By Tim Kane

http://www.kaneschoolofdrums.com

Although one great New Year’s resolution for drummers could be learning how to sight-read musical charts, the inevitable question always arises as to the time commitment involved and how that particular skill set would play out in the real world.

Luckily, I was taught to sight-read musical notation live as a young student in grammar school when I played trombone. That early Bass clef knowledge carried over to drums and continued on straight through my college jazz band years. But not everyone is a schooled musician, or even wants to be. The fact is drummers really don’t need to sight-read in most musical settings today, unlike wind, string, piano and brass musicians. After my college band experiences ended, I did not read a single note for more than a decade. I played everything by ear.

My point is not so much having to learn to sight read in order to play in a successful band – unless of course you plan to enter the music industry professionally and attend college where sight reading is a pre-requisite. For most part-time and hobbyist drummers out there – and many full-timers, too – you probably will never be asked to read a chart or define how a 5/4 time signature breaks down.

I stress with my own students that learning how to sight read has a lot more to do with opening up new avenues of musical expression across the entire drum set; discovering cool new rhythms and patterns you would never have played without sight reading them first; and providing yourself with an instant framework to focus yourself during practice. In my opinion, learning to sight-read is as important as playing along to your favorite bands and songs or performing live with other musicians. Your ears and eyes are intrinsically connected.

HOW TO LEARN SIGHT READING

The easiest and best way to learn to sight read, if you don’t want to go out and hire a private drum instructor, is to buy a good music theory and composition book or CD, and definitely check out national drum magazines such as DRUM! and Modern Drummer. Those publications always carry great how-to-read exercises and notation breakdowns in each edition.

Once you understand note and rest values and the mechanics of how they apply to measures, time, dynamics and all of your drum and cymbal “instruments”, the best way to master them is to use your ears. Take several of your favorite recordings and transcribe the drum parts for them on music staff paper (manuscript). Then, ask a musician friend who can sight-read well to grade them. Try to work drum chart transcription – or at least live sight reading – into your regular practice regimen. And if you get stuck when reading music, slow it down to a tempo that’s more manageable or seek help in an online drum forum.

And if more advanced chart reading skills just aren’t in your future, consider simply learning the meaning of quarter, eighth, sixteenth and 32nd notes, counting measures in time, and the basics of song composition with regard to verse, bridge, and chorus construction. If you can even just talk music theory lingo a bit, it improves your opportunities as a drummer not only from a performance perspective, but also in terms of being able to offer meaningful feedback and ideas to other musicians about their arrangements and original compositions.

Remember, it’s rare today for a rock band leader to hand you a drum chart at a gig or practice and ask you to sight read it verbatim. Beyond being prepared for something that rarely occurs for drummers outside of recording studios or at more intricate jazz and concert band gigs, learning to sight-read just makes you a more complete and smarter drummer. Happy New Year!

– Tim Kane is a freelance drummer, instructor and writer living in Massachusetts. http://www.kanedrums.com

Don’t allow complete strangers to just walk into your private rehearsal and hang out unless they knock first and ask respectfully. Lock the door.

Yes, it is New Year’s eve day and time to once again generate my musical New Year’s resolutions. So here’s my top 10 drummer resolutions:

1 – To never drop a stick again (yeah, right)

2 – To play more paying gigs because I am worth being paid

3 – To always carry the backbeat and be THE timekeeper

4 – To share my drum wisdom more on this page with a wider audience

5 – To play more jazz and funk styles since that is what I am built from

6 – To always smile at gigs and not have weird facial expressions

7 – To compose and record another full album on all instruments

8 – And to then put a band together and play all my originals at a live show

9 – To further refine my drum instructional prowess

10 – To be thankful and gracious at the true blessing being a musician is

Happy New Year!!!

When our fingertips (and others) touch the cymbal surface, acid transmitted through fingertips interacts with the alloys. They are amino acids to be all-scientific on you, and they can source approximately 100 times the concentration of amino acid found in a New Zealand fossil shell. That’s a lot of acid, dude, but the molecule also is the cleaning solution to your problem. Cymbals can easily tarnish from the dust produced by human skin, airborne grime emitted from nearby appliances such as boilers, and even wooden chafe from your stick strikes. There are a thousand ways to make cymbals dirty, but thankfully only a few methods actually work to get most of that shine back.

Most drum and cymbal manufacturers sell relatively mild and effective acid-based cleaners, and there are a few specialty products on the market that contain even stronger ingredients. “Groove Juice” is a hot one right now, for example. Most of these cleaners will over time take your logos off of your cymbals, however. So unless you want to eventually remove your logos, then you must clean around them or wash that area immediately if it comes into contact with your chosen cleaner.

