Cover Photo by Neil Zlozower

FEATURES

JEFFPORCARO18

Splitting his time between Toto and studio work, JeffPorcaro has experienced the pros and cons of bothworking for himself and for others. He discusses thereasons behind his decreasing use of electronics, andshares a particularly bad experience he once had on astudio session with a well-known artist.

by Robyn Flans

RAYFORDGRIFFIN24

Best known for his seven years with fusion violinistJean-Luc Ponty, Rayford Griffin has also worked withsuch artists as Stanley Clarke, Patrice Rushen, andCameo. He discusses his background, and explains whyhe feels that a lot of music that's labeled "fusion" isn'ttrue fusion.

by William F. Miller

RIKKIROCKETT28

Drumming with the band Poison demands a com-bination of musicianship and visual excitement. RikkiRockett describes his role in the group, and reveals theprocess by which he comes up with his drum parts forthe group's songs.

by Mary Ann Bachemin and Mark Konrad

DRUMS ONCAMPUS32

It wasn't that long ago that drumset was not considereda valid instrument in college music programs. Butthanks to schools such as the University of Miami, theBerklee College of Music, and the University of NorthTexas, students can now pursue music degrees with adrumset major. MD visited these schools for a look atthree different approaches to music education.

by William F. Miller, Rick Van Horn,and Lauren Vogel

Photo by Sharon Sipple

Photo by Jaeger Kotos

COLUMNS VOLUME 12, NUMBER 11

EDUCATIONROCK 'N' JAZZCLINICWhat's In A Note:Part 1

by Rod Morgenstein

40

THE MACHINESHOPBuilding Blocks OfRock

by Clive Brooks42

DRUM SOLOISTSolo Intros: HarveyMason, VinnieColaiuta, and GerryBrown

by Bobby Cleall50

IN THE STUDIOThe Headphone Mix

by Craig Krampf52

THE JOBBINGDRUMMERSubbing: A MusicalApproach

by Mark Hurley74

CLUB SCENEOut Of The Dark

by Rick Van Horn114

106

MASTER CLASSPortraits In Rhythm:Etude #15

by Anthony J. Cirone

ELECTRONICINSIGHTSStudio SoundsOn A Budget

by Jon Bergeron104

CONCEPTSVisual Learning

by Roy Burns102

DRIVER'S SEATMastering The Fill

by Gil Graham100

ROCKPERSPECTIVESWarming Up: Part 2

by Kenny Aronoff80

EQUIPMENTPRODUCTCLOSE-UPLudwig Super ClassicKit & Black BeautySnare

by Rick Van Horn62

ELECTRONICREVIEWCasio DZ-1 MIDIDrum Translator

by Jim Fiore98

NEW & NOTABLESummer NAMM 1988

by Rick Mattingly116

PROFILES

PORTRAITSMousey Alexander:Profile In Courage

by Russ Lewellen46

NEWS

UPDATE8

DEPARTMENTS

EDITOR'SOVERVIEW

4

READERS'PLATFORM

6

ASK A PRO12

IT'SQUESTIONABLE

14

DRUM MARKET126

MaintainingPerspective

Modern Drummer has never ignored the signifi-cance of electronics and its application to drum-ming, and we've done our best to bring you thelatest information on the subject. I've commentedon the importance of keeping abreast of technol-ogy on more than one occasion in this column.

We've actually been covering the electronicscene since the days of Star and Syndrum in1979. In 1983 we were the first major publica-tion to present a full report on drum machines.And we've continued to cover the new technol-ogy through departments like Electronic Review,The Machine Shop, Electronic Insights, and MIDIComer, each created to help you deal with im-portant aspects of this complex area.

All of this is well and good. However, I believea danger exists when a special-interest musicmagazine gives the impression that technologyshould take precedence over the goal of becom-ing the best player you can be. We've tried tokeep our priorities in perspective over the years,and have deliberately avoided putting too greatan emphasis on technology, over and above mu-sicianship.

Our primary purpose is to help you play the in-strument to the best of your ability. We accom-plish that by presenting the concepts of the lead-ing artists of the day—artists who willingly sharetheir ideas with you. We also help by supplyinginsight on important techniques, and by offeringpractical solutions to problems all drummers en-

counter, whether they be in the concert arena oron the local club bandstand. Publishing informa-tion that will aid you in attaining your goals as aplayer is what we do. Much to our satisfaction,the overwhelming majority of MD readers seemto be in agreement with that editorial premise.

