Post on 05-May-2023
The Drum Also SingsA study exploring playing tonal melody on the jazz drum set
Jakob Sundell
Music, bachelor's level
2022
Luleå University of Technology
Department of Social Sciences, Technology and Arts
Abstract
The drum does not just swing and waltz; It also sings.
This thesis is about playing tonal melodic content on the jazz drum set and what possibilities
and limitations such performance has. The purpose with this thesis is to evolve my melodic
vocabulary on the jazz drum kit through studying and applying tonal melodies on the drums.
To answer this, I use the research questions:
In what ways can the jazz drum kit be used as a tonal instrument to perform melodic themes?
In what ways can the jazz drum kit be used for melodic improvisation?
What possibilities and limitations does a tonal melodic approach to the jazz drum kit have in the
context of the jazz-ensemble?
The method of research consists of practice, recording and analyzing six jazz standards wherein
the melody of each jazz standard was performed tonally on the drums. The recordings were
made in two sessions. The result is presented partly through the analysis of the recorded
standards and partly through the discussion of limitations and areas of interests.
This thesis addresses those who have interest in tonal melodic performance on the drum set.
Whether you are a drummer or not, I hope this thesis can give an overview in tonal melodic
drumming.
Keywords: Jazz drumming, melodic drumming, drums, playing technique, Ari Hoenig, Jeff
Hamilton.
Acknowledgements
I would firstly like to thank the musicians that so kindly offered to play with me in this thesis:
Simon Bergvall, Linus Svanholm, Erik Brandell and Samuel Tillberg. I am very thankful to be
playing with such excellent musicians. You guys brought my melodies to life.
And to the sound technician willing to record me, Johan Hällgren, thanks a lot for the
recordings and being so easy to work with.
I would also like to thank my mentor Mathias Lundqvist for the discussions and the ideas
regarding this thesis, it has been very helpful!
I would also like to acknowledge my classmates: Simon, Helena and Matti. Thanks for all
the music and all the good rehearsals and concerts. You have also been willing to discuss my
progress. It has been very helpful in working through my ideas and thoughts.
I would also like to thank my drum teacher Jocke Ekberg. You have been a huge
inspiration and your happiness and musicality are really contagious.
I would also like to give a huge thanks to the ensemble teachers through the three years
at university: Arne “Basse” Hagström, Erik Weissglas, Hans Backenroth, Harri Ihanus, Johan
Tegheim, Tommy Lakso, Robert Svensson.
My family Ove, Hilda, Gustav and Hannes; and to my extended family Carina, Mathias,
Filip, Ethan, Caroline, Tilda - thanks for the support and the well-wishes.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Personal Introduction ........................................................................................................1
1.2 Introduction to this thesis ..................................................................................................2
2. Purpose and research questions ..................................................................................... 3
2.1 Purpose .............................................................................................................................3
2.2 Research questions: ...........................................................................................................3
3. Theory ........................................................................................................................... 4
3.1 Literature review ...............................................................................................................4
3.1.1 MELODIC JAZZ DRUMMING by Jonathan David McCaslin (2012).......................................................... 4
3.1.2 Melodic Drumming in Contemporary Popular Music: An Investigation into Melodic Drum-Kit
Performance Practices and Repertoire by Michael Jordan (2009). ...................................................................... 4
3.2 Short history of the jazz drum kit ........................................................................................5
3.2.1 The first years ......................................................................................................................................... 5
3.2.2 The emergence of melodic drumming ................................................................................................... 7
3.3 Defining the term “melodic drumming” ..............................................................................8
3.4 Playing techniques .............................................................................................................9
3.4.1 Jeff Hamilton .......................................................................................................................................... 9
3.4.2 Ari Hoenig ............................................................................................................................................. 10
4. Methodology ............................................................................................................... 11
4.1 Choice of Melodic approach ............................................................................................. 11
4.2 Practice-based research ................................................................................................... 11
4.3 Documentation ................................................................................................................ 11
5. Result........................................................................................................................... 12
5.1 Recording One - Practice .................................................................................................. 12
5.2 Recording One - Analysis .................................................................................................. 14
5.3 Recording Two - Practice .................................................................................................. 17
5.4 Recording Two - Analysis .................................................................................................. 18
6. Discussion .................................................................................................................... 20
6.1 Equipment ....................................................................................................................... 20
6.1.1 Drumheads ........................................................................................................................................... 20
6.1.2 Drumsticks vs timpani sticks. ............................................................................................................... 21
6.1.3 Drum set setup ..................................................................................................................................... 21
6.2 Melodic improvisation ..................................................................................................... 21
6.3 Physiological limitations ................................................................................................... 22
6.4 The Listener ..................................................................................................................... 22
6.5 The drums in relation to the jazz ensemble. ...................................................................... 22
6.6 Further studies ................................................................................................................ 23
6.7 Complimentary material .................................................................................................. 23
7. References ................................................................................................................... 24
8. Appendices .................................................................................................................. 25
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1. Introduction
1.1 Personal Introduction
During my senior high school, I had just started listening to jazz and the possibilities of the
improvisation and the playfulness of the music grabbed my attention quickly. After I graduated,
I started studying jazz at community college. In the first year a teacher of mine showed me and
my classmates the album “Lines of Oppression” by the drummer Ari Hoenig (2011). I had
previously listened quite a lot to the pianist Tigran Hamasyan who was playing on this
recording. So, I was interested in his work, but my attention was quickly diverted to Hoenig’s
drumming. The playfulness and complex rhythmical structures inspired me enormously. On the
record he also played the jazz standard1 “Moanin”. But instead of presenting the melody in a
conventional way, by a singer or a saxophonist for instance, the melody was performed
exclusively on the drums. Hoenig managed to perform the notes with high precision, and one
could sing along with the melodic lines. I had not heard this way of presenting the theme
before and I have been interested in melodic performance ever since.
