Percussion Deconstruction™

Most artists have heard it at least once in their lifetime, either about their own work, or someone else's, the non-artist declaring, “I could do that!” I've heard that from so many people about various artistic disciplines. If only it were that simple! First, let's start off with a video: ↵ Use original player I Could Do That | The Art Assignment | PBS Digital Studios By The Art Assignment YouTube 720p 360p ← Replay X i I personally feel this video gives a good rebuttal to the afore mentioned statement of, “I could do that.” In fact, this does a good job of covering all art forms. But things actually go much deeper than the video talks about. I'm a big lover of modern art, say from the last 100 or so years. And whenever I travel, I try to go to the local art museums. I was in New York City last month and went to MoMA (Museum of Modern Art). It was exciting for me, because I was able to see some of my favorite works in pers...

A recent trip to NYC reinforced just how important it is to experience art in person. I love to go to art museums when I travel, so on this trip we made our way to MoMA (Museum of Modern Art).  It's one thing to see a work of art in a book or on a monitor, but it's a completely different thing when you can see something in person. A photo of a work of art is flat and gives you no perspective as to the size of it. I have found that many painting I thought were large turned out to be small in person (or the other way around). A photo of a painting is at best an approximation of the actual work. It can't show you the true richness of the colors, the subtle differences in shades, the layers of paint, the brush/palette knife strokes, or a hundred other things.  You have to experience them in person. A photo is nice, but… And experience is the right word. It's more than just seeing the painting. It's being in the actual presence of the work, being in the same...

Our artistic careers are a series of choices that we make: go to this school, learn this style, take that gig, turn this other gig down, go for the money, go for the art, etc. Lots of choices that form a path we take. And it's easy to look at someone else's choices and say they “sold out,” or they made a wrong choice. But we don't live their life, we don't know their circumstances. If you have a family of young kids, you may take any and all gig offers so that you can put food on the table. If you are single, or just have a spouse, you may have the luxury of choosing what gigs to take. Or maybe you just love playing and take all the gigs because it's an adventure. Or you might decide to only take gigs within a certain style. The thing is, the choices are always yours and no one else's.     I know that I can look at other artists and think, “I wouldn't have made that choice.” But that doesn't need to be a criticism on their choice, because I'...

It's happened to all of us, things are going along fine, you are successfully doing your music/art, and then suddenly things stop. You have no ideas, you have no inspiration, you have no energy to go on. The Artist's nightmare: hitting a brick wall… You feel like you've hit a brick wall. All your hard work and momentum stops. Try as you might, you can't get going again. Things are at a standstill.  What do you do? Don't panic. Realize this is normal and happens to everyone at sometime. Refrain from getting angry or frustrated. This only deepens the block. Introduce a disruption/distraction to what you are doing: go to the beach/park/forest, or go to the cinema/concert/museum. This can help reset your brain and creativity. Take a nap. Another way to reset. Take a walk and leave your phone at home. Get out of your workspace and get some fresh air and exercise. This can help clear your head and reset your brain. Realize that most blocks are imaginary...

Today's post is directed primarily at the drum set player. Many of today's players develop amazing technical proficiency through hours and hours of practice. But just what do they practice? Most drummers seem to concentrate on 2 main things: Pure technique, like triplets or paradiddles around the drums, double bass chops, speed and precision. Beat/rhythms/grooves. This is all well and good, as we need to master many of these skills, but I've seen too many young drummers concentrate strictly on these. When it comes to playing in a band, they have the technique, but not the means to successfully apply it to the music in a musical way. They often end up sounding like they are playing exercises out of a drum book, which is what they are doing. You can learn to be a better drummer by listening to great singers… I'm all for technique, but not at the sacrifice of the music. An important thing for drummers to do is to listen to both singers and horn players. T...

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 1s...

As drummers/musicians, we spend years and years practicing in our basements/bedrooms/practice rooms. In fact, we spend the majority of our careers practicing somewhere. Our actual time performing live, on stage, is but a small percentage of what we do. So often when we finally do get to perform on a stage, many of us just want to cut loose, and play with total abandon and/or volume, because, we are like like a pent up race horse finally let out on the track. But when playing live, this is the time we  should , no, must have the most discipline! It's all fine and dandy to play whatever you want, however you want, in the privacy of your own rehearsal syudio. And that's good. That is a time to experiment, try out new ideas, and just let it rip sometimes. But being on stage is another beast entirely. Performing live requires a modicum  of self  discipline and editing. If every musician comes up on stage, especially in an improvising setting, with the idea th...