Same Feelings, Different Part: Noise That Evokes Emotion


I recently played an "acoustic" service with just a kick, snare, hi hat and occasional shaker. With this very simple set up, I had to rearrange the drum parts to fit my context. In other words, I can't play the tom groove that's supposed to happen if I don't have any toms, so I had to come up with different solutions to many parts. It was a fun challenge, especially, not having a crash cymbal. I want to share with you how I came up with the parts that I did or, at least, my thought process.

 I basically asked myself a lot of questions, and I categorized those questions into 3 basic steps.

The first step is to be acquainted with the song.

How does the song go? What is the general vibe? How do the drum parts normally go? What rhythms are being played? What's the primary subdivision?

When changing the drum parts to any song, it is important you know what it is you are changing. I wanted to stay true to the original drum parts within reason. It's also important to know what everyone else is expecting the drums to do. Whoever is leading the song has expectations for how the drum part makes him or her feel. I wanted to make sure I make those feelings happen with the set up that I have. The overall feeling and style of the song I refer to as "vibe." Drum parts can be different, but have the same vibe. I think vibe rules over drum parts. - not that parts aren't important, because I think parts are really important, but vibe is just more important because parts point to the vibe. The point here is that listening to more than just a small picture of a song is valuable. For example, there was a moment in our rehearsal for this same gig where no one knew how the chord progression to the instrumental went. Because I spent time listening to more than just my part, I was able to help them find the correct chord progression.

The second step is to build a framework for the song.

What is the form of the song? What is the song's dynamic structure? Where is the song's biggest moment?

I believe this is one of the most neglected steps and possibly the most important step. I talk a lot about this step specifically in an older post called Dynamic Dinosaurs, but for now, understand that knowing where the song is supposed to go dynamically is crucial to changing your drum part. 


The third step is to create your part.

What is the general vibe I want to create? What types of sounds will achieve the vibes I want? Am I capable of playing the same part as the recording at the biggest moment? What do I want to be playing at the biggest moment? Do I have any room to get bigger? What can I do to play less? Do I want to be playing this part for so long? Do these parts make sense from section to section?

Whoah. That's a lot of questions. Let's make those easier to digest. This is where you put what you learned in the previous steps and apply it to your context. I like to begin with the vibe. "Acoustic" sets have a really chill vibe. It's up to you to figure out how "chill" you want that vibe to be and what sounds or instruments will take you there. (I am referring to cymbal choice, snare choice and tuning, stick/brush choice, etc.) Once the vibe is figured out, I start with the climax and work backwards. I didn't want to be stuck playing loose hats without a crash for an entire section, because my loose hi hat is as big as I can get. I think of each drum voice I have as a dynamic layer. For example, I'd start the verse with just my hi hat; then the prechorus add kick; then the chorus add snare; then the bridge add shaker. That breakdown, actually began with me thinking of the beat in the bridge; then I asked myself, "What can I do to play less for the section before?"

 This idea of each drum voice as a dynamic layer is a big lesson. Let's picture a tom groove for a second. I can play it just using a floor tom. I can play it adding kick on just the downbeat or on half notes or on quarter notes or on eighth notes - each of those a different dynamic layer. I can add a rack tom for another dynamic layer. I can add crashes on the down beat, or on the quarter note for more dynamic layers. One groove can have a HUGE amount of dynamic changes with different voices introduced and occurrences of those voices (rhythm). Adding or removing a specific drum voice affects the dynamics and, therefore, emotion of the song.

Taste, is another factor that plays into the parts that I created. I talk more about taste in my post Less is Less. If you follow these steps and ask yourself similar questions, you can create your own drum parts that cater to your own context.
--------------------------------------------------------------------


If you're interested in my approach to learning songs, check out Super Strong Starting Song Stages.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Behind the Shield: Drum Shields

Image
It's difficult to have a blog about drumming in church without talking about drum shields. In fact, I'd like to point out that churches are the only people discussing drum shields. If you've ever attended a concert at a venue that's not a church, you'll notice the drummer doesn't have a shield around him. Also, when I googled "drum shield" I found links that cater to churches and worship on the first page. There's nothing wrong with trying to control stage volume. I'm all for it, actually. But is a drum shield the right solution to control the volume of the drums? And what does a drum shield do anyway? For those of you who don't know, drum shields are those plexiglass walls that form a half circle around the perimeter the drums. The idea behind them is pretty simple. Without a drum shield, the drummer strikes the drum; the sound travels in the line of sight of the listener; the listener says, "Wow, that's loud." With t...
Read more

Why "The Recording" Is Wrong

Image
Photo by  Reynier Carl Here’s what normally happens to me. Maybe you’ve experienced this too: You’ve got a couple days before Sunday, and your worship leader sends out the songs for the weekend. What should any good musician do? Listen to the recording. The recording is always right. We’re trying to sound like recording because the recording sounds good. If everyone just learned their instrument’s part on the recording, we’d sound awesome. You show up to rehearsal with your part learned to a “T” and what do you know? It doesn’t really sound like the recording. You think, “if only so and so learned their part we’d sound amazing (like the recording)” or maybe “if only we had another person to play this one part, then we’d sound legit (like the recording).” What if that wasn’t the solution? What if you’re the one to blame? What if “the recording” is wrong? Whoah. How can the recording be wrong? I mean, it sounds great after all! Well, here are 3 reasons why I think it’...
Read more

My Stick Shtick: Navigating Stick Choice In a Sea Of Sticks

Image
Why on earth are there so many sticks to choose from? And what makes them all different? You want to know? - me too. This is a topic I have been hardcore exploring lately. Here is what I've learned. I think it's important to define different parts of the drumstick (as nerdy as that is) so that you will understand what I'm talking about when I reference it. So take a good look at this diagram of a drumstick. Yeah. That says butt. There are two main reasons why people buy certain types of sticks: 1. how it sounds 2. how it feels Let's dive into the factors that affect sound . Diameter/Thickness - Generally, the thicker the stick, the more power and projection it has. Length - Longer sticks have more torque or leverage (I'm not sure what the right science term is here) but think about it. The tip of a longer stick will travel faster with the same wrist motion of a shorter stick, thus, giving a louder sound (and a different rebound). Tip Shape - This is a big deal. I...
Read more

The Gift Of Confidence

Image
There's a difference in my playing when I give myself permission to "be the drummer." That probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense. What I mean is allowing myself to be the guy who knows what he's doing back there. The guy that knows how to best play his parts. The guy who practiced with the band. The guy who knows where the song is going before it goes there. What is that? It's confidence and authority. I like to call it "being the drummer." So back to what I'm trying to say. There's a difference in my playing when I give myself permission to "be the drummer." I say "permission" because only I have the power to grant that permission to myself. Well why wouldn't I grant myself that permission? Isn't that an obvious thing to do? Well, I'll tell you why that doesn't happen sometimes. If I didn't learn my parts, I don't have my own permission to play like I confidently know them. If I don't know...
Read more

The Missing Link: Why

Image
Musicians, great and terrible, all play what they think sounds good on their instruments. But there's a difference between o.k. players and great players even though they're both doing what they think sounds good. Sure, skill, preparedness, technique, and experience all factor in that difference, but there's still something really small but really important missing. It just so happens to be something I have found to be incredibly difficult to explain. Simply put, it's why. We all ask ourselves, "What would sound good here?" but excellent musicians take it one step further and ask, "Why would this sound good?" Have you ever bothered to ask yourself why the thing you want to play sounds good? If not, you're in trouble. I love how there are so many types of music. You can get the same song to sound very different by playing it in a different style. With all the different genres of music out there, all of the different artists and songs, each of us a...
Read more