During my musical education I have always heard about drummers not knowing the heads2 to
songs. They usually know different common comping styles for each different jazz style, such as
swing, bebop, up tempo, bossa, samba etcetera, and they know what comping style is most
commonly played over a specific song. But they do not always have intimate knowledge about
the song’s melody. If a drummer was asked to play the melody of a song orchestrated on the
drum set, they usually could not easily do it. This has bothered me in my own practice as a
musician. The drummer has a very specific role in the ensemble and in that role the
musicianship has sometimes suffered. I want to feel as free in my improvisation as possible and
be able to refer to the melody. I want my improvisation to fit into the song and work towards
the collective goal of the musicians playing a specific tune. This interest has led me to want to
state more of the actual tonal theme on the drum set. Since the 1930s the drum set has been
1 A song that is a part of the standard jazz repertoire. 2 The melody of an improvised performance. The melody notated in RealBooks are heads for instance.
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able to be tuned with high precision. High enough precision that the drum set can express tonal
content rather than just rhythmical.
1.2 Introduction to this thesis
This thesis is not aiming to give a de facto guide to melodic approaches by established
musicians discussed in this thesis. In my work on applying melodic approaches on the drum set I
have done so with the will to evolve the possibilities of what a drummer is able to do with the
drum set. Throughout the process I have always strived for musical value and precision. I do not
want my melodic ability at the drum set to be a ‘party-trick’ or a ‘gimmick’. I would like the
melodical expression of the drum set to be a natural part of my musicianship. The aim has been
for me as a musician to be able to use rhythm, phrasing, melody and harmony just like any
other instrumentalist; to do what other instrumentalists have done but in another musical
context. The drummer Max Roach has been foundational in the evolution of melodic drumming
at its roots. He made the drum set a full-fledged improvisational instrument, not just an
instrument for theatre shows and for comping. On his album Drums Unlimited (1966) he
performed one of the first jazz drum solo pieces ever recorded: The Drum Also Waltzes. With
this work, I want to show that the drum does not just waltz and swing; it also sings!
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2. Purpose and research questions
2.1 Purpose
The purpose of this thesis is to evolve my melodic vocabulary on the jazz drum kit through
studying and applying tonal melodies on the drums.
2.2 Research questions:
1. In what ways can the jazz drum kit be used as a tonal instrument to perform melodic
themes?
2. In what ways can the jazz drum kit be used for melodic improvisation?
3. What possibilities and limitations does a tonal melodic approach to the jazz drum kit
have in the context of the jazz ensemble?
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3. Theory
3.1 Literature review
3.1.1 MELODIC JAZZ DRUMMING by Jonathan David McCaslin (2012).
In his doctoral dissertation Jonathan David McCaslin (2012) seeks to answer the question: how
do jazz drummers use melody when they play the drums?. Through interviews with practicing
jazz drummers and teachers and through analysis of historical and contemporary examples he
gives a good overview of drummers’ melodic intentions, philosophies and technique in their
practice as jazz drummers. He gives examples of influences from outside of the jazz tradition
and relates them to contemporary drummers’ usage of melody in their drumming. His
conclusions in different areas are outlined in his analysis of historical and contemporary
drummers. This work has been very helpful in giving perspective and ideas for this thesis. It has
also been one of the main sources in this thesis.
3.1.2 Melodic Drumming in Contemporary Popular Music: An Investigation into Melodic Drum-
Kit Performance Practices and Repertoire by Michael Jordan (2009).
In his master’s thesis Michael Jordan (2009) seeks the answer to three main research questions:
How can melody be voiced on the drum-kit?, What techniques are needed to realize melodic
drumming? and To what extent can compositions involving melodic drumming be inclusive of
other instrumentalists?. His research methodology was based in practice-based research,
composition and interviews with Australian drummers and through auto-ethnographic analysis.
His conclusion is partly presented in the form of his compositions and partly in his analysis of
melodic approaches and techniques. In his compositions he uses multiple techniques where
just some are centered around tonal accuracy. Some of his compositions use an extended drum
kit with song specific tuning. This thesis has been of marginal value for my work.
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3.2 Short history of the jazz drum kit
The jazz drum kit has had some different roles throughout the history of the instrument. I will in
the following section shortly describe the evolution of the instrument in jazz to give a historical
context to my work.
3.2.1 The first years
The jazz drum set had a few different roles in the beginnings of jazz in the early 1900s, in the
late 1910s and the early 1920s. The jazz drummers of this time often had a military background.
The drumming style had therefore some similarities with the drummers of march and brass
bands (Gridley, 2012). The drumming also had some rudimental concepts in it. In the first ever
recognized recording of jazz by the Original Dixieland Jass Band3 the drummer Tony Sbarbaro is
playing rudimental lines as well as improvised syncopated bass drum hits from ragtime
melodies (Brennan, 2020). This was very common for the drummers of that day.