The point is, technology in and of itself won'tnecessarily make you a better player if you haven'tdevoted the time and effort needed to becomeone. There's certainly nothing wrong with explor-ing new areas. But keep in mind that most of theartists who've broken new ground with electron-ics did so only after proving themselves as ex-tremely competent players first. Bill Bruford, DaveWeckl, Terry Bozzio, Chad Wackerman, and PeterErskine are a few who immediately come to mind,and who clearly demonstrate the point. The tech-nology was the icing on the cake for these skilledplayers—the upper floor after the foundation wasfirmly set. Again, it's simply a matter of keepingthings in proper perspective.

Unfortunately, it's pretty easy to have one's pri-orities distorted, in light of today's hi-tech envi-ronment. Over-emphasizing the technologicalaspect tends to make us lose sight of the reasonswe got involved with drums in the first place—which was to play music, and to play it to the bestof our ability. That's what Modern Drummer is allabout. And in the final analysis, isn't that what allthis is really about?

EDITOR/PUBLISHERRonald Spagnardi

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERIsabel Spagnardi

SENIOR EDITORRick Mattingly

MANAGING EDITORRick Van Horn

ASSOCIATE EDITORSWilliam F. MillerAdam Budofsky

EDITORIAL ASSISTANTCynthia Huang

ART DIRECTORTerry Kennedy

A Member Of:

ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGERTracy Kearney

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTJoan C. Stickel

ADVERTISING DIRECTORKevin W. Kearns

DEALER SERVICE MANAGERCrystal W. Van Horn

CUSTOMER SERVICEDonna S. Fiore

MAIL ROOM SUPERVISORLeo Spagnardi

CONSULTANT TO THE PUBLISHERArnold E. Abramson

MODERN DRUMMER ADVISORY BOARDHenry Adler, Kenny Aronoff, Louie Bellson, BillBruford, Roy Burns, Jim Chapin, Alan Dawson, DennisDeLucia, Les DeMerle, Len DiMuzio, Charlie Don-nelly, Peter Erskine, Vic Firth, Danny Gottlieb, SonnyIgoe, Jim Keltner, Mel Lewis, Larrie Londin, PeterMagadini, George Marsh, Joe Morello, Andy New-mark, Neil Peart, Charlie Perry, Dave Samuels, JohnSantos, Ed Shaughnessy, Steve Smith, Ed Thigpen.

CONTRIBUTING WRITERSSusan Alexander, Robyn Flans, Simon Goodwin, Karen ErvinPershing, Jeff Potter, Teri Saccone, Robert Santelli, Bob Saydlow-ski, Jr., Robin Tolleson, Lauren Vogel, T. Bruce Wittet.

MODERN DRUMMER Magazine (ISSN 0194-4533) is pub-lished monthly with an additional issue in July by MODERNDRUMMER Publications, Inc., 870 Pompton Avenue, CedarGrove, NJ 07009. Second-Class Postage paid at Cedar Grove, NJ07009 and at additional mailing offices. Copyright 1988 byModern Drummer Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Repro-duction without the permission of the publisher is prohibited.

EDITORIAL/ADVERTISING/ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES: Mod-ern Drummer Publications, 870 Pompton Avenue, Cedar Grove,NJ 07009.

MANUSCRIPTS: Modern Drummer welcomes manuscripts,however, cannot assume responsibility for them. Manuscriptsmust be accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

MUSIC DEALERS: Modern Drummer is available for resale atbulk rates. Direct correspondence to Modern Drummer, DealerService, 870 Pompton Ave., Cedar Grove, NJ 07009. Tel: 800-522-DRUM or 201-239-4140.

SUBSCRIPTIONS: $24.95 per year; $44.95, two years. Singlecopies $2.95.

SUBSCRIPTION CORRESPONDENCE: Modern Drummer, POBox 480, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0480. Change of address: Al-low at least six weeks for a change. Please provide both old andnew address. Toll Free Phone: 1-800-435-0715.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Modern Drummer, P.O.Box 480, Mt. Morris, IL 61054.

ISSUE DATE: November 1988

JOEY KRAMERThanks for giving a cover to an excellentdrummer and wonderful person: Joey Kra-mer [August '88 MD]. He is a man whohas proved to us all that you can overcomeanything if you try. Joey has both excellenttechnique and a wonderful visual side, anddisplays both on stage with Aerosmith.

