11/8 - What I Learned from Ed Soph

Ed Soph came in to my Percussion Methods class the other day to talk about drum set.

The first thing he talked about was the drum set's history. The drum set really first originated when the Ludwig brothers invented the bass drum pedal; before that, there was a snare and toms guy and a cymbals and bass drum guy. But, because of this new invention, the bass drum guy was out of luck, and the snare guy had to learn some coordination.

The first "beat" on the drum set was the New Orleans groove, four on the bass drum, keeping time, and a press roll with accents playing something similar to a bossa nova pattern. Cymbals were only used for fills. If you listen to any really early swing, you'll hear it.

Now, before the hi hat was invented, there was a low boy. It sat 8 inches above the ground, and was just to keep 2 and 4. But once the hi hat became popular, the right hand played the swing pattern on the hi hat, four on the bass drum, and accents or 2 and 4 on the snare drum.

Then, Mr. Avedis Zildjian, the one who really brought their company to fame, started making bigger cymbals (only like 13 inches, but still, not splash cymbals anymore). The drummers started to keep the swing pattern on the "ride" cymbal, and 2 and four with the hi hat, so keeping four on the bass drum wasn't really necessary, instead it started being used for big accents and with cymbals. The snare did it's same old job.

Once the hard boppers came along, drummers started getting a little more creative, and put the hi hat in places where it had never been before, on offbeats, in fills, etc. The ride pattern didn't have to stay constant, and the snare and bass hits got a little weirder too. Hard bop was a creative time.

And now we're at this modern phase where everything is possible and so it all kind of blends together. He didn't explain this part very well.

He said we should all probably listen to Warren "Baby" Dodds, the original of the originals. Here's some audio:



We came up with a list of things that are important to drummers all around:
- Time. Keep it well. None of this matters if you don't have time.
- Dynamics
- Phrasing (yes, we can phrase)
- Form, like don't change cymbals in the middle of a phrase.
- Sound, getting exactly the ones you want.
- Touch
- Technique, not that there is a specific good one, but know which one to use in a certain situation.
- Balance, within the drum set and within the ensemble
- Interpretation, how much you're copying from things you've heard, and how much is original.
- Style, knowing which things are crucial and which are flexible.
- Motion. If you're tense, your playing sounds tense, if you're fluid, you sound fluid.
- Improvisation. Know when, have a reason why, and know how to play what you're trying to.
- Imagination, really key since it's one of the only things keeping us from being replaced by machines.
- Listening. This one is really key.

I'm starting to like this guy. He has some pretty thick either sarcasm or lack of emotion to get through, but he's a legit person once you get through it.

Oh, and he said some cool things that I just had to write down.

"There's always going to be something that taunts you, but that's okay, because life would be boring if you knew everything."

"It's not that you can't do it because it's hard, you can't do it because it's new."

M