Gridley describes the drummer playing in addition to the lines of the fellow musicians rather
than timekeeping:
The earliest jazz drummers could also perform in timekeeping style and often did. However the point here is an additional one: the earliest jazz drummers often devised lines of activity bearing rhythmic and melodic contours that were distinctly different from the contours of lines being contributed by their fellow musicians. (Mark Gridley, 2012, p.90)
It should be noted that drum sets at this time were quite different from what modern
drummers are used to. What the drum set was composed of varied, but it usually had a big bass
drum, a snare drum mounted on a stand, a suspended cymbal and woodblocks and cowbells
attached to the bass drum. The drummer also had an apparatus for playing a cymbal with a foot
pedal, but this could not create the “chick” which is commonplace in later styles of jazz (Gridley,
2012). Chinese tom-toms were used by these drummers as well. At this time some drummers
used a piece of kit called the snowshoe. It was made with two wooden planks attached on one
3 Note that jazz was spelled with “s” instead of “z”. The modern spelling started of jazz started in the late 1910s.
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side with a hinge. At the other end of the planks where two small cymbals. The player had a
strap on the top plank which allowed them to lift their foot and then smash the cymbals
together creating a chick sound. The evolution of this, the lowboy, was a similar device. The two
cymbals are now mounted 9 inches from the floor. The upper cymbal is connected to a pedal on
the floor, when pushed on by the foot pulls the cymbals together. By the mid-twenties, tubing
was added to lift the two cymbals up to a height in which it could be played with both hands
and the left foot (Dean, 2011). This is what we today would call the hi-hat.
It is here where we can see the first emergence of the proto ride cymbal pattern. New Orleans
drummer Warren “Baby” Dodds is credited for being the first user of the pattern. Arthur
“Zutty” Singleton is credited for being the first user of what later became the standard in swing:
to play every beat on the bass drum (Gridley, 2012).
Gridley writes that the priorities for swing drummers changed in the 30s and 40s. The drummer
had more timekeeping responsibilities “[T]he majority of drummers who played with big bands
during this period tended to limit themselves to making the beat obvious for dancers and
lending a swing feeling to the band” (Gridley, 2012, s.103). The drummer usually played every
beat on the bass drum for timekeeping. At the same time the drummer played timekeeping
patterns on the snare drum or the hi-hat. The drummer did this for lengthy periods of time
except sporadically interrupt the rhythm with a hit on a gong or cymbal for dramatic effect. The
independent drumlines of the early jazz drummer were gone. Jo Jones iterated the techniques
of “Baby” Dodds and “Zutty” Singleton. The ride pattern was still played mainly on hi-hat but
Jones now played it while opening and closing the hi-hat on beats two and four. This lent a
more sustained feeling to the pattern. The bass drum was now more softly played which made
the pattern more flowing and less abrupt. This paved the way for the way of playing which was
usual in the bebop era (Gridley, 2012).
A major development for the modern drum kit came when the Slingerland company in
cooperation with Gene Krupa created a tunable tom-tom. Gene Krupa’s drum set, Slingerland
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Radio King, had done away with all the small percussion instruments and had slimmed it down.
The kit had a four-piece setup with a mounted tom and a floor tom. The drum kit as we know it
was born (Dean, 2011).
Drummers kept on evolving during the 40’s and early 50’s. In the bebop era drummers became
more than just timekeepers (Gridley, 2012). Jonathan David McCaslin writes in his doctoral
dissertation:
However, as jazz music developed, the drum set as an instrument, and the creativity and imagination of drummers themselves, evolved as well. Over the course of jazz history the role and possibilities of the drum set as a musical instrument developed significantly to the point where the drum set could no longer be considered an instrument that exclusively ’keeps a beat.’ Rather, jazz drumming has developed to a point where the drums can contribute musically to an ensemble at the same level of sophistication and interaction as any other musician or instrument. (McCaslin, 2015, p. 10)
Drummers adapted the techniques established by Jo Jones; the timekeeping rhythms that had
been played on hi-hat or snare drum were now played on a suspended cymbal (Gridley, 2012).
The widespread use of the now called ride cymbal meant that the timekeeping rhythms now
had a more legato sound. The drummer also played what is called “chatter”: a spontaneous and
improvised assortment of rhythms played as a compliment to the ride pattern. This is similar to
the rudimental lines that were played by the drummers of the earliest types of jazz.
3.2.2 The emergence of melodic drumming
It is first in the hardbop era in the 60s that the real use of the term melodic drumming emerges
in my research. Drummers Max Roach and Art Blakey are credited with the first editions of
melodic ideas on the drum kit. Art Blakey’s way of playing is informed by the music. McCaslin
(2015) writes about this after interviews with drummers. The drummer Kenny Washington is
one of them. According to Washington Blakey is acutely aware of the melody and changes his
playing depending on it. He orchestrates the musical passages depending on the articulations of
the horn player. Long notes in the melody are played as long notes on the drums (McCaslin,
2015).
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Max Roach also had a big influence on the ways in which drummers play melodically. As a
soloist, he arranged his drum solos as melodical statements. Billy Drummond comments on
Roach’s approach in an interview with McCaslin. “…hearing him play drum solos and use the
pitches of the tom toms, bass drum, snare drum and cymbals melodically and rhythmically…”
(McCaslin, 2015, p.88). In this way Roach used the pitches of the drums’ to state melodic lines.
Note that the pitches here are indetermined. Roach is using the drums pitches to phrase his
playing in a melodic way. In the DVD Standing on the Shoulders of Giants, Steve Smith relays
from a conversation with Max Roach that Roach described his own playing style as “lyrical”.
