Thursday, 31 October 2013

Third lesson, jazz drum set

Listening

Horace Silver (1928-), Song for my Father. I have yet to receive this CD

Chick Webb (1905-39), jazz and swing drummer, band leader, including Stomping at the Savoy, Harlem Congo, Liza, others. Died at 34 years old of spinal tuberculosis, kept band in employment because of depression, despite dying at the time. This impresses me, given the faceless people we have on this planet today.

Doing

With the paradiddle, my shortfall on the left hand is not containing the stick sufficiently and not allowing the stick to rise enough, through wrist movement. My right hand also does not allow the stick to rise enough. Use a tempo of 100bpm with metronome set for 50bpm on second and fourth beats, on visual, audio or on phones, check.

Using a tempo of 100bpm with a metronome set on 50bpm to count the second and fourth beat, playing ride cymbal and snare drum together with the bass drum on quarter notes and the hi-hat on second and fourth beat. My main challenges are to keep the snare drum quiet in comparison with the ride cymbal and to allow the ride cymbal stick to rise enough, or at all really! This is actually okay, I can nearly manage!

Now, here is the challenge! Maintain this rhythm but introduce a swing on the ride cymbal, a quarter note followed by two sixteen notes, the whole repeated. The first note is to the right of the normal position, the first sixteen note has the accent and is to the left of the normal position, moving across the cymbal to the right. First, do this without the snare drum. This is challenging!

A final word

The chance of any drummer being remotely close to the calibre of Jason visiting Zambia at any time and being available for teaching is slim. If you want to learn jazz drum set, take advantage of this opportunity.

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