LEO CIESA                                      

THIS PAGE HAS EDUCATIONAL IDEAS, TIPS AND EXERCISES.  THE NEWEST ARTICLES  ARE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE!

 

THE TRICK

This is a fun polyrhythmic test that you can try out on your friends.                                                                                        You can do this on the drums or you can just sit down, tap your foot on the floor and play your hands on your legs.

Based on the 3 against 2 polyrhythm, start by tapping your right foot 1,2,1,2. Then add your left hand playing 1,2,3 on your leg as a polyrhythm over the 2. So the 1 will be foot and hand together, 2 only the hand, what was the 2 on the foot now becomes the "and" between 2 and 3,  then 3 is only the hand.

Left hand    1             2              3

Foot            1                   and

Easy! So now you stop the foot but keep playing the left hand in the same tempo as before.

Next we will do the same 3 against 2 as before but now the left hand, that is still tapping, will be the 2. Do not change the tempo of the left hand, just think 1.2.1.2 instead of 1,2,3. Then add the right hand playing the 3 in the same way as you did with the foot and left hand.

Guess what the next step will be. Yes! We will put it all together. So stop playing and start all over with the foot, then add the left hand and then the right hand.

It's not so easy anymore when you add the last step. That's why it's called the trick. What happens, if you do it correctly, is that  you're actually playing 4 with the foot, 6 with the left hand and 9 with the right hand (you have to play the "2 against 3", foot/left hand group twice for all of them to meet up on the "one"). That 9 in the right hand against the 4 in the foot is what complicates it.

Tip: One way to learn it is to think of it like it's three "3 against 2" groups in the hands over the four with the foot. Start by playing the foot and the left hand, then accent every other beat with the left hand starting on 1. The accents are the three over the four in the foot. That is the beginning of every "3 against 2" group in the hands.

Make sure you are playing it correctly. A common mistake is to have 3 beats on the floor with 2 groups of "3 against 2" in the hands. Check that you do have 4 beats on the floor and 3 groups of "3 against 2" in the hands. You also want to be able to tell the difference when you trick somebody else into trying to play it. Have fun!

THE TRICK,  ADDITION

In the original "The Trick" above, you may have noticed that the left foot is resting.  If you can play the above easily, then add the left foot as a 2 against the 3 in the right foot. 

 

PLAYING WITH EMOTION 1

Don't forget it! This part of playing music is often overlooked in educational material. Drum books tend to focus on patterns, often two measure phrases. Videos often focus on technical issues. That is understandable because books and videos lend themselves to those elements of education. But even if you play something technically correctly it is not the end of it. You have to make music out of it. You have to get the feel and phrasing right, put in the emotion, the heart and soul, the blood and guts. You have to play like you really mean it or better yet, mean what you play.             

 

 

PLAYING WITH EMOTION 2

How to play with emotion can be hard to explain to a student. One way to demonstrate it is to go to another field; acting. Imagine that you are auditioning for a role in a movie. The casting director gives you a paper with two lines to read:   

1/  You bastard, I'm gonna get you, I'm gonna get you!     

2/  I love you more than anything, don't ever leave me, please, don't ever leave me.   

Now when you just read the two lines, you probably read them rather straight since you did not know what they were before you read them. Would you get the role reading them like that? Not very likely, even if you read them correctly with perfect pronunciation. To be chosen for the role, you would have to sound like you really mean what you say. These two lines require two dramatically different emotional states to come across as real. Look at yourself in the mirror while saying the two lines, then ask yourself if you were convincing enough to get hired. It's not easy to change emotions between the lines so try it a few times. Be aware that your family and neighbors might wonder if you are OK!  Doing this exercise can highlight the difference emotion makes, so the next time you play, make sure you do it with emotion.



 

POLYRHYTHM TIP

When practicing polyrhythms, do it to music and not only with a metronome. In basic polyrhythmic training the student usually plays both parts. In a band situation the polyrhythm may be split up between instruments. This requires the ability to listen to somebody else playing one rhythm while you are playing the other rhythm. Try this example; play along to a simple tune, say in 4/4, and then try a 5 over the 4 or play the 5 over the first three beats (of the 4) and then start a new group on the last beat of the 4/4 and go over the barline. Practicing this way will increase your ability to hear and play polyrhythms in a musical context.

