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January 1998-Buddy Rich Issue-Explorations in Drumset Composition-Part 1

A workshop about writing music for the drumset? Are you serious? How can you write music only for the drumset? Drums are supposed to accompany the music, support the music, lay down the time feel, and maybe take a solo occasionally. Indeed, this is true. BUT, the drumset is fully capable of possessing and musically developing all of the basic elements of music, such as melody, harmony, form, tone, color/textures, motivic development, and of course, rhythm and meter.

In this workshop, we will define and break down each of these musical elements and show you how to apply them to writing your own music for drumset(s). The concept of solo drumset and drumset duet music is not new. World class players such as Terry Bozzio with his incredible solo compositions (check out his videos and solo clinic performances) and Gary Chaffee with his creative and innovative duet Seventh Heaven (performed with Steve Smith) have helped to firmly establish Drumset Music as a musical genre that can stand on its own. Just look at the many percussion mail order catalogues and you can now find listings for solo and duet drumset music. Yes, drumset composition is for real.

Okay, lets' get down to it. Melody, by definition, is a succession of musical tones. By representing a horizontal dimension of music, melody is a succession of tones that form a line of individual significance and expressive value. Melody can not be conceived of separately from rhythm, and therefore, standard melody tones possess two qualities; pitch and sound duration. In other words, tones need rhythm to be considered as part of the melody. We can also think of melody in terms of its motion possibilities; up, down, or stagnate. Okay, enough already with the theory lesson. Drums, cymbals, and cowbells, are basically non-pitched, and because of this, we need to think of "drum melodies" in more abstract terms. You gotta use your imagination! We can't think in terms of exact pitches that form major or minor scales and chords. We can develop our own approach to organizing our drumset sounds. ANY collection of sounds can be grouped together and then manipulated to form melodic percussion sounds in terms of high to low sound colors-any of which can be organized to form "drum scales and chords." Once your sound sources are set, you can then focus on applying rhythm and meter to them. With a fundamental understanding of the basic elements of music, all drumset players can write drum music.

The process of developing a musical idea can be a difficult and frustrating process from the initial conception to the process of notation. The rewards, though, are well worth the effort. Just think of how many hours you have practiced difficult coordination exercises and musical styles-often without a musical outlet, because your band doesn't allow for a style such as the Afro-Cuban guaguanco! You've got an outlet now. Write some drumset music! Your assignment until next time is to take an idea you are already working on-be it a groove, or coordination pattern, or ostinato figure-and set it up as an accompaniment pattern. Then decide on what melodic sounds you want to group together and practice improvising rhythmic lines against your accompaniment. You may have to systematically practice all the basic triplet or sixteenth-note rhythms against your accompaniment, but it will pay off, because it will eventually free you up to create melodic lines. Take your time. Practice slowly and build up the tempo. In our next drumset composition visit, we will address the issue of creating musical motives and developing them on the kit.

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