You not only gave readers Joey Kramer,but also a wonderful insight into the worldof drum corps. If it were not for college, Iwould join many a friend on the field. Onceagain, thank you for such a wonderful is-sue. And by the way, the new format looksgreat!

E. VogtLexington KY

I can't tell you how impressed I was byyour handling of the subject of substanceabuse in the Joey Kramer interview. As arecovering alcoholic myself, everything inmy life—especially my playing—changedwhen I took charge of my life. Kudos toSaccone and Kramer for their candor.

Thanks, also, for your thoughtful inclu-sion of my name in your Update depart-ment "News" section. I was thrilled to bementioned in the midst of such distin-guished company. I must say that I neverthought I'd see my name in your maga-zine, by virtue of the fact that I still havemuch to learn about my craft. MD is cer-tainly a good tool at my disposal.

Malcolm TravisBoston MA

LIBERTY AND CARLOSI'd like to extend my appreciation to RickVan Horn and Robyn Flans for two excel-lent interviews in the July issue of ModernDrummer with Liberty DeVitto and CarlosVega. I was fascinated to hear Liberty's storyabout life on the road (especially in the

Soviet Union) with Billy Joel. The chartsection, entitled "Liberty: Off The Record,"was great to have. I only wish every coverdrummer's interview included a similarsection.

Even more, I enjoyed the superb inter-view with Carlos Vega. His classic "rags toriches" story from banging on frying panswith spoons to performing for 50,000people with James Taylor should be an in-spiration to us all. I see Carlos as a veryinspiring, up-and-coming musician whomI'm sure we'll soon hear more and moreabout.

In closing, I must say that the July issueas a whole was probably the best examplein recent issues of the fine journalism thatmakes up your publication. Keep up thegood writing!

Jonathan BurtonDamariscotta ME

DCI CORRECTIONWe would like to thank you for the reviewof Dave Weckl's Contemporary Drummer+ One audio cassette/book package [OnTape, August '88 MD]. We'd like to men-tion that the price of $26.95 listed in thereview was the original price, which alsoappeared in the first few ads. Due to theunanticipated length of the transcriptionbook and charts, the price has beenchanged to $29.95. The early ads wereplaced before the package was complete,due to lead time necessary for magazineadvertising.

In the fall we will be releasing the samematerial in a molded plastic storage case.This case will also be available separatelyto people who already have the material.

Paul SiegelDCI Music Videos, Inc.

New York NY

VIKTOR MIKHALIN AND MOREI am writing to express my heartfelt thanksto MD for doing such a marvelous job ofsupplying the drumming community witha wealth of knowledge month after month,year after year. I read the interview withRussian drummer Viktor Mikhalin [August'88 MD] and was moved to tears by hisgenuine enthusiasm for American musi-cians. Yes, music is a universal language,and drummers are at the core of it.

I also want to thank you for acknowledg-ing drummers, like myself, who are incar-cerated, but who still take their drummingvery seriously. In places like these, ModernDrummer is a godsend. To the other read-ers of MD: Even though we may differ attimes in our opinions, let's remember thatModern Drummer is, and always will be,the only true magazine for us and about us.Let's be mindful not to use it to say thingsthat might be hurtful or offensive to oneanother.

Thomas MaynardWallkill NY

KUDOS TO CORDERRecently, after much thought and carefulconsideration, I decided to purchase adrumset from the Corder Drum Company,located in Huntsville, Alabama. When mydrums arrived, I quickly noticed the fineworkmanship that went into making myset—in addition to their beautiful sound.

Although Corder is a relatively unheard-of drum company compared to the morefamiliar names in the industry, they indeedmake top-quality drums at a reasonableprice. I recommend Corder drums to everyserious drummer who values an American-made product offering the best in sound,quality, workmanship, and service!

Bob OwenAsheville NC

Chris Frantz

When Talking Heads drummerChris Frantz got a call fromVirgin Records some monthsago asking him to take overthe task of producing reggaeartist Ziggy Marley's ConsciousParty album, Frantz didn'tquite know what to do. "Thecall came as a result of anunfortunate incident," Frantzsaid. "My good friend AlexSadkin was supposed toproduce the album, but he hadjust been killed in a caraccident in Jamaica. I didn'tknow how Ziggy felt about theproposition. I mean, he choseAlex to produce the record,not me."

