A Heads Up about Heads

With the triumph of plastic heads over calf-skin, we now have a near-infinite variety of options. Plastic film comes in a number of thicknesses and materials. The heads can be layered, coated, dampened, even ‘chrome-plated’ ... and more. And each drum head innovation has either cured a problem, created a new sound or both. 

Now, about finding that ideal drum head: Here is a basic guide to plastic drum head characteristics.

Thickness
Ranges from 1 mil (1/1000 of an inch) for orchestra snare-side heads to 15 mil for heavy duty batter heads. Thinner film has faster response and more high overtones but is not as strong. Heavy film is mellower and can be tuned lower than thin heads. 

Number of Plies
Usually just one or two. A second ply removes a lot of the high overtones while deepening the low end and adding both sustain and ruggedness. Two-ply heads can be made from any combination of ply thicknesses to yield heads as heavy as 30 mil. Heads can also incorporate a tone ring and reinforcing dot. 

Coating
A sprayed-on coating softens the tone, bringing the sound more in line with calf-skin, and provides an excellent surface for brush work. Some heads are treated to a texturing process that looks much like a coating (e.g. Remo's Suede heads), with a sound that is mid-way between clear and coated heads. 

“Donuts”
Drum heads can incorporate a variety of tone-modifying rings. Many bass drum heads have an added "tone ring" at the perimeter. The Evans EMAD system for bass drum has a mounting system for damping rings. Donuts mainly affect sustain (increase) and ring (decrease). 

Reinforcement
The first 'dots' were added to the centre of drum heads to counteract some of the abuse drummers were inflicting on them. It turned out that these heads produce a tone that is desirable in its own right. Dotted heads are loud and hard wearing, and can provide very good stick response.

The Works
In theory a drum head could have more than three layers plus other features, but there are practical limits. Many combinations simply do not work.  Too many layers kills the sound, as does a head that is too thick. And a thicker head may not even fit the drum shell properly. So you won't find a 3-ply coated dotted head with a donut. Fortunately, the makers know what works and what doesn't. 

Coming to Grips With Grips

You’ve no doubt heard about the various alternatives for the lead hand (both hands in the case of matched grip): German, French and American. You may even have gotten into arguments about it. These variations are relevant to tympani and mallet players, but should drum set players be concerned as well?

First, let’s see what we’re actually talking about.  The different styles of grip are differentiated by the orientation of the stick relative to the palm and forearm. If the butt juts out to the side, that’s the German style. Held like a rapier -- thumb on top -- is the French style. And the American is in between, with the back of the hand parallel to the floor and the butt of the stick in line with the forearm.

And how do these grips stack up?

The German style relies on rotating the forearm to make a stroke. That can be good for volume, but it’s a poor choice for articulation and speed. Also, it doesn’t allow for much wrist or finger control. The French grip is great for control and articulation, but it's limited in the amount of power it can deliver. The American grip appears to have all the desired positives and no obvious weaknesses.

Does that mean the French and German grips are inadequate and that we should always choose the American style? No, not at all. In fact, drum set players tend to use all three grips (and then some) regardless of their training and background.

Here’s a test that you can try. Sit down at your set and, while keeping your elbow close to your side, reach for your ride cymbal with your lead hand using as natural a motion as you can. Chances are you turned your forearm and landed in something very much like the French grip. This is exactly what you want when playing, for example, a fast ride pattern.

Now bring your stick back and put the tip in the centre of the snare, again using a natural motion and with your elbow glued to your side. Did you automatically rotate your arm and slide into the American grip? Good. American is what you want for most snare drum work.

And what about the German? Starting from the American grip on the snare, it's very easy to move your stick to the hi-hat with a slight twist and there you have the German grip. You can also rotate the arm to address the floor tom … also German grip (and yes, it's upside down).

There is no one right grip for the drum set. They all work, and unless you force them to do otherwise, your hands will move naturally -- and comfortably -- between the styles and degrees of rotation according to need. My advice is to adopt the American grip as your basic technique, and then slip into the other grips whenever it makes sense. 

 

Should We Bring Back The Internal Tone Control?

A wonderful invention that permeated the drum industry for decades was the internal “tone control.” The name is somewhat optimistic. The devices were there to minimize ring, but if applied too liberally they could really mess with the sound ... and sometimes they rattled. After the rock heyday of the ‘60s, internal tone controls began to fade away and are now rather hard to find. (A lot of the vintage drums I’ve seen have had them removed -- and too often lost.)

Contending with ring is always an issue for drummers, so let's examine the field of available 'damping*' options.

From Down-under
The original factory-installed tone controls press a soft damping pad against the drum head from inside the drum. They are simple to operate and do a fairly good job. However, when you strike the drum you push the head into the damper, which can increase its damping effect. A strip of cloth under the head is much the same.

Take It From The Top
External dampers affix to the drum’s hoop and lower a pad onto the head. When you strike the head, it moves away from the damper, which reduces the damping effect and lets the drum 'speak'. When the head returns to rest, the damper once again engages fully. Wallets and such on the snare fit into this category.