 

 

CROSSRHYTHM EXERCISE

As with polyrhythms, practice to music. For example: Pick a simple, slow 4/4 pop/rock tune with 16th notes on the hi- hat. Play 2 measures of that. That is 8 groups of 4 notes on the hi-hat which equals 32 notes. Add alternating bass drum and snare drum on the first note of each group (i.e. regular back beat on 2 and 4). For the next 2 measures, play 6 groups of 5 on the hi-hat with the bass and snare alternating on the first note of each group. Then add 2 notes as a fill at the end to make that a total of 32 notes too. Alternate between the 2 regular measures and the 2 cross rhythm measures. Keep the 16th notes even throughout. It will feel strange at first and there will be tension during the 2 cross rhythm measures but it leads to release and relief when it all lands on 1.



 

TECHNICAL GOAL

Ultimately we want to become one with our sticks, pedals, drums and cymbals. It should all function as one. One thing that you want to be able to do is to instantaneously play whatever you hear in your head. If you want to play dookadabakabush, then you should be able to play that simultaneously as you are thinking it. So how do you get to that level of proficiency? As usual it's practice, practice, practice. Here's a suggestion on what and how to practice to achieve that skill. At first "sing" made up phrases like the one above and then try to play what you sang. Start out with short, simple phrases and then, as you get better, make the phrases longer and more complicated. Singing phrases before playing them can also unleash creative ideas since you are not restricted by what your hands and feet want to do by habit. When you feel that you reached a reasonable level of singing followed by playing you can start to play the phrases simultaneously as you sing them, again starting slow and simple. At that point it is very important to remember to play what you are singing and not sing what you are playing. Yes, there is a difference and you will notice it when you feel that your hands and feet are dictating what you are singing. Letting your hands and feet do their own thing can be interesting too and can inspire new ideas but for this exercise you want to make sure that you play what you sing. Eventually increase the difficulty of what you are singing and make the song long and non-repetitive. This skill is useful not only with improvised music but also with familiar and notated music.

 

 

KNOWLEDGE AND INSPIRATION

If you want to consider yourself a serious drummer, then you should have some knowledge about everything that has to do with drums. In addition, if you teach drums then you are expected to be an expert in the field. Also with knowledge about what is already out there, you don't have to reinvent the wheel. As a bonus, having all that knowledge will definitely inspire your own playing.

Drums were probably one of the first instruments that humans played, so the scope of the history of drums and percussion is enormous. It is something you can easily spend the rest of your life studying. Here are some ideas about what to read, watch and listen to.

For a drumset player, the history of the drumset and it's players is a good place to start. The drumset as we know it today hasn't been around longer than audio recording and film, so it is possible to both hear and see the history. You can start from the beginning in the early 1900's or start from today and go backward. There are different parts to this study; the drummers and what they played, their individual styles, the different musical styles at the time and the changes to the drumset itself.

Moving on from the drumset as one unit we find that the instruments that make up a drumset, snare , bass, toms and cymbals come from the marching band where they are played by individual players. Much of what was played by drummers in the early days of the drumset can also be traced to the marching band. The world of marching drums has many varieties. Turkish Janissary marching drums, the drums in a Scottish bagpipe band, Swiss rudimental drumming and Drum Corps International performances will all show different styles of march drumming.

Classical orchestral percussion also utilizes snare, bass and cymbals but adds timpani, mallet instruments, gongs etc.. Contemporary percussion pieces often include a tremendous variety of percussion instruments in interesting and complex compositions.

When it comes to world music most drummers have heard of congas and tablas and the styles of Brazilian samba or Afro-Cuban rhythms but how about Kotsuzumi and Eskimo drumming? With the help of the internet it's easy to find a great diversity of music by using search engines and video sites. One way of finding information is to search for "drums from ...."  or  ".... drums" and filling the space with the name of any country or continent in the world. Look at a world map and pick anything. You can also search specific groups of people, specific drums or cymbals or different musical forms and styles. Adding "history of ...." can take you on a long and interesting journey. These searches also usually lead to related subjects that go even further. There are books and videos on how to play these instruments and also music history / drum history books. Knowledgeable instructors and teachers can steer you in a direction that complements your main musical interest and link it all together.