As it turned out, Marley wasvery receptive to the idea, so,in time, Frantz and fellowHead/wife Tina Weymouthwere in the studio with Marleyand the Melody Makers,Ziggy's sibling backup group,working on tracks to this year'smost successful reggae album."It turned out to be a prettygood record," Frantz contin-ued. "I'm glad I was asked toget involved."

Frantz has another projecthe's proud of, too: Naked,Talking Heads' latest LP. Itfeatures some of Frantz's finestmoments as a drummer. "Ireally turned things aroundwhen we went into the studioto record the album," Frantzsaid. "I deliberately went aftera different drum soundbecause I had it up to myeyebrows with the 'big' rockbeat."

Instead of pounding away,

Frantz used brushesrather than sticks for allbut one song, "RubyDear." "I love the tex-ture that you get whenyou use brushes,"Frantz said. "I wanted amore organic drumsound. The only way Iknew how to get it forcertain was to usebrushes."

Frantz incorporatedother stylistic turn-arounds on Naked. "Inthe past, I alwaysseemed to use the hi-hat quite a bit. So thistime I didn't. In fact,most of the drum partson the album aredifferent than what Iwould have played in

the past. They're simple andstraightforward. I was able todo pretty much what I wantedand get away with it."

On top of all this, Frantz andWeymouth have completed abrand new Tom Tom Club LPcalled Boom Boom Chi BoomBoom, which, Frantz said, "isthe kind of drum sound you'llhear on the record." Thealbum features a 50/50 split ofacoustic drums and drummachines, Frantz explained."Because the Tom Tom Clubisn't a band project, I found iteasier to experiment, espe-cially with the drum machine.The album starts off on prettyfamiliar terrain, but then wemove into some pretty weirdstuff." For one song, "TheChallenge Of The LoveWarriors," Frantz sampledhuman breathing and triggeredit so that "the whole thingsounds like a big orgy. There'slots of rhythmic huffing andpuffing going on."

According to Frantz, the TomTom club used to be "some-thing to do on the side." Butsince David Byrne has noplans to promote Naked bytaking Talking Heads on tour,"the Tom Tom Club willprobably become a moreimportant project to me,"Frantz said. "I can't very wellmake a Talking Heads albumand then sit around for thenext year or so," he continued."There's got to be a bit more tomy career, don't you think?"

Indeed.—Robert Santelli

Gina Schock

On House of Schock's firstrecord, Gina Schock split thedrum duties with drummer Ste-ven Fisher. "Initially I wasgoing to play drums on all thesongs, but then I decided thatSteven should participatebecause he's going to beplaying most of these songswhen we play live," Cina says."I found him through mypartner Vance [DeGeneres].Vance played with him in NewOrleans years ago, so hebrought him out here when wewere looking for a drummerbecause he knew I'd be veryparticular in my choice.

"I wanted someone whocould play the songs the way Ilike my songs played. I thinkthe most important thing is thata drummer have good meter.That's first and foremost withme. And he has to be open tomaking any necessary changesthat have to be done to makethe songs work. In otherwords, somebody who won'tcome in and give me a lot ofshit about what I ask him toplay—somebody who isn'tgoing to have a real big egoabout it, who wants to learn.That's what it's all about. Theonly way you learn is by tryingdifferent things."

For the record, she would sitdown with bassist DeGeneresand guitarist Chrissy Shefts towork up the arrangements. "Iwould get all my drum beatstogether. Then we'd bring thearrangements in and showthem to Steven, and he would

play the drum bits I hadwritten. He might add afew things here and there,but we would always talkabout any additions."

Of the 13 songs theyrecorded, Gina ended upon four of the ten thatmade the record: "Just ADream," "Love In Re-turn," "This Time," and"The World Goes'Round." Live, she is onlyplaying drums on onesong, but she playstimbales on three or foursongs and guitar on aboutfive of them.

"It was difficult comingout front because I alwaysgo through the motions ofplaying drums. I'mplaying air drums half thetime," she laughs. "I'll

always play on the albums, butwhen we play live, I can't sitbehind the kit all night andsing. It wouldn't be veryexciting, even though it wouldbe the most comfortable andeasiest thing in the world forme to do. I play drums on thelast song we do in our encore.It's a song by the Beatles called'Everybody's Got Something ToHide Except For Me And MyMonkey.' When we do abigger tour and we're headlin-ing, I'll definitely play on a lotmore songs, but in thesituation we're in now, we'reeither playing clubs or openingthe show. There isn't a lot oftime, and we don't have a bigstage setup because we'reusually set up in front ofsomeone else. When weheadline a tour, though, I'll dothe Phil Collins routine andhave my drums set up rightnext to Steven's. I'll play onmore songs because I'll havethe time and space to do itright."