Ring Around the Noises
Narrow rings of drum head material that sit just inside the drum's rim are very effective at removing ring. Because they’re not pressing against the drum head, they allow the drum to be expressive when struck while eliminating a great deal of ring. Damping 'donuts' also come in foam or other material, and are sometimes integrated into the drum head at the factory.

Stuck On You
Stick-on dampers (tape, gels, exotic putties) do two things: they reduce ring and they provide ballast. Because they ride along with the head’s vibration, they neither increase nor decrease their damping effect. They also add weight to the head, which can increase a drum’s depth, body and resonance while reducing unwanted ring. Stick-ons are cheap, easy to use, and infinitely adjustable.

So Which Method Is Better?
I find that no one solution covers all situations. Some drums need a lot of damping, and some sound great with little or none. You might find that you need more than one damping tool to do the job. The key is to try the different options and find what works for you (I have one raucous floor tom that requires a tone ring, an external damper and a gel pad!)

* Damping vs. Dampening
There's a case to be made for using the word damping when referring to reducing ring. Dampening suggests wetting something whereas damping suggests muffling. A common trick with hand drums — and with all drums in the old days — was to dampen the leather head with water to lower the tone. So in theory, one might first dampen the head and then dampen it, or vice versa. So dampen a head using water and damp a head by putting some tape on it.

Take the 'N' Train

As I put the over-long article away I said to myself, “Did I really just read 10 pages on rhythmic entrainment?”

Entrainment is simply the ability we humans have of synchronizing with a rhythm. . The concept seemed somewhat interesting at first, but the more I read about it, the more pervasive and important it appeared to be. And so I kept digging.

Oddly, there may be only two species that are able to 'entrain' to music:  humans and parrots! While other creatures may enjoy music and will often attempt to move in time, parrots are the only sub-humans that can truly move to the groove.

There are some interesting aspects to entrainment. For example, if you set a few metronomes at different tempos and then put them on a surface that can move a bit, the metronomes will entrain to one tempo regardless of the tempo setting (don't know if anyone's tried this with parrots).

We also see entrainment in everyday situations. People in close proximity often synchronize their breathing, and people living together may entrain their sleep (and other) cycles. Entrainment seems to be everywhere.

A central focus of the above-mentioned article was how entrainment might even apply to ethno-musicology.  Rather than inundate you with details, let me focus on two aspects.

Societies tend to have culturally-specific rhythms, which are ingrained from an early age. It’s even possible to determine someone's cultural background by what rhythms they are more comfortable with. For example people who grew up with polyrhythmic music -- as can be found in parts of Africa and India -- can join in instantly, whereas polyrhythms might mystify someone from a western music culture.

There's also the issue of identification. There's a good chance your social group likes the same sort of music. This isn't surprising -- it's the music that people of a similar age and social background grew up with.

Musical preference can also serve as a test for who belongs to the tribe and who is an outsider. My own generation thrived on music, and to this day we seem to be of one mind when it comes to the music of our teens. We lucked out and lived in the golden age of rock, but if you ask around, you’ll likely find that every tribe is pretty sure their music is also the best .

 

A Curmudgeon's Guide To Blast Beats

 My tastes lean toward lighter music styles, so thrash metal -- the domain of blast beats -- is not on my short list. But when I see a player like Joey Jordeson or Thomas Pridgen or Derek Roddy, I'm a little envious of that speed, control and raw energy. It's hard to not be impressed when someone's feet are slamming out 16th notes at 200+ bpm.

I'm not about to try out for a metal band, but I thought it might be interesting to work on some simple blast-style beats. The techniques aren’t difficult and they are terrific strength builders. The main issue is speed, and that comes about gradually over time. The other issue is, uh, speed. Because of the control required, the rhythms should be practiced ... no, not fast but very slowly. That's hardly an auspicious start to a career in speed metal, but trust me on this.

Let’s start with the basic beat: alternating strokes with the feet (shown here with bass drum and hi-hat) and straight ‘bang bang bang’ with the hands. Here it is as 8th notes and then as 16th notes.

This is the core blast beat, and it's usually done with double bass pedals and a ‘wash ride’, which just means play the lead hand on a crash cymbal. Play the exercises at a comfortable speed for 5 minutes. Next day, move the metronome up a notch. Keep working up the speed scale -- gradually -- until you reach your personal goal (see "Faster, Faster").

I call this next one 'Running on all fours'. Hands and feet just play the same thing, rather frantically. Also try the reverse. 

Challenge
Once you’re comfortable with some speed, try different stickings against the standard blast foot pattern and vice versa. A great source of ideas is Stick Control (check out pages 5 through 7), although any book with lots of hand patterns will work just fine.

I've committed a number of these exercises to paper and would be glad to send you the PDF.

“Columbus Sailed West”

One of my pet peeves is when musicians take forever deciding what to play. As bad or worse is a group that takes the stage but hasn't discussed the content of their set or even tuned their instruments. I once played in situation where I was able to set up my entire drum kit in less time than it took the front line to decide what tune to start with! I was shocked to say the least. 

