Uptempo Stone method — 02

Here's a little companion to our other uptempo method using Stick Contrtol by George L. Stone. This is more of an open system, and you may do it without even getting that deeply into the book exercises— you can do plenty with just the first four patterns: RLRL / LRLR / RRLL / LLRR. See what you can do with at least patterns 1-13 from page 5.

What we do is this: The practice patterns Stick Control are played as quarter notes, with the Rs played on the bass drum, and the Ls played on the snare drum with the left hand. To that we add quarter notes on the cymbal, and 2 and 4 on the hihat with the left foot. We then displace each note of the pattern by an 8th note— playing them an 8th note early or late. Take a look, it will make sense...

There are some additional guidelines that help develop a modern texture with this. Mainly:

• Don't stop. Between exercises, play time on the cymbal and hihat. I don't normally beat myself to death playing the straight bop cymbal pattern— I will mix it up.
  
• You don't have to play endless unbroken repetitions; once you learn the little lick for that pattern/displacement, play one or two measures of it, alternating with several measure of time. For the first three book patterns, RLRL/LRLR/RRLL, you can do each little two-note crux lick in isolation, as well.
  
• On the ride cymbal, play quarter notes when you're playing the book exercises, with a broken bop pattern in between. Also reverse that: play the exercises once or twice with a straight bop pattern, with quarter notes on the cymbal in between.
  
• Find a phrase-ending accent with each of the practice patterns; play a strong accent on the drum and cymbal, and tie the cymbal through the following beat. It's better if the accent is not always on 1.
  

Suggested tempo is around 280-350, or half note = 140-175. Faster than it gets a little silly, but do whatever you feel you must.

Get the pdf

Different values

I usually keep just one CD in my car for days or occasionally weeks at a time- recently for me it's been Don Cherry's Art Deco, an old favorite that had been languishing in the stacks for some time. Repeatedly listening to Billy Higgins' solo on When Will The Blues Leave, it's striking how alien the working value system is to so much of what's going on in drumming now. I imagine it would be hard for drummers immersed in the current amazingness cult to know what to do with something that really isn't even trying to blow them away.

I don't even know how to make a case for this. Stuff like "why Billy Higgins is great" is usually just something you figure out by listening. Your ears get a little tired of rimshots and barrages of 32nd notes, and there's Billy waiting to fill the void. Sometimes it takes a little independent credibility boost- like knowing that he's one of the most recorded drummers in history- to encourage you to try to get it. "Either all of those producers and bandleaders were idiots, or he's a great drummer in a way you don't understand yet."

After the break is a little thumbnail analysis of the solo, written for my own benefit as I was thinking about this- I can't promise you'll find it educational. I always thought the analytical tool of stating the obvious was kind of BS, and I feel like I'm BSing when I do it. So, skip it if you want and just enjoy Billy Higgins' drum solo on When Will The Blues Leave, from Don Cherry's Art Deco:

Go now

Yikes, another patch of light posting, as I've been busy with other projects. Until I can get something posted later in the day, get your rear over to Jon McCaslin's blog to watch and more importantly listen to a rare Kenny Clarke video. In case you're not familiar with him, Clarke is the guy who basically invented the modern usage of the cymbal, and modern drumming generally. Learn more about him from the Mel Lewis history of jazz drumming interviews (another h/t to Jon for linking to that originally), then get yourself copies of Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington and Miles Davis' Walkin', for starters.

Kenny Clarke on the invention of the ride cymbal

...and modern drumming in general, excerpted from Ed Thigpen's Kenny Clarke interview in the Feb. 1984 Modern Drummer. I originally posted this last year on the Drummerworld.com forum.

From Thigpen's introduction:

It's understandably difficult for a young drummer to imagine that the various components of the drumset were ever utilized in a manner unlike the way they are today. In actuality, the approach was, at one time, considerably different, and Kenny Clarke had a whole lot to do with changing it all. His drumming led the way towards usage of the bass drum for accentuation as well as timekeeping; the establishment of a jazz-time rhythm for the ride cymbal, and freedom from a strictly metronomic role, forcing the bassist to share in the responsibility of timekeeping. Kenny Clarke can also be credited with freeing the left hand so it could interact with the soloist—the obvious reason why thousands of young student drummers still sweat over Jim Chapin's Advanced Techniques For The Modern Drummer...

To say that Kenny Clarke was "important,"or "influential, "or even "a key musical figure, "does not do his contribution justice. To state, unequivocally, that he was drumming's all-time Great Emancipator, a man to whom every jazz drummer who's ever lived owes a debt of gratitude, is perhaps a much more honest appraisal.