Roach himself describes it as a story:
It’s like a conversation, even in a solo that you set up with yourself. You play a phrase;
you respond to the phrase. You make a statement; you respond to the statement and
you try to create an overall little story. (Smith, 2008, 1:54)
A continuation of this idea continues with the drummer Roy Haynes in Thelonious Monk’s
recording of In Walked Bud (Monk, 1958). In it, during the first chorus of his solo, Haynes is
playing the rhythms of the song’s melody and orchestrating it so the melodic movement is
similar. He uses the pitches of the drums to outline the melody. When the melody is going
upwards, he plays on a higher pitched drum and when it goes down, he plays a lower pitched
drum, this to create a specific contour. John Riley is describing it this way in an interview with
McCaslin:
So, it’s just a matter of your approximating the line, not so much playing exactly the line. I think it’s possible to convey a melody without really relating to the exact pitches, it’s just more or less the direction. But even then, it doesn’t have to be the same direction; it can be the overall rhythmic shape and emotion of it. (McCaslin, 2015, p.57)
3.3 Defining the term “melodic drumming”
The term melodic drumming is used by contemporary drummers in many ways, and it can be
hard for practicing drummers to separate the different meanings of the term. The term has
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been used to describe the way in which a drummer performs rhythms with a melodic approach;
what has also been called ‘lyrical’ drumming. As discussed earlier the term is often used in
relation to Max Roach. In this way the drummer is not necessarily striving for a specific melody,
rather a melodic and form-based approach to the drumming. This in special regards to solo
playing.
The term melodic drumming can also encompass the style of using dynamics, phrasing and
voicing as melodic devices. In this way the drummer can state a melodic theme, either
improvised or predetermined, with the goal of completing a whole melodic statement. The
drummer Dan Weiss uses this technique. He demonstrates this technique on his YouTube
channel where he in a few videos is playing simultaneously with a solo of a known soloist. In the
video Dan Weiss plays with “Take The Coltrane” (Weiss, 2020) and emulating saxophonist John
Coltrane’s solo in the recording of “Take The Coltrane” (Coltrane, 1963) on the drums. Weiss is
using the specific phrasing of Coltrane to widen his vocabulary on the drums. “He has decided
to use non-drum specific musical ideas and information to influence and inform his own jazz
drumming concept and vocabulary” (McCaslin, 2015, s.147).
3.4 Playing techniques
3.4.1 Jeff Hamilton
The last definition of the term that will be discussed in this thesis is the style of Jeff Hamilton
and Ari Hoenig. Although their two techniques differ in some part it has the similar aim to
present a tonal melodic theme with the tonal relationships still intact. Jeff Hamilton’s technique
is best heard in his solo rendition of the Dizzy Gillespie tune A Night in Tunisia on his record
Live! (Hamilton, 1996), in which he uses similar devices discussed regarding Roy Haynes. The
difference is that Hamilton is manipulating the pitch of the drums he is playing (more on this in
the following paragraph on Ari Hoenig’s technique), in this way he has a bigger range of notes
to express the tonal relationships of a melody. Hamilton’s intention is not to create a note for
note rendition of the melody, but rather an approximation of the melody. McCaslin (2015)
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describes it as Hamilton is “mimic[ing] and approximate[ing] the phrasing and overall melodic
content of the composition” (McCaslin, 2015, s.114). This is similar to the way John Riley
described it above.
3.4.2 Ari Hoenig
Ari Hoenig uses the same kinds of techniques as Hamilton but instead of approximating the
melody Hoenig strives to recreate the specific notes of the melody. To achieve this Hoenig’s
technique relies on two different aspects: 1) The tuning of the drums, 2) The manipulation of
pitches.
Ari Hoenig is using his fourpiece drum kit tuned in determined pitch (contrary to the
conventional way of tuning the drums in indetermined pitch). In his instructional course on Jazz
Heaven (n.d.) he describes a few different ways of tuning his drums. He usually tunes his toms
and his snare in a triad. Depending on the song he can tune the drums in a first inversion or
second inversion triad in major or minor depending on what is the easiest for a specific song.
The floor tom is the lowest, tom-tom the middle and the snare drum the highest4. For second
inversion the floor tom would be the fifth, the tom-tom the root, and the snare the third (either
flat or natural).
Ari Hoenig continues to describe different ways of manipulating the pitch of the drums. He can
either use his elbow or his hand to press down on the drumhead to raise the pitch of the drum.
He can also instead of lifting the stick of the drumhead when hitting the drumhead push it in to
the drum. Both these techniques make the sound of the drum a little bit muffled and the note
is somewhat unclear. This is the reason for changing the tuning between songs. Hoenig calls the
notes played on a drum without any pitch-shifting5 an open note. (Jazz Heaven, n.d.).
4 Henceforth in this thesis, if not explained in another way, when tuning of the drum set is referred to, the floor-tom is always the lowest note, the rack tom-tom is the middle note and the snare is the highest. 5 Changing the pitch of a drum by applying pressure on the drumhead.
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In the following video I demonstrate the different techniques: https://bit.ly/3xbJylK
4. Methodology
In the following chapter I will shortly describe and the process the means of documentation of
my research.
4.1 Choice of Melodic approach
In my literature study above, I have found some different ways in which the drum set has been
used for melodic drumming. I have chosen the definition of melodic drumming most alike Ari
Hoenig’s and Jeff Hamilton’s technique. I will strive to present melodic themes with absolute
pitch as far as the scope of this thesis allows.
4.2 Practice-based research
The practice-based part of my research consists of four steps. 1) Practice and learning of jazz
standard tunes. 2) Recording of these standards. The standards represent different jazz styles
and have different melodic content. For example: blues, bebop, diatonic, modal. After the
recording of the standards, I have then 3) sought feedback from peers, teachers, and
established musicians. This feedback informed my continued work of technique practice and
the recording of more standards. In total I recorded two times and with three songs each time.
The recordings are then 4) analyzed to answer the research questions.
4.3 Documentation
The musical result is documented in two audio recordings done in a studio. Three songs each.
