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You Say You Want an Evolution?
One particularly profound line from Vinnie Colaiuta’s cover story in the new issue of Modern Drummer—and there are a number of them—stuck in my head long after we wrapped the issue. The topic was contemporary musicians, and what they have to do to maintain a level head in a modern music industry that’s in increasingly rapid motion. Vinnie illustrated the soul searching that today’s player goes through by imagining an individual saying to himself, Is there a way for me to be true to myself and still be effective?
Being true to oneself. For many of us, this isn’t the kind of thing that we quiz ourselves about every day. Likely, we more often monitor our foot speed, the evenness of our single strokes, or our ability to play steady time. But honest and regular self-assessment, that’s just the kind of big-picture issue that can serve a long career at least as much as keeping our chops up.
In fact, this is truer today than ever. The digital age has benefited musicians by giving us unprecedented amounts of control and flexibility. But it’s also made nonmusical concerns like copyright infringement, illegal file sharing, and decreasing professional opportunities front-page issues that not only first-call musicians but all of us must educate ourselves about.
The Vinnie Colaiuta cover story is joined in the January 2013 issue by two features that trace the evolution of our instrument from antiquity all the way up to the middle of the last century. It’s a fascinating tale, and learning about the drumset’s noble history provides us with a deeper understanding of our art and the many generations of musical and mechanical innovations that have happened along the way. But one could argue that the changes that have gone on in the past ten years are nearly as powerful as those of the previous ten thousand, in terms of not only how we make music but also of how much value is placed on our contributions as rhythmatists.
No one can predict where music will go in the future—what wonderful new instruments will be invented, or what kind of economic climate awaits us. But one thing’s for sure: We ignore the big picture at our own peril, as artists, and as determiners of our own fate.
Adam Budofsky
Editorial Director
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The January 2013 issue of Modern Drummer features the final part of funk/fusion drummer Tobias Ralph’s “Don’t Disturb the Groove!” series, focusing on combining broken doubles and hi-hat substitutions to create complex-sounding grooves that never lose the pocket.
Here’s the first example from the article, which shows one way to rework the basic paradiddle by playing the first right-hand double as a left-foot/right-hand combination and by splitting the left-hand double between the hi-hat and snare.
You can expand on each example in the article by adding additional articulations, like flams or diddles. Here’s Example 1 with diddles added to the first 16th note of beats 1 and 3 and to the second 16th note of beats 2 and 4.
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The Kit of the Month department of the January issue of MD features a set that drummer/auto mechanic Jordan Hill constructed entirely of used car parts. You can watch a video of Hill’s ambitious project at moderndrummer.com.
Of course, Jordan isn’t the first drummer to think up a drumkit made from alternative materials. In 2005 the European avant-garde jazz musician Han Bennink performed on a set made out of cheese rounds for Walter Willems’ installation “Cheese Kit Diptych.” And in 2009 Matz Robert Eriksson of the Swedish garage band the Hellacopters played a set made of ice; you can watch a short trailer of that experiment here.
Not content to work within the three-dimensional world, German drummer Demian Kappenstein and scientist Marc Bangert wondered what it would take to construct an invisible drumkit. See what they came up with here.
And speaking of invisible drumkits, you might get a kick out of what happens when comedian Rowan Atkinson stumbles upon one while sweeping up. Watch that clip here, or buy it on DVD here. And keep imagining! |
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