT DRUMMERS' WORDS
HOW
TO DISPOSE YOUR DRUMSET
Of
course, it is necessary to listen to the largest number of drummers, each of
them having his style, his technique, his own "sound". Remember nevertheless
some musicians, having a very great quality of playing, but perhaps more comprehensible
for a beginner :
•
The Blues and Hard Rock drummers (John
Bonham, with Led Zeppelin for example) are interesting to listen
to, for the heaviness of the strike and the tempo.
Here is a small summary to help you understand his functioning :
•
Richard Kolinka, excellent
with Telephone and Jean-Louis AUBERT, possesses a play where the technique is
not the first objective. Consequently his rhythmics are clear and usually rather
simple (for the fills it is another matter…).
Your
wrists will be your best friends, with your ankles. These joints are more used,
even if the whole body participate in the playing, for they assure directly
the strike on the skins or the action on the pedals. Therefore it is necessary
to preserve them and find a disposal that do not tire them uselessly (be careful
with the tendinitis, which is an inflammation of the tendons, painful and long
to cure).
Here
are some quotations by famous drummers that can guide you in your progression
:
"While copying, one never arrives
to remake just as well as the original. Once you have the bases, it is necessary
to manage yourself alone"- Denis Bennarosch (percussionnist)
The
music theory is a precious tool, that will help you to understand a pattern
or to note a rhythm which keeps running through your head.
•
Take the habit to work slowly : your brain needs to understand
and to analyze before transmitting the informations to your hands and your feet,
that next must execute its orders ; therefore it is necessary to take the time
to do these operations slowly, in order to be able to play them later at quick
speeds without losing the precision.
The right hand will play (on the cymbal or the hi-hat) all the times, with the
bass drum and the snare drum. That's it !
"POUM" because the bass drum will play a note, and "TAC"
because the snare drum (left hand) will answer to it.
Your
position on the drums is very important. The advantage of our instrument is
that it can adapt to our size and to our force. Besides some Jazz or Country
drummers got used to sit on a bar stool !
•
Here are some advice to help you
to find the position that suits you :
•
before changing your disposal, unscrew
well the articulations and the fixing screws of the drumset, it will be grateful
to you. You also can take marks to find again easily your favorite disposal,
•
in order to be able to breathe normally and attain easily the centers of the
skins and the cymbals, it is necessary to seat straight on the seat, the shoulders
relaxed, without tension in the back,
•
when the feet touch the pedals, the knees must be folded, but not in straight
angle,
•
the arms will have to move upon
the drumset, then do this little experience : open the hands, palm towards the
bottom, above the snare drum, the elbows forming two arches, then move the arms
above the drums. Your gestures must be supple, your hands must "glide"
above the instrument without effort nor obstacles,
•
usually, the snare drum is placed at the
height of the belt, between the legs,
WHICH
DRUMMERS IS IT NECESSARY TO LISTEN TO ?
•
The Jazz drummers will make you dance with their "Swing" : listen
to Jo Jones
with the Count Basie's orchestra for example, all is there.
The
list of the drummers to listen to is immense, but remember that at the moment
you play, the audience must hear your own sound. Manage to be influenced while
looking for your own style…
1
- The music theory is the musicians' writing
8
- The notes have DIFFERENT
SOUNDS
•
The metronome is a work instrument that
indicates a beat, a speed (slow, quick…). It is often dreaded by the musicians,
who, unfortunely, do not always use it cleverly ! Moreover, if the metronome
can be essential to obtain the stability of the tempo, it can also prevent the
music to express itself in certain cases… Anyway it is a precious tool,
and it is necessary to know how to use it. An effective manner to work with
it is to work slowly the technical aspect without the metronome, in order to
"put the things in place". When this step is crossed, play series
of what you work (rhythmic, rolls….) with the metronome, first at slow
speed, then quickly. Next play the series with and without the metronome.