Audiovisual recordings have also been used in this thesis to demonstrate techniques, these
were filmed with a Lumix G7, and the audio was recorded with a Zoom H5. These clips where
then cut and edited in Adobe Premiere Pro. Additional audiovisual recordings from the studio
were filmed with an iPhone 8+. During the research I have kept a journal in which I noted
thoughts on my progress.
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5. Result
In the following chapter I will present the musical recordings and give some background to why
I chose to record each standard respectively. I will then give a summary of step 1) and 2)
practice and learning standards and recording of them. After this, step 4) analysis of the
recordings will be present presented for each recording respectively. I will overview difficulties
that occurred in the practice, relevant thoughts on the process and present the conclusions of
my analysis. Step 3) feedback from peers, teachers, and established musicians informed the
practice and learning of the second recording and is outlined in the summary of practice for
recording two.
5.1 Recording One - Practice
In this recording I played three jazz standards of different character. The three songs are: 1.
Straight No Chaser written by Thelonious Monk, 2. Monks Dream also written by Monk, 3. My
funny Valentine written by Richard Rodgers. The recording was made October 16, 2021. Johan
Hällgren recorded and mixed all three songs. Simon Bergvall played guitar and Linus Svanholm
played bass.
The songs are available at the links below:
1. Straight No Chaser: https://bit.ly/3w6tuCT
2. Monks Dream : https://bit.ly/3CIDkML
3. My funny Valentine: https://bit.ly/3IcwxMu
The melody of “Straight, No Chaser” is composed of chromatic movements. In the recording of
this song, I wanted to evolve the precision needed to play a melody with chromatic ascending
lines. When practicing the tune, I found the chromatic steps to be particularly challenging. I’ve
written in my logbook that I had difficulties intonating and hearing the pitches. I went through
and tuned the drums in different ways, firstly I tried to tune the drums so that the first three
notes were tuned to open notes on the drums. So, in this case C-F-G. This to have more than
one interval to intonate against. But after playing I opted to tune to an F-major chord in third
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inversion. If I played the theme slowly, I could make the notes clear. With practice I was able to
push it up to an adequate tempo. I remember the process of learning the song was based on
where the notes should be instead of where they are. I did not use my ear effectively at this
point. I was not used to the sound of the notes, so my intonation suffered.
The melody of Monks Dream on the other hand has leaps which are rhythmized in triplets. In
the tempo the triplets are quite quick. The song was chosen for the purpose of developing my
technique while playing fast leaps. The tune was also chosen because the rhythms of this song
are recognizable. This helped me in the phrasing of the melody. The learning of this tune went
quite quick. There were no major stumbles. In the ‘B’ (fig. 1) section there is a F# in the second
bar. This note was tricky because my instinct said that the note would be an F since the rest of
the notes are from the C mixolydian Scale.
My funny Valentine was played in a ballad style and tempo. With an approximate tempo of 50
beats per minute the duration of some notes is quite long. The song was chosen to develop the
technique of bending the pitch of each drum while on long notes. During the practice of this
song, I encountered no major problems. A stylistic choice I had to do though was regarding the
step between a D and an Eb at the end of bar one and into bar two (fig. 2). And bar three onto
bar four. The drums were tuned to a C-minor chord. The rack tom was therefore tuned to an
Eb. Then one would think to play the Eb on the open note on the rack tom. But I found that
Figure 1 The 'B' Section from Monks Dream
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because the D was played pitch bent with my elbow on the floor tom, it having a quite muted
sound, it sounded better if I played both the D and the Eb on the floor tom. So, the notes had
the same timbre. The same stepwise movement occurs in bar 9 through 12. But in that case, it
was played on the rack tom.
5.2 Recording One - Analysis
In the recording of Straight No Chaser (appendix 1) I used different techniques to perform the
melodic theme on the drum set. The drums were tuned to an F minor tuning in third inversion
(floor-tom C, rack tom F, snare Ab). This recording is played in the key of F major, rather than
the key of Bb which is the original. The theme in this song is performed with the band. The
drums and the band take turns playing melodic segments and then play a part in unison (fig. 3).
The theme has melodic lines which are based on a lot of chromatic steps. The chromaticism in
the song is hard to perform with clear pitches at a high tempo. But as discussed earlier in theory
chapter 3.2.2, the exact melodic pitches are not necessary for the listener to hear the melody.
The phrasing is important as well. The perception of the drum set melody is also helped by the
back and forth with the band. The listener has a clear presentation of the melodic content of
the tune in the guitar and the bass. In this way the listener has a clear reference point to which
Figure 2 The 'A' section from My Funny Valentine
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they can interpret the melodic performance in the drums. If I would have chosen a slower
tempo the melodies and the melodic content might have been clearer. I chose the tempo of
about 200 bpm for this song for two reasons. Firstly, that is close to the tempo of the original
recording by Thelonious Monk. And it is also the tempo that is commonly played at jam
sessions. Secondly, because I wanted to explore if the melodic content was to be perceivable in
this tempo.
In the recording of Monks Dream the drum set was tuned to a C major chord, first inversion.
