The Importance of Creating Your Own Musical Voice

Think about your favorite musicians or bands. What is it you like about them? It's probably something they do differently than others, something that you like that's easily identifiable.

 One thing that is easily identifiable is their sound. The recently departed BB King had a guitar sound you could easily identify. You'd never mistake him for Eddie VanHalen, even if they were playing together. Think about the sound of drummers you know. Ginger Baker is always Ginger, with his tubby, thuddy sort of drum sound. Joe Morello's sound was always tight & crisp, yet full. John Bonham always had that full, larger than life drum sound. Bill Bruford always has that cracking snare drum sound.

 The same goes for licks/beats/rhythms/grooves. Tony Williams—you can always tell it's Tony by his flam triplets. Or Neil Peart by his cascading tom fills. Or Bernard Purdie by his impeccable shuffle. Or Levon Helm by his deep, soulful groove.
Be a drummer, not this…

 The 1st thing to realize is that you will never be Tony/Neal/Max/Ginger/Papa Jo/Buddy/etc. They each found their sound & style, so that's already taken. So unless you are playing in a cover/tribute band, that needs to reproduce what someone else did, you need to find your own thing. The 1st place to start is to look at your heroes and don't consciously copy them! It's that simple. Love what they do, but don't copy it. Take parts of it and reimagine it as your own. Put a different twist on whatever you take from someone else.

 When you buy new gear, don't buy something just because your hero plays it! Buy something that you like the sound of and can use in the music you play. As much as I love the music Terry Bozzio is creating, I would never use his Radia Cymbals, because they don't fit the type of music I create. 
Nice cymbals, just not for me.

 We all start off by emulating our heroes, by learning their licks, but there comes a point when you need to jump off and find your own thing. It doesn't have to be drastic, just tune your drums differently, set them up differently—Billy Cobham has his toms going from large to small, instead of small to large. Add percussion sounds or electronics—Pat Mastelotto, of King Crimson/Crimson Project/Stickmen, is a great example of this.
Pat Mastelotto - how could you copy this?
Here's a set up I put together for some solo percussion tours I did back in 2004-6. I was playing pieces composed specifically for this set up:
Solo percussion @ Woodland Pattern in October 2004.

 The world already has enough of everyone else, what it doesn't have is enough of you. So go out and create your own voice.

 ~ MB

Comments

  1. billrazzJune 14, 2015 at 11:44 AM

    Fellow drummer here...I've been following you for about a year. As usual a very good article. Thanks so much for all you do!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

What to Look for When Buying a Gong

Image
Today's blog is a revised & updated blog I posted 3 years ago on my old website. I'm always having people ask me about buying a Gong. Well, here's some tips: •••••••• So you’ve decided to get a Gong. The first thing to ask is, what will I use a Gong for? What type of music do you play? Do you want to use it in a rock band, a jazz band, solo? Are you looking for a meditation device? These are important questions and will help determine what type and size of Gong to get.  One important thing to look at is how big a Gong do you want? Gongs are heavy. Gongs are not easy to transport. If this Gong will stay in your house/studio, then that makes it easy to have a larger size. But if you plan to travel in a band with it,  you need to look at the impact a different size Gong will have on transporting it.  A lot of drummers want a Gong because they look cool and sound cool. They also want that type of sound in their percussive arsenal.  A good place to star
Read more

Music Notation for Gongs

Image
Recently, I was asked a question about how Gongs are notated in a musical score. Here are various examples of different ways they have been notated, from traditional classical, to modern musical forms. The first thing is to differentiate the 2 main types of Gongs: the flat faced, usually termed Tam Tam in a classical score, and the Bossed Gong, with a raised center boss (AKA cup, nipple). A good example of a traditional symphonic Tam Tam part would be from Gustav Holst’s, The Planets . This example is from Mars, the Bringer of War : We can see the Gong/Tam Tam notated traditionally on a single staff line.  The next example is from Puccini’s opera, Turandot . This is the Tam Tam part, notated on the bottom line. Example #3 is also from Turandot. The score also calls for Tuned Bossed Gongs. Unfortunately I was unable to find a score example of them. John Cage used various Gongs in his percussion music. This is an example of how he notated the
Read more