All Tied up

March 31, 2023 Joel Rothman

I’ve found that many drummers have difficulty when a drum arrangement is full of tied notes. No doubt one of the reasons has to do with the lack of practice reading material with tied notes in drum books.The rhythm in the following etude is simple, but it’s replete with ties. Reading it perfectly at sight may prove challenging even for drummers experienced in reading charts

NAIVE OR JUST PLAIN STUPID?

March 31, 2023 Joel Rothman

I was actually unaware that there were tiny bottles of liquor for sale--I simply assumed they were free samples given to hotels for their guests as advertisements. Before going home I took all the small bottles from the fridge thinking I would give them to friends, and packed them into my drum case with the snare.

3+3+3+3+2+2 = Four Three Stroke Rolls + A Single Stroke Four

March 30, 2023 Richard Best

Editor’s Note: Richard Best sent me this thing he’s been working on for his students. He’s calling it variations on the classic 3+3+3+3+2+2 rhythm. There are two rudiments within these patterns.

Cymbal/Snare Coordination w 16th Notes

February 28, 2023 Joel Rothman

The following article shows what I consider 40 basic two-way coordination patterns between the eighth note rock cymbal pattern and snare drum using sixteenth notes.

The Single Stroke Four (Four Stroke Ruff)

January 31, 2023 Joel Rothman

The Single Stroke Four, which I prefer to call the Four Stroke Ruff, is one of the most lovely-sounding rhythmic embellishments played by drummers when executed perfectly, either with brushes or sticks. And it is used quite often by most players. But the ruff is not easy to perform exactly right every time. I’ve heard even top-notch drummers mess it up once in a while. The exercises below will go a long way in helping any

drummer develop or polish up this wonderful rudiment.

Plastic Fantastic - 3D Printer drum parts

January 31, 2023 Richard Best

So, I have an invention. I wanted to get a prototype made from my sketches and got a quote of $250 to have a one 3D printed. I thought that was pretty good and I was all set to commission the work. Then I got talking to a friend who is a designer and mentioned the prototype and the cost. He said he’d just bought a 3D printer for $300. Well that was enough to send me off in a totally different direction.

Professor Sound's Drum Tuning Bible

January 31, 2023 George Lawrence

Scott Johnson’s Drum Tuning Bible has been on the www for probably 25? years. I am publicizing this because it is an exhaustive resource and very useful to those who have questions about tuning drums. Johnson writes about every possible method of tuning, head choices and combinations, and dampening devices without bias toward any of them.

Putting The Accents on Accents

November 30, 2022 Joel Rothman

Developing the skill to play accents helps to strengthen your hands in order to build technique. Moreover, accents are an essential part of playing breaks and solos. Whether it’s rock, jazz, latin, marching or classical music, accents have an important role to play. The following etude is named , ACCENTUATION. It’s from my book, DUET YOURSELF BOOK TWO. The rhythmic makeup couldn’t be simpler since the etude is all with eighth notes. At first glance it’s deceptively easy, but working up the etude to speed without making mistakes might prove a little tricky for some readers.

Rudiments that work overtime

November 30, 2022 George Lawrence

I have a habit of ranting against the rudiments. Of course I'm referring to the classic rudiments of military origin. The point I usually try to press home is that many of the ‘standard’ rudiments are rather hard to apply to the drum set and others rarely fit modern music.

Does Neatness Count?

October 31, 2022 Richard Best

I'm a stickler for clean technique and a clean sound. I like to hear every stroke, every tap, every nuance, so I spend a lot of time on articulation to enhance my control and to refine my sound. And then someone like Stanton Moore comes along and raves about something he calls “the slop”. You can hear it in his playing, especially in his second line shuffle, where the strokes seem to just slosh around joyously. And boy does it cook!

JOEL ROTHMAN; The Jazz Cymbal Beat

October 30, 2022 Joel Rothman

Joel explains how the swing ride pattern is played differently at different tempos.

Drumsville! New Book about the history of New Orleans Drumming

September 30, 2022 George Lawrence

The first book-length study of its kind, Drumsville! The Evolution of the New Orleans Beat is a companion to the New Orleans Jazz Museum exhibit that traces the history of drums and drumming in New Orleans from Native People to today. A main goal of Drumsville! is to provide the keys to understand how this legacy led to the creation of the drum set, an instrument so pervasive that few people question its origin

Drum Education Live Podcast Live - Joel Rothman

August 29, 2022 Joel Rothman

Great podcast episode with Joel Rothman who, at 84, is still kickin’ and sharing his experiences as a life long drummer.

The Forgotten Head

August 29, 2022 Richard Best

…double-headed drums have regained their spot at the top of the food chain. But with more membranes comes more responsibly. Tuning a two-headed drum means tuning two heads and getting them to play nicely together.

Drumming is in the ear of the beholder

August 29, 2022 Joel Rothman

Dynamics is the key to a musical performance.

Adventures in Arthritis

July 31, 2022 Bill Ray

I went to a sports medicine specialist, got X-Rayed and he pulls up
the picture, circles a spot in the middle of my hand and says “yep,
here’s your problem, you’ve got Osteoarthritis. See how the cartilage
is disappearing? And oh yeah, you’ve got a bone spur right here (adds
another circle). Happy day, Mr. Ray!”

The Jazz Cymbal Beat

July 31, 2022 Joel Rothman

Joel Rothman goes deep into time signatures and note values when explaining the jazz cymbal pattern.

The Myth of Independence

July 31, 2022 Richard Best

When I was at music school, we had a coven of enthusiastic drummers, and almost every week one of our members would see some note-worthy drummer at a club and dutifully report the next day that the player had '4-way independence. But there's a problem with that assessment.