The song is in the key of C major. The drums start the performance with a short improvisation
with melodic movements. The aim was to evolve the tonal melodic improvisation. The melodic
improvisation is, in this case, limited by my tonal improvisational abilities. Hence the melodic
content is sparse in the improvisation. In the recording I used the melodic content of the theme
as a basis for my improvisation. The improvised lines start with segments from the melody. In
some cases, the segment is verbatim the segment in the spot it is played in the melody. This
was both a simplification of the melodic improvisation and an aid in intonation and form. After
the short improvisation the drums present the ‘A’ section of the theme with hits by the other
performers. On the ‘B’ section I played the melody in unison with the guitarist. The following ‘A’
Figure 3 - The arrangement of Straight No Chaser
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section was played in unison with the guitar as well. This theme is mostly contained within an
octave which is the available range when using three tuned drums. But there is one bar in the
end of the ‘A’ section (see appendix 2) that goes lower than the range of the drum kit. I
transposed these notes up an octave to be able to play them. The melodic line is still
perceptible. This is helped by the fact that the chords follow a similar movement as the melody
in this specific case. During the recording of this song the first melodic improvisation was
supposed to be played with timpani sticks. But at the point of recording, I had difficulties
switching between the timpani sticks and the drumsticks. I therefore opted to play the whole
song with regular drumsticks in this recording. As such, the melodic content of the
improvisation is therefore lacking in clarity.
For the song My Funny Valentine (appendix 2) I chose to use a C minor triad in first inversion as
tuning. The song is in the key of C minor, which is the original key. The song begins by the guitar
and bass stating a V-I6, after this the drums play the first ‘A’ section alone. The section is played
with a rubato feel. I chose to do the section rubato to explore the possibilities for the drums to
play slow and singable melodies. The biggest hurdle with this is when a phrase ends on a note
that is not open. Because of the mechanics of playing a note pitch bent I can just lay with one
hand. Hence, I cannot play a buzz roll/tremolo which requires both hands. This limits the
possibilities in playing sustained notes. For songs with singable melodies with sustained notes
one should take care in the choice of tuning, so that as many sustained notes as possible are
played as open notes. After the first ‘A’ the drums play the repetition with band comping. Still
with quite a loose time-feel. My phrasing was intended to imitate the phrasing of someone
singing it. With this phrasing comes a stretching of the phrase. This is quite normal in the
vocabulary for lead instruments in jazz. What I felt at the time was that the stretching of the
phrases was hindering my time feel.
6 A chord progression found in jazz. Referring to the fifth chord (V in roman numerals) and the first chord (I in roman numerals).
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5.3 Recording Two - Practice
In this recording I played three other jazz standards with different character. The three songs
are: 1. It Could Happen To You written by Jimmy Van Heusen, 2. Doxy written by Sonny Rollins,
3. I Mean You written by Thelonious Monk. Johan Hällgren recorded and mixed all three songs.
Erik Brandell played tenor saxophone and Samuel Tillberg played bass.
The songs can be listened to at the links below:
1. It Could Happen To You: https://bit.ly/3tTd4eI
2. Doxy: https://bit.ly/3KD72p4
3. I Mean You: https://bit.ly/3wdGgzw
The melody of It Could Happen To You has some fast leaps as well as some stepwise motion. It
was chosen for its variety in the melody. I have written loosely in my logbook that I had
difficulties with intonation. I think that was based on the tuning that I chose for this song. I
chose a C major chord in first inversion. During the practice of this song, I improved my
intonation quite much. It was still lacking in some parts after the first recording. I think that at
this point, I was just starting to get a good enough ear for hearing the melody on the drums.
Doxy has a quite simple melody in a A1A2BA1-form. The B section has almost exclusively notes
that has to be pitch shifted to be played. And the top note is also at the upper bound of the
range with the respective tuning. The song was chosen to evolve my intonation at the upper
bounds of the range on the tuned drums. During practice I did notice that the highest note in
the ‘B’ section was hard to reach. Also, with the amount of pressure I needed to use to reach
that note it was quite muted to the point that it was hard to pick out the note. In the recording
of Straight no Chaser, I had used the band to help the melody come across. I remember that I
decided quite early to play the ‘B’ section of doxy in unison with the band so that the melody
would come across.
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The recording of I Mean You was made in a quite fast tempo. The song was purely chosen to
work on playing melodic lines at a fast tempo. This song was very fun to play. I had played this
song before, and I always really enjoyed playing it. When looking at the melody I thought it was
manageable but would be hard. I have written in my logbook that the intro was difficult to play,
especially in fast tempo, and I that that part would probably have to be played in unison with
the rest of the band. I also found that I got better at sticking and how to play certain parts.
When I say sticking it is not just about what hand I am playing with, but also which notes should
be played with the stick pushed into the head and which notes to play with pitch-bending with
the hand or elbow. My coordination got better during the learning process.
5.4 Recording Two - Analysis
For the recording of It Could Happen to You (appendix 3) I chose a tuning of C major first
inversion. This is because the last note of the first ending, an E, would be an open note. Also the
E is quite important in this melody and to pitch-shift the floor-tom up a major third is at the
upper limits to how far up you could pitch-shift a drum. And even when you can hit the note it
is muted because of the technique required to play it. So, I opted for having E as an open note. I
want to have the melody end in an open note so that I know with certainty that the melody is
ending on a correctly intonated note. This is the last thing the listener hears before going into
the solos, so I would like it to be intonated correctly. The open notes I think is a help to the
listener as well. If the listener can hear where the melody is resolving this sets a clear reference
point in relation to the harmony. In this song I had problems with intonation. In the second bar
there are three consecutive notes that are pitch-shifted. After the three notes (D-Eb-D) that are
played on the floor-tom an A is played on the snare, also pitch-shifted. I must release my elbow
from the floor-tom before playing on the snare drum. This means that the last note is always
going to fall back to its open note. To come around this I could mute the tom. But at this tempo
I do not have the time to mute the drum.
