http://www.vicfirth.com/exchange/2012/07/06/alan-dawsons-syncopation-jazz-plus-more/
July 6, 2012 1:41 pm in Drumset by kevin
fortunato
Hey Everyone, thanks for tuning in again this month.
Let’s get right to the point, shall we? Today I’m going to demonstrate examples
of jazz coordination using Ted Reed’s book “Syncopation”. Just to give
you a little history lesson before we get started, the book wasn’t written with
these exercises in mind. What you’re about to hear and see are the now famous
exercises designed by legendary drummer and teacher Alan Dawson. For those of
you who don’t know who Alan is, look him up on wikipedia – he’s arguably the
most influential drum teacher of all time, and the former educator to other
legendary drummers like Tony Williams, John Ramsay, Bob Gullotti, and Terri
Lynn Carrington to name just a few. Unfortunately, I never studied with Alan,
but rather it was Bob Gullotti who passed most of this information along to me.
(with the exception of Examples 10, 11, and 12 – which I thought of as a result
of working with John Riley’s books) And now I’m passing it along to you. Keep
in mind that most of these patterns have the traditional “jazz ride cymbal and
stepped hihat” played throughout. You will notice that pattern immediately in
my hand written version of example 1.
Since there’s a lot to cover, why don’t we jump in.
But before we do that, take a look at the actual page from Syncopation. The
page is written as just a snare rhythm, which varies from line to line, and
eventually from measure to measure. Remember, the pages you’ll use are 33
through 44 in an older copy, and 34 through 45 in a newer copy. There’s a
quarter note bass drum pattern written throughout, but you will ignore this
bass drum pattern, and only focus on the snare rhythm for these exercises.
Since it’s written this way, and you’ll play it quite differently from what you
see, I’ve included my own hand written examples of how you’ll decipher each
style.
Example 1 – This
style is called snare drum reads. You’ll play the traditional ride
and stepped hihats, but you’ll add the snare drum rhythm from the
syncopation book. In the video you may notice that I played the snare line with
a “natural accent”. This is my natural way of articulating the snare line. You
should try to play it without articulation at first.
Example 2 – This
style is called long and short. The way to decipher it is to play the
8th notes on the snare, (short sound) and the quarter notes on the bass drum.
(long sound) Remember, you’re ignoring the quarter note bass drum pattern
written along the bottom of the staff. The quarter note bass drums that you’re
playing are written as part of the snare line.
Example 3 – You’ll
begin with the traditional ride cymbal and stepped hihats. But to this
you will add the last two partials of a triplet played on your snare drum.
Then, the bass drum reads the rhythm written in the snare line. In the
video, I begin this example by playing two measures of this without adding the
bass drum part, then I play another 4 measures with the addition of the bass
drum. (sorry, there’s no name, that I know of, for this style)
Example 4 – This
style is called filling in the triplets, bass drum reads. It’s kind of a
derivative of the above example. Again, the traditional ride cymbal and
stepped hihat continues. To that you will read the snare line with your
bass drum, and add all of the missing notes that would have made up a triplet
with your snare drum. This is complicated to understand, which is why I
added the hand written example. Please refer to that if you’re confused.
Example 5 – This style is called filling in the triplets, snare drum reads.
It’s the exact opposite of the above style. Snare drum reads, bass drum
fills in the missing triplets.
Example 6 – This
style is called hihat reads, snare drum fills in the missing triplets.
And, it’s played exactly as it sounds. You’ll begin with the traditional
ride cymbal pattern. But this time you won’t include the stepped hihats on
beats 2 & 4, and that’s because the hihat foot will read the notes
written in the snare drum line, and you’ll fill in all the missing triplets
with your snare drum.
Example 7 – This
style is called snare drum reads, hihat fills in the missing triplets.
And, it’s the exact opposite of the above style. Read the snare drum line
with your snare drum, and fill in the missing triplets with your hihat foot.
Example 8 – This
style is called hihat reads the 8th notes, bass drum reads the quarter
notes, and snare drum fills in the missing triplets. It plays exactly as it
sounds in the description. Basically, within every measure you will find a
combination of 8th notes and quarter notes. Again, you will play the
traditional ride cymbal pattern. And to that you will add the stepped hihat
wherever you see an 8th note, a bass drum wherever you see a quarter note, and
the snare drum fills in the missing triplets.
Example 9 – This
style is called bass drum reads the 8th notes, hihat reads the quarter
notes, and snare drum fills in the missing triplets. And, it’s the opposite
of the above style.
Example 10 – This style is called long and short movements around the toms.
Basically, it’s example 2 from above where the snare drum plays the 8th notes,
and the bass drum plays the quarter notes. However, this time you’ll move
around the toms. The way I designed it is to use the bass drum notes as a
signal to move your hand off the snare and around the toms. Each time you play
a bass drum note, or succession of bass drum notes, you’ll then move to a tom
of choice. In the video, I gave you examples of clockwise, counterclockwise,
and other options. But you should be the master of which sounds you want based
on melody. Given that each tom has it’s own pitch, you would select the tom to
move to next based more on that. The examples I show are simply to get you
moving around the toms.
Example 11 – This style is called bass drum reads, snare and toms fill in the
missing triplets. In a nut shell, it’s the exact same style as example 4
from above. The difference is that it employs the concept from example 10.
Depending on tempo, you’ll have to move around the toms at a much faster pace
to fit all 12 notes into a measure. Please refer to the hand written page if
you’re confused.
Example 12 – this style is called hihat reads the 8th notes, bass drum reads
the quarter notes, and snare and toms fill in the missing triplets. Again,
this is the exact same style as example 8 from above, but you’ll use the same
concept as examples 10 and 11. In the video I play an up, down, and back
motion. But again, you can decide on the motion to move based on pitch.
These exercises are just some of the ways to learn
jazz coordination. Your body and ears will remember the movements and sounds
when you’re playing on the bandstand. However, they’re not meant to be your
voice as a jazz musician. But rather, they’re designed to get your body
coordinated. Once you obtain all this new found ability, we’ll then need to
begin learning how to phrase it. That will be the topic of another article in
the near future.