So what's this got to do with Christopher Columbus? The famed explorer’s plan had a bit more to it, but Columbus's basic idea was to sail west rather than east. Simple plan, profound results. So even a plan with as little meat on it as “Let’s go that way” kept them on track.

Another useful saying I picked up along the way is “Fail to plan and plan to fail”. Again, the plan doesn't have to be elaborate. Certainly an ambitious project that will take years to complete may need project management software, but deciding how to spend the next 10, 20 or 30 minutes should be a simple thing.

Planning applies to every facet of your musical life. Weather looks bad? Leave a bit early. Snare head is too worn? Take a spare, or maybe change it now. The band is sitting in for a short set?  Line up 4-5 tunes and get the guitars in tune before hitting the stage.

The same applies to your personal practice and band rehearsals. A rehearsal that lacks direction can be soul killing. Same with wood-shedding. Without a clear goal, the chances of achieving something worthwhile fall dramatically.

Aside from helping you appear more professional and generating warm feelings from management and audience, you'll find that your stress level will also drop when you know you're well prepared when you step on stage. And everyone will appreciate the effort:  audience, management, other musicians, agents.

How to Cure Drummer’s Block

When I was teaching college, I became very aware of something called writers block. It seems that as the due date for a term paper approaches, a number of students experience a brain freeze and will essentially forget how to put sentences together. Fortunately it usually disappears just as mysteriously the night before the paper is due.

Eventually I came to the conclusion that the students who got writers block simply didn't have anything to write about. And the reason they didn't have something to say was because they hadn't thought about the topic, nor had they done any research. It's pretty hard to write knowledgeably about something if you haven't learned anything about it or thought about it analytically and creatively.

Which brings me to creativity. Creativity comes out of synergy. It's the taking of something that is known (your ‘research’) and then doing something with it. A creative soloist will take the melody, the harmony the rhythm, and even timbre and derive something new by adding in some of their accumulated knowledge. A great soloist will also incorporate tradition. This would not be possible if the player has not done the homework: practicing, studying, listening.

Your research also consists of learning the song, its various parts, your part, and perhaps the harmony. Listen for catchy or distinctive ideas. You might also listen to different versions and interpretations of the tune. You can even go the extra step and review the lyrics and perhaps look up a bit of history: What’s the song really about? How did the writer come to write it? What was the context? All of this will give you grist for your creative mill.

The next step, for the writer, is to organize the material and then start writing, and ideally that results in multiple drafts as the ideas and writing evolve. So, we too need to organize, analyse, synthesize, and apply our learning, and develop it further as we gain a better understanding of the music.

A great way to work on creative solutions is through mental practice is. For example, I tend to write my blog articles almost completely in my head, and I'll mentally create two or three drafts before committing anything to paper. I do the same with tunes, mentally trying out parts that I think might work. And I’m always discovering something interesting.

As you build your store of musical knowledge and skill, you’ll find that the opportunities for creativity will explode, and that will cure your drummers block.

The Drum Yoda's Guide to The Classics

There are so many drum books available today that it’s easy to be confused by the range of choices. And new books seem to be arriving almost daily. But there are a few epochal books that really kicked things off for drummers the world over. What's even more impressive is that these often unassuming books can launch a whole new field of investigation with just a bit of creativity.

These, then, are the books that, for me, provided the most bang for my buck in the beginning and that continue to nurture my creativity years later.

Progressive Steps To Syncopation by Ted Reed This is just about all the reading chops anybody really needs. The book's forté is its logical layout. It starts out with the basics and then builds gradually from there, never introducing a concept prematurely -- as the title says, "progressive steps". You can find a lifetime's worth of study here.
Stick Control for the Modern Drummer by G. L. Stone May as well call this one the drummer's bible (and many drummers do). As well as providing a wealth of creative and useful stickings, the book also introduces rolls, rudiments, syncopation, polyrhythms, and more.  And it can be reinterpreted endlessly.
Modern Reading Text in 4/4 by Louie Belson & Gil Breines Reading, reading and more reading. While at first it seems like just a lot of snare lines, this book takes you step by step from quarter notes all the way to triplets and 32nd notes, with emphasis on syncopation. (Also available and recommended: Odd Time Reading Text.)
The Essence Of Jazz Drumming by Jim Blackley I admit that I'm a Blackley-ite, and a hard-core devotee of the man and his ideas. And with good reason. This is the only book I know of that pares jazz drumming down to its most basic and essential elements, and lays things out in a logical, easy-to-understand and musical plan for success. Even for a non-jazzer and the non-drummer, this is a must-have tome. (You can find a downloadable study guide to Jim’s book on my website.)
Advanced Techniques For The Modern Drummer by Jim Chapin What sets this work apart from virtually all books that preceded it is that it's a method for independence on the drum set. In a field once dominated by rudiments and snare etudes, a book for drum set players was welcome. Also for the first time (1948), the book incorporated musical lines and mixed phrasings.
The New Conception For Drums: The contemporary approach to jazz drumming, by Morris Lang Out of print and almost impossible to find, this one will get you moving around the drums like a pro. The concept is short fills and solos using all parts of the set, and the applications are universal. Well worth looking for (I foolishly sold mine in a fit of ‘decluttering’).