No leg hi-hat stands make a lot of sense for today’s drummers as they eliminate the challenge of fitting three-legged varieties in between other drum gear. For example, if you play a double kick drum pedal, positioning the cymbals of a traditional two or three legged hi-hat stand to your stick sweet spot can be difficult, as can leaving enough room to move your left foot between your hi-hat and left kick pedal. A medium to heavy weight no-leg hi-hat stand solves that dilemma.

The same can be said for three legged boom stands. Finding enough floor area for boom stand legs without interfering with your drum rack base legs can be haphazard at best, especially at gigs where quick and efficient set-up is a must.

If you want to reduce the leg clutter around your kit, and the sheer weight of your filled hardware bag, use some of that Christmas money in 2015 to invest in no leg or two-legged cymbals stands.

For most part-time and hobbyist drummers out there – and many full-timers, too – you probably will never be asked to read a chart or define how a 5/4 time signature breaks down.

I stress with my own students that learning how to sight read has a lot more to do with opening up new avenues of musical expression across the entire drum set; discovering cool new rhythms and patterns you would never have played without sight reading them first; and providing yourself with an instant framework to focus yourself during practice.

Yes, it is possible to play with one brush and one stick at the same time. In fact, they work perfectly in concert with each when the stick is used for rim clicks and the brush for circular snare and ride patterns.

Break down songs into bite size chunks (verse, chorus, bridge) when learning them as a band. Better to learn one new song at a rehearsal then to feel your way through several and never really master them.

Fuel your drumming technique instead of failing it

By Tim Kane

http://www.kaneschoolofdrums.com

I recently played a packed Halloween club gig in which I ate no real food of sustenance most of the day, employed no floor monitor or in-ear device, forgot to bring bottled water, drank too much free beer, allowed the sound guy to cram his PA speakers on either side of me so I had no way out, failed to fight for my rights when our lead guitarist set his large amp up directly in front of my kick drum, and skipped the pre-gig band warm-up. Suffice to say, I violated almost every rule when it comes to fueling your drumming technique.

So where did I go wrong? First of all, I should have known better than to not understand the gig logistics prior to actually showing up with my gear. Come to find out, this particular club didn’t even have a stage area. I helped the bar manager move tables and chairs to open up room. If I had taken just a little more time before the gig to analyze how many tables would actually have to be moved in order to comfortably accommodate a 5-piece band, many challenges that particular evening would have been erased. My bad.

Moreover, the band I was filling-in for on drums did no sound check prior to the first set. We just started playing. If one were held, I would have requested a monitor and more room to maneuver. As drummers, we have just as much right to ask for certain amenities at gigs as our fellow musicians do. My bad.

Getting muscle cramps like I did during the gig is never cool, either. Dehydration and lack of food to power your muscles are the primary causes of cramps. Given bottled water is usually hard to come by in bars, I should have brought five bottles and placed them behind my drum kit. I also should have arrived much earlier at the gig and ordered dinner there. If not, a couple of high-energy bars stuck in your stick bag will do the trick. My bad.

As for floor monitoring and getting proper levels, all I heard that evening was mush from other bandmates (and they actually played well). And with the lead guitarist’s amp placed directly in front of my kick drum, I am sure the audience had trouble hearing me, too. The band ended playing tight against two walls in an L-shape. It was one of the most maniacal stage set-ups I have ever experienced. I should have asked that question well before the gig and also allowed time for readjustment after the sound check that was never conducted. Again, my bad.

This all takes me back to bagging out on the pre-gig band practice (I was teaching drum lessons at the time and should have just rescheduled those students). That dress rehearsal would have been an ideal time to talk about the gig dynamic, my needs, stage set-up, sound levels, and overall expectations. You should have that group discussion well before the gig.

All of this combined into the perfect storm of a third set meltdown for me personally with near exhaustion and frustration. In the end, lack of advance preparation killed my drumming technique at that gig and I have no one else to blame but myself.

– Tim Kane is a freelance drummer, instructor and writer living in Massachusetts. http://www.kaneschoolofdrums.com

TIM KANE’S DRUM TIP OF THE DAY: Wanna play lightning fast 16th notes on the hi-hat, but your arms fall off after 16 measures? Here are a few tips to try:

A) Practice at a slower pace and work 16ths up to desired speed as it really is all about developing that muscle memory.

B) For faster beats, make sure you play the hi-hat with the tips of your sticks and not the thicker neck/shoulder.

C) Open your hi-hats slightly to compensate for mistakes.

D) Be sure to breathe with the pace of the song.

E) Play upstrokes. Let the sticks do the work for you.

F) If your arm muscles are burning, you are doing something wrong. Slow down and re-evaluate the process.

Good luck!