PEVIEW ONY Coyright 005 by Matt Moore and Jayne Groves ISBN 0-9757-0- Unauthorised hotocoying rohibited All ights eserved Published by Matt Moore and Jayne Groves Sydney, Australia Cover design by Andrew Mitchell Email: jgmm@tg.com.au Matt mobile: 09 808 97 Jayne mobile: 09 808 96
Foreword We created The Contemorary Drumming Course to insire and reare our drumkit students musically and technically or the challenges they meet as they rogress rom the training band stage through to the highest level o band and ensemble laying. Book Basic Skills has a dual ocus: irstly to equi students with a wide vocabulary o the most relevant beats and ills and exerience in combining these tasteully; secondly, to rovide a comrehensive yet musical selection o reading work, technical work and hand/oot coordination o an aroriate standard. We are delighted with the overwhelming ositive resonse to The Contemorary Drumming Course by our students, their arents and music colleagues who have observed our students rogress. The course has been a joy to write. Thank you to all those students who have heled insire the writing and revising o this book. Note: The Technical Section - olls, Flams & Accents is laced at the back o the book or the teacher to incororate with the graded course work as aroriate. Matt Moore and Jayne Groves Sydney based music educators, erormers and comoser/arrangers PEVIEW ONY
Contents The Drumkit... Setting U Your Drumkit...5 Musical Notation...7 Getting Started...9 Basic udiments...0 Playing the Bass Drum... Playing the Toms... / Notes & / ests... Playing the closed Hi Hat... ock Beat Basics - / Note Feel... Playing the ide Cymbal... Playing the Crash Cymbal... / Notes, Dotted / Notes & Whole Notes 5 /8 Notes & / Notes...6 ock Beat Basics - /8 Note Feel...7 ock Beats with an /8 Note Feel with / rests...7 /8 Notes, / Notes & / ests...8 ock Beats with an /8 Note Feel with /8 notes on the bass drum...9 ock n oll Snare Patterns...9 Getting The ight Height...0 Dynamics...0 Three Big, Building Fills... /8 Notes, /8 ests & / Notes... /8 Note Fill hythm... ock Beats with an /8 Note Feel with /8 rests & /8 note ills... /6 Notes, /8 Notes & / Notes...5 Essential Fill hythm...6 /6 Notes & /8 Notes...7 Essential Fill hythm...8 Essential Fill hythm...9 ock Beats and Fills with Oen Hi Hat...0 Oening and Closing the Hi Hat...0 Dotted / Notes... Playing the Crash Cymbal on the O Beat... /6 Notes, /8 Notes & /8 ests... ock Beats with an /8 Note Feel with /6 notes on the snare drum... Fill hythm + e...5 /8 Note Trilets...6 /8 Note Trilet hythms...7 ock Beat Basics - Shules...8 Shule ock Beats and Fills...8 Swung /8 Note eading...9 Jazz (Swing) Basics...0 Sot Jazz Patterns...0 Driving Jazz Patterns or Big Band/Concert Band... Driving Jazz Patterns or Small Jazz Ensemble... im Click (Side Stick, Cross Stick)... Bass Drum Develoment... Big, Building Fills Adding Bass Drum... eading in / Time...5 / Beats...6 ock Beat Basics - /6 Note Feel slow temos (one-handed)...7 ock Beat Basics - /6 Note Feel medium to ast temos (two-handed)...8 eading in 6/8 Time...9 /8 ock Beats and Fills...50 ock Beats with a / Note Feel...5 Changing Feels - / Note, /8 Note, /6 Note...5 Syncoation with /8 & / Notes...5 Syncoation with /8 Notes, Dotted / Notes & /8 ests...5 Technical Section oll Prearation - / Notes...56 oll Prearation - /8 Notes...57 oll Prearation - Dotted / Notes...58 oll Prearation - /, Dotted / & Whole Notes...59 oll Prearation - 6/8...60 Flams...6 /8 Notes with Accents...6 /8 Note Trilets with Accents...6 /6 Notes with Accents...6 PEVIEW ONY
Tom Crash Cymbal ide Cymbal Tom Hi Hat Snare Drum Tom (Floor Tom) Bass Drum The Drumkit Standard Five-Piece Setu: Five drums (snare, bass and three toms) with hi hat, one crash cymbal and one ride cymbal. I you have one combined crash/ride cymbal, lace it in the ride cymbal osition. et-handers reverse the setu. PEVIEW ONY Jazz Setu: Four-iece setu with hi hat, one or two crash cymbals and one ride cymbal. The cymbals are usually larger so they can double as a crash and ride cymbal. ock Setu: Four or ive-iece setu with hi hat, two crash cymbals ositioned lat, and one ride cymbal usually ositioned low and lat. Extended Setu: Five to seven-iece setu with hi hat, two or three crash cymbals, one or two slash cymbals and one ride cymbal. Secialty cymbals such as a china cymbal may also be added.