This does not mean that you have to go out and buy every drum or percussion instrument that exists and learn how to play them all! Being aware that they exist and getting some idea of what is played and how it is played and getting inspired is plenty. It helps to be curious, open-minded and creative so that you can apply what you see and hear to your music and your instrument. You might listen to an hour of music and hear one little phrase that you really like. Incorporating phrases like that into your drum vocabulary will make it more interesting and personal.

There is no need to limit yourself to drums and percussion either. Playing the rhythms of a classical piano score can give you new ideas. Old folk music has often been passed along aurally without notation and is therefore not necessarily restricted by metronomic time and note values. There are no limits to what you can find. Taking notes and sharing your new knowledge is encouraged.

This is all fun, fascinating and inspiring. It is also very easy to get caught up in, so some time management may be advisable. You do want to play yourself and get a chance to apply all that new knowledge and inspiration.

 

 

WHO ARE YOU?

This is a very good question for everybody to ask themselves in general, but here we will limit the question to:"Who are you as a drummer?" A drummers early career often starts with learning the basics, like how to hold the sticks. As skills increase it is usually recommended that every opportunity is taken to play in bands and orchestras to improve overall musicianship. At some point later on though, there are choices to be made. Sometimes the decisions are not made deliberately but are merely the result of circumstance. To be more in control of your future it can be beneficial to figure out who you really are. To help you with this, answer the questions coming up. These are questions just for yourself. Nobody will check on you, so be honest with yourself and feel free to add more questions of your own. Take your time and really think about each question and answer. For the first question, "why are you playing the drums", don't just answer "because I like it". Go deeper. Did you start playing because you were inspired by a great drummer or because your friends started a band and needed a drummer or did you play on pots, pans or tables before getting real drums? What was the real reason? Why are you playing now? Really think about it before moving on.

OK, here we go!

 Why are you playing the drums? What is your goal? A big issue that is too often omitted in music education is the consideration of the students goal. Some drummers aim to become the greatest, while others are happy to play along with a recording of their favorite band once a week. Reaching these entirely different goals will obviously require very different amounts of time and dedication. So how much of your life do you want to devote to drumming? How much time can you realistically spend on drumming? Is that amount of time enough to reach your goal?

What are you passionate about? What are you good at? What are you not so good at? Think about things like musical styles, creativity, emotional expression, feel, groove, technique, soloing, playing time, reading music etc.. Think of each of these separetely. Also consider the business side of music. Are you reliable, trustworthy and organized? Do you have an easy time schmoozing and socializing? Are you good at promotion and getting gigs? Do you have recording and mixing skills?

Is your goal to make a full time living playing music, earning a decent continous income or perhaps part time weekend gigs only? Do you want to combine playing with teaching or with a day job? Do you just want to play drums for fun? Is your goal realistic under current circumstances? If not, are you working towards making changes to reach you goal or does it make more sense to change your goal? Do you want to change your goal? Are you trying to be like a favorite drummer of yours? If yes, does that really fit with who you are? Usually we are best at being ourselves. What style of drumming do you like to play? Are you playing that currently? If not, can you change the situation? Do you want to change the situation or are you satisfied where you are?

Do you prefer to play covers and are you good at transcribing and making it sound like the original or do you prefer to be in a situation where you make your own drum parts? Do you like playing preset, rehearsed music or would you rather improvise? Do you like touring and being on the road or do you prefer to stay local? How about live concerts versus recording in a studio? Do you want to be the band leader or band member or "hired gun"? Does your choice fit your personality and skills?

 Based on all your answers, what kind of drummer are you? Are you the drummer that you thought you were? Are you the kind of drummer that you want to be? Are you the drummer that you can be? After going through all the questions, go through them again and see if you would change any answer. You may also want to go through the questions periodically to see if anything has changed. While some of the questions can have multipel answers, the purpose here is to find out where your heart and soul lies in drumming. In other words, you want the answer to the question:"WHO ARE YOU?"

 

 

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REALITY CHECK

BEING CREATIVE