Bryan+F’s+OpEd+Article



By Bryan F**,
 * Unappreciated Drumming

Behind every genre of music is an element of percussion. Every culture has developed this in some form or another and the idea behind percussion is as simple as clapping one's hands. It is one of the simplest concepts in music, requiring only two objects that can hit against each other, but remains as one of the most complex instruments to play.

"Percussion" is a general term covering a wide variety of instruments. One of the most well known is a drum. The modern concept of drums typically consists of multiple drums and cymbals forming a set. The set is not restricted to just drums and cymbals; does “more cowbell” ring any bells? The standard drum set consists of a bass drum, snare, hi-hat, toms, and cymbals, but can be easily customized in a variety of ways.

To understand the drummer and what he does, you must understand his purpose. A drummer is simply meant to keep rhythm. They must always know the count and ensure that their band members can follow if they get lost. The most common count is 1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a (pronounced 1 e & a…). There are multiple counts in different time signatures and, in more complex music, time signatures can change multiple times within a single song. With so much changing in one song, it is the role of the drummer to keep everyone on track. This allows the band members to play and the people to dance to the music. If the music followed no rhythm and the drummer went wild the music could not be followed and on a simpler level it doesn’t sound pleasant (think of a little kid randomly hitting the drums).

So in order to keep rhythm, the drummer must play. Playing can consist of simple patterns (anything by AC/DC) to intricate beats that are both impressive and difficult (Rush). What is often mistaken as impressive is speed. Speed is not a measure of difficulty. It is often harder for a drummer to train their body to play an intricate beat slowly then it is to play a simple beat quickly. For this reason, many metal drummers should not deserve the credit they receive (Lars Ulrich of Metallica). For this reason it is more impressive for a drummer to achieve limb independence instead of spead. A drummer’s greatest achievement is to achieve limb independence, meaning they can have each arm and each leg play completely different things at the same time.

Wrap your head around this, playing at a count of 1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a with your right hand only playing 1 + 2 e + a e + a 4 + a, your left hand playing + + a + a 4 +a, your left tapping 1 2 3 4 on the hi-hat, and your right foot only playing the a of 1 and a of 3. Now regardless of how slow that is played, it is more impressive then quickly alternating your left and right hands at the same count.

But if you notice, not every limb is playing every note of the count. People most often hear the drums in the background and pay no attention to them. If they do pay attention, then they only hear what is being played without realizing that the drums are not about what is being played, but what isn’t being played. The best example of this mentality is Ringo Starr. Be perfectly honest with yourself, how many times have you listened to the Beatles and said, “That Ringo Starr is amazing!” As a drummer myself, I often stated that Ringo Starr was the most overrated drummer in existence. Sadly, it was not until I was forced to pay attention to his drumming by playing Beatle’s Rock Band that I realized what a genius he was. By very much staying in the background but carefully picking when he plays, he provides a beautiful subtlety unseen in drumming.

Often overlooked by drummers is technique, which also leads to dynamics. Travis Barker, who is most famous for being in Blink-182, is the embodiment of bad technique. He plays well, which I will get to later, but the way he actually plays is awful. For example, if you hold your arm straight out with your palm down and bend your wrist, it comfortably bends upwards and downwards, not side to side. Travis Barker and many drummers play with their thumbs straight upwards forcing their wrist to move in an unnatural way. Second, he often plays with his arms pointed downwards, causing him to bend his wrists upwards. In doing so he limits the movement available to his wrist and does not allow his wrist to act naturally. The importance of this is that drumming is almost entirely in the wrist. It is not about grand movements of the arm, but about small movements of the wrist.

Some drummers never realize this and it doesn’t faze them. What is more bothersome is when they never realize how many sounds can come from their set. This is known as dynamics. A drum can barely be hit (known as ghost notes) or it can be beaten to a pulp and everything in between. It is harder to hit a drum softly than it is to hit it hard. Also the angle of the hit and where the drumstick hits the drum or cymbal can greatly affect the sound. Dave Grohl, drummer for Nirvana and many other bands, never grasped the concept of dynamics. It may seem as if he sometimes plays softly but this is nothing more than the producer lowering the volume of his drums. If you ever see him play live, or look it up, you will understand. I doubt he has ever hit a drum softly in his life.

Probably one of the most entertaining elements of drumming is creativity. It can make each song unique without you ever realizing it. This is the one time where I will praise Travis Barker. I honestly believe his mentality is to make every song he records sound unique. He sweats creativity when he plays and creates some interesting music as a result.

So how do we make sense of all of this? First, look at this image. I also hope to help create an understanding by referencing [|this video]. Blake Richardson is a great drummer, but the real reason I am using this video is because of its quality and how it only focuses on the drumming. To start off, his technique isn’t perfect but it isn’t very bad. The first two and a half minutes are impressively technical but don’t incorporate many dynamics. For the most part, he is simply hitting things hard. Regardless, pay attention to just how much he incorporates in such a small amount of time. Notice little things such as the single bell hits at 1:05 and snare rolls that aren’t just a right left right left drum roll. He effectively uses the hi-hat at 2:06 ad 2:17 as a means to create small pockets of silence. Things become a lot more technical at 2:38. He’s playing more slowly, but as I said it is also more technical. He picks up some more speed with an impressive cymbal pattern at 3:00 but soon after reverts to some more poor technique as he speeds up. One of Blake’s more surprising qualities is that he can in fact play softly, as seen at 4:00. This small section of the song deserves to be viewed multiple times. Pay attention to his hands and the intricate double rolls he incorporates (left left right right hits instead of right left right left hits). Also, look at the cymbal at the bottom right corner of the screen and pay attention to when it moves. You more than likely hadn’t even heard that he hit the cymbal unless you closely paid attention. The next point of interest is another dynamic section at 5:05. Pay attention to how many different sounds he achieves from his hi-hat. Then, at 5:50 watch his left hand and how many times it hits the snare without making a loud sound. These are ghost notes and are impressive for how he incorporates them to the already complex and technical song as well as for being difficult to play. The last thing to note is the bell hits at 8:69. The reason is just because I personally love them.

So for those of you not entirely bored and who actually read this, I ask you one thing. The next time you listen to some music, pay attention to the drummer. Music offers so much more when a single band member is analyzed. Realize that not everyone is good, but some are truly great. Respect those who are great and respect the instrument. Playing drums well is not an easy thing to do and those who do it often poor their soul into the instrument. So listen to their soul, unless you listen to electronica or rap music that does not incorporate a real drummer. In that case, there is no soul.media type="file" key="bryanf-muckraker-0910.mp3"