Truth is No Stranger to Friction


[Apologies again for multi/cross posting, but hey, they are my blogs, so why not…]

This week I was busy working on a new drum set duet. As with most compositions, this one started out with a basic rhythmic idea that I would elaborate on. I was listening to a classical music radio station and one of the tracks played caught my attention. I listened for a bit, jotted down 2 basic rhythms on a piece of paper, then shoved the paper in my pocket for later reference. A few days later, I looked at the paper and started playing around with the rhythmic idea. Example #1 shows the basic rhythmic motif: drum set #1 plays a repeating 3-beat pattern on the snare drum, while drum set #2 plays a repeating 4-beat pattern on the high tom:


click on example to enlarge

The ideas here are:

  1. Layered rhythms that are separate, but exist in the same musical space.
  2. Staggered rhythms (in the example we can see that for every 4 times the pattern in 3 is played, the pattern in 4 is played 3 times, then the 4-bar pattern starts over).
  3. A sense of friction as the 2 rhythms move against each other.
  4. A sense of sameness, leading to the mind to go into a trance, or hypnotic type state, as the 4-bar pattern is repeated throughout the whole composition.


I like friction between rhythms. I like the way 2 different rhythms can move past each other creating a 3rd, larger meta-rhythm. I'm fascinated by how different rhythms interact with each other, and how we perceive those interactions (and also how we physically feel those interactions).

The next idea, in example #2, is to move notes to other drums, but making sure they are random instead of having any discernible pattern:



In many ways I'm treating these as 2 separate drum parts that just happen to be in the same composition. This random movement of the drums hopefully produces more friction, and even more of a sense of randomness.


Finally, in example #3, 2 new ideas are added to the rhythmic layers:



  1. Drum set #1 adds a bass drum playing once every 7 notes played by the hands.
  2. Drum set #2 adds a bass drum playing once every 5 notes played by the hands.
The idea here is to introduce a 3rd & 4th rhythmic layer where both follow a strict pattern, yet because of the rhythmic structure, they appear more random and create more friction between the different rhythmic layers.

So this is one way I think, working with patterns and finding interesting ways to weave different patterns together.

~ MB

Musical examples from Drum Set Duet #13, © 2012 and reprinted with kind permission of Intuitive Arts Media.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Have Drummer's Lost Control Of Their Sound?

Image
This is a companion piece to last week's,  What Ever Happened To Individuality? post. Music today has become so homogenized. So much of it sounds the same because the same small group of producers/songwriters are making all the hit tracks. There often seems to be very little individuality left. This is especially true for the musicians playing on all these songs, but specifically drummers. Rather than controlling their own sounds/feel, drummers are increasingly at the mercy of producers.  Since the advent of digital recording, and software like Pro Tools and Logic, it's possible to completely change a recorded drum track. Individual drum and cymbal notes can be moved in time and retuned. Recorded drums can be easily replaced by samples of other drums. It's to the point where you could do a session, and when the recording comes out, you've been completely replaced and reshaped by the producer. Your actual performance was really nothing more than raw data that was u...
Read more

Tam Tam vs Gong

Image
I can't tell you how many times this argument of "A tam tam is not a Gong" comes up. It came my way no less than 3 different times this week. Actually, 'tam tam' (also tam-tam) was 1st used in symphonic music back in the 1800s to differentiate a flat faced Gong from a Gong with a raised center 'boss.' (There is no definitive answer as to where the term tam tam originated - some say it's Chinese, some say it's Hindi, still others say it's something else…) To add to the confusion, 'tam-tam' is a term often used for either an   African  djembe or talking drum. When a score calls for a 'tam tam' (like Messiaen’s 'Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum' or various works of Richard Wagner), then a flat faced Gong, like a Chinese Chau, is used. Flat Faced Chinese Chau Gong/Tam Tam When a score calls for a 'Gong' (like Puccini’s 'Madame Butterfly', or 'Turandot'), then a bossed Gon...
Read more

The Continuing Myths about Cymbal Alloys & Hammering - Part 1

Ahhhh, yes, one of my favorite topics. If there’s any topic out there that gets beaten to death as much as that of Tony Williams’ ride cymbal, it is that of cymbals themselves. The whole aura of cymbals is filled with myths, truths, half-truths, lies, and propaganda. And that’s just the good part! *Note of disclosure: Hey, I just happen to be a Paiste endorser, so you might be thinking, “That guy is really biased!” Well, I’ve owned and played cymbals by most of the major (and some minor) cymbal makers out there and liked them all. I’m not afraid to call them as I see them, for whatever company.  So let’s deconstruct some of these ideas: Alloys - The opinions are so varied I could write a book on just this alone—but I’ll try to keep it brief. It’s important to note that all cymbal companies put their own spin on the subject and their truth usually sits squarely with what type of cymbals are their main product. I can’t fault them for promoting what they do and want to ...
Read more