Start
by playing a serie of notes bass drum/right hand
on the cymbal played together :
Now play a serie right hand/left hand on the snare
drum, once again at the same time :
"Start
with the bases and you never will be in the error" - Jo
Jones
"Do
not think, play!" - David Silveria
"I
always kept that in me : the pleasure to make music before having technique"
- Richard Kolinka
2
- One writes notes on a stave
3
- The stave is constituted by 5 LINES and 4 LINES SPACING
4
-The notes have DIFFERENT LENGTHS
5
- The longest note is the WHOLE NOTE
6
- The WHOLE NOTE lasts 4 QUARTER NOTES
=
7
-The HALF-NOTE lasts 2 QUARTER NOTES
=
9
- For the drums, one habitually uses (in France) the following notation :
10
- The sign
See
the table "The length of the notes"
in TOUGOUDOUM Number 2 to study more precisely the different speeds of notes
(whole note, half-note…).
The
sign
indicates
that one must play with the right stick (if he is righthanded).
indicates
that one must play with the left stick.
•
When you feel comfortable at a certain speed, stop and
start playing again more quickly. Do not accelerate progressively, without stopping
: you might get into bad habits, like accelerating the tempo unconsciously.
•
Isolate the difficulty : if a pattern presents
a problem, dissect it while playing separately the difficult passage, then play
it with the whole.
•
Work regularly : it is better to work ten
minutes a day than one hour in the week. Anyway your progresses will always
be proportional to the furnished work.
•Listen
to all kind of music, in all styles ; you certainly will hear things that you
know. Some music styles can require an effort of listening, but they are often
the most enriching ones.
Here
is a serie of simple exercises that
you will be able to develop later. These techniques are used and worked by all
the drummers, even after years of experience.
The
technique of the drums has been developped from drum techniques, played between
others in the Napoleon regiments. These phrases are called the "rudiments"
; the most famous one is the "long roll"
: that consists in playing two notes with the right stick (if you are righthanded)
then two notes with the left stick, while looking for an uniform and homogenous
sound (the right hand must not sound stronger than the left hand for example).
Play
now the "single stroke
roll", another technique from the basis of the drums : it is a matter
to play a note right hand, then a note left hand. Play them in groups of four
notes :
Add
the bass drum, that will play at the same time that the "1".
Be careful : do not accentuate the note with the right hand.
Play
these phrases in loop, at least four times one after the other. You can develop
them in several directions, for example while keeping the same phrase and accelerating
it by stages, or while "going for a walk on the drums" while keeping
the same speed.
You
have now the material for your first solo :
Nota
: some coordination exercises of TOUGOUDOUM Number
6 and Number 7
are understandable to you, try them.
Finish
by playing in alternation a note right hand/right foot,
then a note right hand/left hand. "Make it
sound" in loop at the same speed : you play the POUM TAC.
Here
is a small variation, with a fill in single stroke roll
:
•
assure you that the sticks "pass" easily
when you play the snare drum, then the toms and the cymbals. You certainly can
regulate the incline of the toms and cymbals to put the drumset "at your
hand",
•
the hi-hat pedal and cymbals are usually
placed at the left for a righthanded drummer, lightly above the snare drum ;
certain drummers play with high cymbals, others prefer playing them close to
the snare drum. Are your movements easy between the hi-hat and the rest of the
drumkit ?
•
Do not hesitate to change regularly the
disposal of your equipment, especially if you are in age to grow ! Moreover,
that will allow you to adapt easily to other drummers ' equipment, that is very
practical…
•
No matter the disposal you adopt, it is
always necessary to warm up before playing, as a sportman before the effort.
You can warm up quietly with simple and slow gestures with the wrists, ankles,
shoulders, neck… do not force, it is not a matter of musculation ! Once
sit on the drums, start with playing simple things, not too quickly (the Long
Roll is ideal for that). Within some minutes you will feel relaxed and concentrated.
Do
not hesitate to contact us for more precise questions, or installation problems.
Take
heart !
Bass
Drum
Hi-Hat Cymbal played
with the foot
SPECIAL EDITION FOR
BEGINNERS
To earn time and energy, read this advice
and remember it during your work :
One of the first rhythmics that one
learns on the drums (if not the first) is the famous POUM
TAC.