The melody for Doxy (Appendix 4) is played in the key of F major. I chose the tuning of F minor
second inversion for this song. I tune to F minor because Ab occurs in the melody. It is easier to
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heighten a drum one half step rather than playing another drum and having to pitch-shift it up
a minor third. I play the theme on the drums with the bass the first eight bars. Bar nine to
twelve are played in unison with the saxophone. Then the last eight I play the theme with the
sax playing the last phrase in unison with the drums. I had intended to play the theme with
timpani sticks at the recording but when I played it I did not like the sound of the drums. The
pitch-shifted drums did not produce the tone I wanted. I had to use quite a lot of force to get
them to produce the tone I wanted. That in relation to the tone I get from open notes would be
much quieter. Because of these reasons I opted to play with sticks instead. In this melody the
note E natural occurs in the melody (see appendix 4). This is below the range of the drums in
this specific tuning. I chose to play that note on the bass drum even though it is of
indeterminate pitch. The note is played as a ghost note.
In the recording of I Mean You (appendix 5) I was aiming to get the overall melodic line of the
song, but not with tonal accuracy. In the recording we are playing the theme in a quite fast
tempo and the melodic precision is not the most important thing. Overall phrasing and the
melodic line are more important. I tuned the drum kit in a F major second inversion. In this song
I used an additional drum as well. It was tuned to an octave above the C on the floor-tom. The
first and second phrase ends with an F, which in this tuning is an open note. In the ‘B’ section
there is a long F, and since I need to play it with both hands to play a buzz roll/tremolo this note
must be open. The song starts with the first ‘A’ section being played exclusively by the drums.
The bass then comps with the drums in the ‘B’ section. In the seventh bar the whole band play
the triplets in unison. Then the last ‘A’ section is played with just drums. Then the whole band
plays the unison section at the end. I made the choice to play that part in unison to make it as
clear as possible. The lowest note in the unison part in the end of the theme is an Eb. This note
is a minor third from the open tuning of the floor-tom it is played on. To get that note I would
have to push at the head with my elbow to get more force to reach all the way up to the Eb.
When playing the theme, I do not have time to have my elbow on the floor tom and then go to
the snare with my elbow. Therefore, I play the drumstick in to the drumhead and holding it
right after the striking moment. This does not produce the Eb, but rather a ghost note. This
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song was the most challenging of all my recordings. The speed of the melody is the biggest
factor in the difficulty of this song. And also, the actual physical movement of performing it.
This is discussed further in Chapter 6.3.
6. Discussion
6.1 Equipment
During my studies I have found what equipment I use to be important in producing notes on
the drum kit. I will further discuss the equipment choices and their effect on the performance.
6.1.1 Drumheads
I found that the drumheads have an important role to play in the production of a note on the
drum. Firstly, the drumhead thickness seems to closely relate to the clarity of the note. In the
audio recordings presented above I used Remo Diplomat Fiberskyn classic on the toms. On the
snare I used a Fiberskyn coated. The drumheads are thin; 7.5 mil and 8mil7 (0.1905mm and
0.2032mm) respectively. Later in the spring 2022 I changed my drumheads to Evans G1 on both
snare and toms. These heads are 10 mil (0.254 mm) so a little thicker. I found that the thinness
of the head was closely related to the intonation while pitch-bending. On the thicker heads I
needed to press significantly harder on the drumhead in order to reach the same note.
I found that the Evans G1 had a clearer tone while using timpani sticks. The Fiberskyn
drumheads were developed to imitate the look and, to some ears, the sound of drumheads
made of animal hide. They use a layer of thin fibers to imitate the ununiform finish of natural
heads. In discussion with fellow student Simon Bergvall, we concluded that the Fiberskyn
drumheads might be muted because of the layer of fibers. The G1 drumheads, which are made
from uniform plastic, are therefore more able to freely vibrate and therefore produce a cleaner
tone.
7 Mil - thousandth of an inch. The drum set industry uses imperial system of measurements.
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6.1.2 Drumsticks vs timpani sticks.
The choice of striking implement is important to the sound of the drumhead. The softer tip of
the timpani stick produces a rounder and softer sound and can deliver a clearer note.
Therefore, Timpani sticks perform worse regarding attack. If the melodic performance and the
phrasing of said melody require a quicker attack, then regular drumsticks are to be preferred.
The choice of timpani sticks also matters. In the recordings I used “timpani sticks”/mallets that I
owned beforehand. They were off-brand, soft mallets intended for creating a “washy” sound on
cymbals. After the recordings I once borrowed a pair of Kaufmann 108 from the university and
found that the clarity of the drum’s notes were very much improved. I will, moving forward, just
be using authentic timpani sticks.
6.1.3 Drum set setup
The drum set is predominantly a rhythm instrument. And I want my drums to sound good when
playing conventionally, as well as playing melodic content. This means that I cannot tune the
drums too high or too low. In my studies I have found that the best tunung for the floor tom is a
C. This tuning works well both for melodic performance and for conventional drumming.
Furthermore, the number of drums could be increased for a bigger range. I want to be able to
use melodic drumming on a standard jazz drum kit rather than having a bespoke setup for my
music. For me I want the application of melodic drumming to be as easy as possible. Therefore,
I aim to always play on a setup that is as close to the standard jazz setup as possible.
6.2 Melodic improvisation
As a drummer I have not practiced melodic improvisation as much as I have rhythmic. There are
parts of melodic improvisation on other instruments that is imminently transferable to the
drum set. Such as phrasing, tension and release, call and response and melodic contour. But the
melodic content in tonal improvisation is not. The drum set can be able to play improvisational
lines based on scales. For this to happen the intonation and melodic intention has to be of high
precision. Improvisational techniques are a subject for further studies.
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6.3 Physiological limitations
During one of the recordings one of the other musicians said that “…it looks fairly acrobatic”.