Setting U Your Drumkit. Set u the bass drum, hi hat and stool. Position the edals so your eet are a comortable distance aart. Adjust the stool to the correct height - thighs should sloe slightly downwards and shins should be vertical.. Slot in the snare stand. Position the snare stand with one leg ointing towards where the crash cymbal will be. This will hel revent stands getting in the way o one other.. Position the snare drum. Position the drum at an aroriate height and angle - you should be able to lay a rimshot (hit the head and the rim simultaneously) without changing the angle o your wrist. The snare strainer lever should be on the side nearest you or easy access.. Position the toms. Position the toms at an aroriate height and angle, making sure you can lay in the middle o the head without hitting the rims. Toms should not be angled too steely as this can result in the heads becoming easily dented. PEVIEW ONY 5. Position the cymbals. Position the cymbals so you can touch the centre o each cymbal with your ingertis when seated on the stool. Make sure the cymbals do not come into contact with the drums or stands when layed. 5
Essential Accessories Wood-tied (bead) Wood-tied (acorn) Electronic metronome ubber earlugs Analog metronome Foam earlugs Custom-moulded earlugs Drumsticks Select drumsticks o average thickness (5A or 7A) made rom hickory or male. Tis may be bead or acorn-shaed, wood or lastic. Wood tis are reerable, sounding more natural on cymbals, while lastic tis are more durable. Sticks should be well-balanced, not to-heavy, and straight. A stick is straight i it does not wobble when rolled across a table. Metronome A metronome (timekeeing device) is an essential item or every drummer to own. We recommend all exercises be racticed with a metronome or the develoment o recise rhythmic lacement and solid timekeeing skills. Earlugs Always rotect your ears by wearing earlugs when racticing. This is most imortant when racticing in a small room. ubber or oam earlugs are satisactory. Custom-moulded earlugs, whilst exensive, are comortable, long lasting, easy to clean and contain ilters which do not mule the sound. PEVIEW ONY 6
Musical Notation The Sta Music is written on a sta (or stave) - a set o 5 lines and the saces in between them. Drumkit Notation In drumkit notation, symbols are written on dierent lines & saces o the sta to reresent ieces o the drumkit. 5 ride cym closed HH crash cym ride cym bell hal-oen HH oen HH Bars (Measures) Music is divided into bars o equal length. Barlines searate the bars. A double barline indicates the end o a iece o music. Cles A cle is the symbol written at the beginning o every stave. The cle used or drumkit notation is the ercussion cle or unitched cle which indicates that notes on the stave reresent ercussive sounds (not tuned notes). HH oot snare rim click bass drum bar barline bar barline bar barline bar tom tom tom (loor tom) double barline PEVIEW ONY unitched cle 7
Notes and ests Notes come in various shaes to reresent sounds o dierent lengths. ests indicate silence. Each note has an equivalent rest, equal to the same number o counts. Whole Note est Hal Note est Quarter Note est Eighth Note est Sixteenth Note est Time Signatures A time signature is written at the start o a iece o music, next to the cle. time signature The time signature consists o two numbers. The to number indicates the number o beats in each bar. The bottom number indicates what tye o note receives one count. Whole Note - our counts Hal Note - two counts Quarter Note - one count Eighth Note - two er count Sixteenth Note - our er count PEVIEW ONY beats er bar / note receives one count Examles: x / notes er bar x / notes er bar 6 x /8 notes er bar 8
