I have always had a love/hate relationship with technique even though I had a considerable amount of technical ability when I was younger. I had what many would consider "classical" training from my first teacher who was an orchestral percussionist. The technique I learned from him did stand me in good stead. I got into All State bands and was recognized for my ability but I had a lot of problems when I played drum set.

To this day, my eyes glaze over when I think about Stick Control, the Moeller method or the physics of a stroke. Drummers are still being taught the same arcane Civil War system of rudiments and the dead language that goes along with it. Do you think a bandleader knows or cares what a paradiddle is.  

Stravinsky said "Technique is the whole man" and thats the truth. I could play the snare drum parts for Love For Three Oranges or Scheherazade with ease yet I could not get into a local rock band to save my life. Why? Because I was never taught to use my feet and coordinated independence wasn't discussed.

Enter Larry Rosen who was the teacher that got me playing the entire set. I was 14 years old and Larry helped me find the other half of my chops by emphasizing the integrated technique and musicianship necessary to becoming a proficient drummer.

Larry also freed me from the tyranny of the practice pad. I could play on the drums and get a true sense of what kind of sound I was making. I learned to hear all of the set and the tones between the different drums. That was when I began to progress. 

Teaching drums on a practice pad is patently absurd and it hurts more students than it helps. Does a piano teacher mute a piano for the student ? Seating a drummer behind a practice pad deprives the student of hearing the sound and it creates a false impression of what that person sounds like.

What should be emphasized is integrated practice that has a musical frame of reference. What I'm discussing is a version of english grammar: learn a word then use it in a sentence. Its a slower method but more efficient. Drum technique should be all of you and always practiced as a means to a musical end.

                            The Groove Continues And Merry Christmas...

All musicians have game changing moments. These moments become part of a musicians DNA as we pursue that new sound. I have had many of these moments but one in particular stands out in my mind.

In my music school days of the early 70's when I wasn't playing I was in the clubs hanging out. On this night I found myself in front of a long forgotten Jazz club called Boomers. I walked in, got a seat at the bar and taking the stand was Steve Gadd. I had never heard of or seen Steve Gadd until he was introduced at the beginning of the set.

What followed blew my mind and changed how I thought about and played the drums. He was totally inside the music, He didn't hit ensemble figures he played them as music without being obvious about it and that groove, whew! I had never heard anything so settled or integrated.

What really got me was a tune with a Mozambique rhythm. I knew the pattern from playing in Latin bands as a hand percussionist. The Mozambique is driven by the timbales and the Bombo or bass note (in a 2-3 clave, the Bombo is the second beat of the clave). This was the first time I heard the rhythm played by a single player on the drum set.

Steve's most celebrated performance of the Mozambique would come later on Paul Simon's "Late in The Evening". Truth Be told, the Mozambique is not that hard to adapt to the drum set, getting it to feel right is a totally different issue.
The ability to play all the parts of a latin groove on drum set was unheard of before Steve.

This is what a game changer does, he upsets the balance of the status quo and creates a new direction and possibilities. I know that he knocked me for a loop, after hearing him I seriously began thinking about a new line of work. How could I learn to play like that. The truth was and is that I would never be able to, 

What it did do was inspire me to hear the infinite possibilities of the drum set and you can't ask for more than that.

                                                The Groove Continues...

 

My ear training began with radio and records not with lessons or a book. My formal music education began later, by then I was much better equipped to study because of having listened so much. The inverse happens today where a student takes lessons on an instrument without having heard anything.

Listening to music is the first step in the development of a musician. The more you listen, the basic principles of your instrument and of music will become clearer to you. It is a rudimentary but very effective form of ear training.

What ever success I've had as a teacher was based on the principal of listening to certain recordings. I've had many students come in asking to learn to play something. They would ask me to write it out for them, I would and they would be happy. 

I realized later what a disservice I was doing by transcribing. I then began telling them to listen to the recording to get a feel and understanding of what ever they wanted to play. Once they did this then I would step in and refine what they heard. Suffice it to say that this didn't make me very popular but I felt that this was the way to develop a musician and not an instrumentalist.

Drummer Kenny Washington once stated That a teacher can't teach you to hear. It's a somewhat blanket statement but there is a lot of truth to it. Technical skill without listening to music is no skill at all. You can't play something if you don't understand it and you will not understand something if you don't hear it.

Listening to music is an aural textbook. You are increasing your knowledge every time you hear music. Understanding makes the seemingly unplayable on paper, playable. This aural information is retained and stored in your "inner ear". It is the development of the inner ear that will you lead you to being a better and more aware musician.

                                       The Groove Continues...