We were playing the song I Mean You in quite a fast tempo. During the song I am switching
between drums rapidly and bending the pitch of them with my hands or elbows. This makes me
twist my body around the drum kit at some speed to be able to play the drums with the
required techniques. Songs with long leaps with notes other than open notes in rapid phrases
are therefore impossible. A video of me playing the theme can be seen here:
https://bit.ly/3NwZeXT
6.4 The Listener
Separating myself from the music I am playing is almost impossible. And to listen to the songs
that I am playing as if I have never heard them is doubly so. For me it is quite hard to define
what the listeners are perceiving in the respective performances. But what I have understood
from other people that are listening to me is that it can be hard to grasp the melody if you have
not heard the song before. But if the listener does know the melody, then the perception
becomes a lot easier. Rodrigo Villanueva writes regarding Jeff Hamilton’s approach:
As listeners we have the tendency to “fill in the blanks”; in other words, we tend to use our own experience with a given melody, such as this jazz standard, and hear the actual theme even when it is played by a typically non-melodic instrument. (Villanueva, 2007, p.8)
I found in my own listening to Ari Hoenig that songs I have not heard before I have a harder
time grasping and being able to restate the melody after listening to it. It is easier to hear the
melodic content with slower and repeating melodies. The listener’s relationship with the
performance and the melodic content is a topic of further studies.
6.5 The drums in relation to the jazz ensemble.
As discussed throughout this thesis, the drum set has many possibilities. What I found during
the recordings and practicing of the jazz standards in this thesis is there was always some kind
of concession that had to be made for the song to work. There either was something that the
23
drums had to do that was different to the original melody, or sometimes parts had to be played
in another octave. Ornaments had to be discarded or the arrangement of the songs had to be
altered to fit the new lead instrument. This limits how well the drums can recreate the melody
being played on a conventional melodic instrument. You also lose the function the drums have
comping. I also found during this thesis that the rest of the band cannot comp as loudly as they
do for conventional lead instruments. The melody is not as clear.
6.6 Further studies
This project has made me very aware of the possibilities in melodic implementation on the
drum set. For my future exploration of the subject, I want to explore the possibilities of adding
more drums to my drum kit. This could be an easy way to extend the range of the instrument.
On the other hand, I would like to use just the basic setup for a jazz drum kit. This is to not have
to change paradigm and therefore make it easier for me to find the pitches on the drums. If the
number of drums on the drum set were to be increased, it would be easiest if the additional
drums were added at the top or the bottom of the range. With the standard setup of three
drums the range of an octave is sufficient. But in certain cases, a larger range would be useful.
In discussions with other students I have noticed that I, after writing this thesis, instinctively
know where a specific note is on the drum kit and what I must do to be able to play it. I do not
need to “figure out” where the note is. I think that the basic drum kit setup has a lot of areas
where I could evolve the performance of melodic content on the drums.
6.7 Complimentary material
In late spring 2022 I had my graduation concert, where I played songs I recorded for this thesis,
but I also played some new songs using the techniques explored in this thesis. Excerpts can be
found here:
1) How High the Moon, written by Morgan Lewis: https://bit.ly/3myrFJ9
2) Monks Dream, written by Thelonious Monk: https://bit.ly/39hGhtn
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7. References
Brennan, M. (2020). Kick It: a social history of the drum kit. New York: Oxford University Press Inc.
Dean, M. (2011). The Drum: A History [ebook]. Scarecrow Press Incorporated.
Gridley, M.C. (2012). Jazz styles: history & analysis. (11th edition). PEARSON
Jeff Hamilton Trio. (1996). LIVE! [Album]. Mons Records.
Hoenig, A. (2011). Lines of Oppresion. [Album]. Self-released.
Jazzheaven.com. (2011). ARI HOENIG: Melodic Drumming [Video]. Jazzheaven. https://www.jazzheaven.com/yes/courses/ari-hoenig-melodic-drumming-edge/
Jordan, M. (2009). Melodic Drumming in Contemporary Popular Music: An Investigation into Melodic Drum-Kit Performance Practices and Repertoire. [Master’s thesis, RMIT University] Research repository.
McCaslins, J. D. (2015). Melodic Jazz Drumming. [Dissertation, University of Toronto]. TSpace. https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/69408
Monk, T. (1958). In walked bud [Song recorded by Thelonious Monk Trio]. Riverside Records Monk, T. (Composer). (1962). Straight No Chaser [Sheet music]. Hal Leonard Corp. Monk, T., Hawkins, C. (Composer). (1947). I Mean You [Sheet music]. Hal Leonard Corp. Roach, M. (1966). Drums Unlimited [Album]. Atlantic Rogers, R., Hart, L. (Composer). My Funny Valentine (1962). [Sheet music]. Hal Leonard Corp. Rollins, S. (Composer). (1963). Doxy [Sheet music]. Hal Leonard Corp. Van Heusen, J., Burke, J. (Composer). (1944). It Could Happen to You [Sheet music]. Hal Leonard Corp. Smith, S. (2007). Standing on the Shoulders of Giants. [DVD] Hudson Music. https://hudsonmusic.com/product/drum-legacy-standing-on-the-shoulders-of-giants/
Strayhorn, B. (1963). Take The Coltrane. [Recorded by Coltrane, J., Elington, D.]. Impulse!
Weiss, D. (2020). Dan Weiss plays with “Take The Coltrane”. [Video]. https://youtu.be/CCwofNCFy4w Villanueva, R. (2007) Jeff Hamilton’s Melodic Approach. Percussive notes (February 2007), 16-23.