Getting Started. Matched Gri Aly the gri to both hands.. Hand and Stick Position Gri the stick aroximately one third o the way u, between the thumb and irst joint o the index inger. Form a triangle with the drumsticks on the head o the snare drum. Position the tis o the drumsticks slightly o centre. Imagine you will be laying in an area the size o a yo-yo. Make sure the hands are turned so the alms ace down. Wra the remaining ingers loosely around the stick.. Playing A Stroke The stroke is roduced by an u-down movement o the wrist. Imagine an invisible string is ulling the stick back towards your shoulder and releasing it. Start with the stick slightly above the head. Using the wrist, bring the stick back (the imaginary string ulls the stick towards your shoulder). Allow the stick to dro on to the drum and rebound to the starting osition. PEVIEW ONY. Sticking Sticking is indicated with the letters or a right hand stroke and or a let hand stroke. Play the ollowing sticking exercise. 9
Basic udiments / Note - one count / est - one count eeat Sign - go back to the start and lay again The Single Stroke oll count: The Double Stroke oll The Single Paradiddle The Buzz oll To lay a buzz stroke, aly ressure with the thumb when the stick comes into contact with the head to roduce a series o bounces. PEVIEW ONY The Flam To lay a lam, hold the sticks at dierent heights and dro them together. The grace note (small note) will reach the drum slightly beore the main note. count: () () 0
There are two ways to lay the bass drum. Playing the Bass Drum Adding the snare drum: Heel Down Used or soter laying. Keeing your heel on the edal, move your oot u and down. snare drum tom tom Playing the Toms Heel U Used or louder laying. Keeing your heel o the edal, move your leg u and down. The beater stays against the head o the bass drum between strokes. tom PEVIEW ONY
/ Notes & / ests / Note - one count / est - one count count: 5 6 7 8 PEVIEW ONY eading Exercise Practice the snare art searately beore adding the bass drum.
Playing the closed Hi Hat Close the hi hats by ressing down the edal with the let oot. The hi hat is layed with the right hand, halway between the bell (the raised art in the centre) and the edge, with the ti o the stick. count: count: Playing the snare on beats & is called laying the backbeat. ock Beat ock Beat Basics - / Note Feel PEVIEW ONY ock Beat
Playing the ide Cymbal Strike the ride cymbal halway between the bell and the edge with the ti o the stick, keeing your thumb on to and the stick in a straight line with the orearm. count: ock Beat hi hat hi hat ock Beat Playing the Crash Cymbal Strike the crash cymbal on the edge with a glancing blow using the shoulder (taered art) o the stick. PEVIEW ONY Beginning and ending with the crash cymbal hi hat ride cym
/ Notes, Dotted / Notes & Whole Notes two counts three counts our counts / Note Dotted / Note Whole Note / Note est These values aear as diamond shaes when written or cymbals: crash cymbal count: ride cymbal count: () (choke) ride cymbal count: Dotted / Note est Whole Note est Choke Squeeze the cymbal between the thumb and ingers to sto its vibrations. Choke using the non-striking hand with the thumb ositioned on to. (choke) *A dot laced next to a note (or rest) increases the note s value by hal its original length. () () (choke) (choke) (let ring) (choke) (choke) PEVIEW ONY crash cymbal count: () () (choke) (choke) (choke) 5
/8 Notes & / Notes /8 Note (one tail) /8 Notes are joined by one beam count: + + + + 5 6 7 8 PEVIEW ONY eading Exercise 6
ock Beat Basics - /8 Note Feel One-Bar eeat - lay the revious bar again ock Beat ock Beat Beginning and ending with the crash cymbal ock Beats with an /8 Note Feel with / rests 5 PEVIEW ONY hi hat ride cym 7
/8 Notes, / Notes & / ests 5 6 7 8 eading Exercise PEVIEW ONY 8
ock Beats with an /8 Note Feel with /8 notes on the bass drum Beginning and ending with the crash cymbal ock n oll Snare Patterns PEVIEW ONY Beginning and ending with the crash cymbal ride cym 9
5 6 7 8 m m m Dynamics Dynamic signs indicate how loudly or sotly to lay the music. The dynamic symbols are abbreviations o Italian words. Piano Sot m Mezzo Piano Moderately Sot crescendo - gradually getting louder m Mezzo Forte Moderately oud Getting The ight Height decrescendo - gradually getting soter Forte oud PEVIEW ONY 0