Was it difficult starting overat the bottom after being in thevery successful Go-Go's? "Youcan sit around and think,'Man, I was playing 20,000-seaters and now I'm having toplay clubs,' but you forgetabout that when you getinvolved with what you'redoing. I was talking to Belinda[Carlisle] the other day, andwhen her first record cameout, she did a club tour. Soyou've got to start over to letpeople know you're serious

According to Marky Ra-mone—who recently returnedto The Ramones after a four-year hiatus—playing with thisnear-classic, quintessentialNew York rock band is nowbetter than ever. Says Marky:"It's even better this timearound because we're allgetting along more, and myown head's a lot clearer."

Marky left the band in '83because "I had a drinkingproblem," he admits. "I tookthe right course of direction tocorrect it, and now it's beenfour years since I last partied.

"Being totally straight is somuch better when it comes toplaying drums: Your pacing issteadier, your playing isn'tsloppy, and of course your tim-ing is better, too. We play foran hour and 20 minutes anight, and with the pace thatwe keep during our shows, wehave to conserve our energiesfor the length of the set.

"A Ramones drummer has toconstantly play 16th notes onthe hi-hat and always has to beready for the 'one-two-three-

Marky Ramome

about what you're doing—thatyou're not going to sit aroundand wait for something tohappen, that you're going togo out and make it happen.Sure, I'd love to be playing20,000-seaters instead ofclubs, but if I have to start outin clubs, that's what I'll do,because I believe in my musicand I love doing it."

—Robyn Flans

four' counts that the bassplayer screams out. You haveto be right there; there's nohesitating, no talking betweensongs. That's because thewhole idea behind theRamones is playing; there's nota lot of conversing with thecrowd. There's the occasional2/4, but it's basically 4/4constantly, and the songs arequick—two-and-a-half minutesongs."

For the record, Marky joinedthe Ramones ten years ago af-

ter being a memberof Richard Hell'sVoidoids. Althoughhe isn't the originalRamones drummer,he has been partici-pating in the bandlonger than anyother drummer.When he tookleave in '83, hewas replaced byRichie (Ramone),who left in '87. Hewas temporarilyreplaced by formerEurhythmies andBlondie drummerClem Burke, whoplayed two gigswith the band priorto Marky's return.

Presently, the Ramones arecelebrating their 14th anniver-sary on tour, and they've re-leased a double-LP of theirbest-loved tunes entitled Ra-monesmania, which has beenreceived quite favorably by oldand new fans.

"The onslaught of energywith this band keeps me likingwhat I do," adds Marky. I canplay drum fills all over theplace if I want to, but that's nota part of the Ramone's music.It's the constant pumping ofenergy—what we get from theaudience and what we giveback—that keeps this sointeresting for me. Being backfor the last year has been likecoming home."

—Teri Saccone

David AllenWhen Paul Riddle left the

Marshall Tucker band four anda half years ago and theinterim drummer, JamesStroud, left a year later, DavidAllen took over the drumchair. The album that was just

released on PolyGram hasbeen in the can since Stroud'sreign, so he is on all the cutsexcept the title track, "StillHolding On," which Davidrecorded. Needless to say,David looks forward to thetime when he can cut an entireLP with the group, but for now,he is content playing with theband in concert.

"Marshall Tucker is kind of acrossover band, so we canplay country nightclubs as wellas rock 'n' roll clubs," Allenexplains. "We go over withboth types of crowds. Actuallywe're labeled pretty muchsouthern rock/country rock,and our crowds range from 15to 50 years old.

"The band is really jazz androck influenced. There are alot of swing-type songs we do.Most of the time I have to playon top of the beat, just to addsome energy to the show. Thesongs are played hard andthey're energetic. A lot of itleans towards a rhythm &blues style of drumming.

"It looks like there are a lotof southern bands out touringnow. Lynyrd Skynyrd is backout, Atlanta Rhythm Section isout, the Outlaws just signed adeal, and we're finding a lot ofpromoters in different areas aremore interested in booking usnow than they were a fewyears ago, so the music seemsto be more appreciated. Ourbiggest market is up north.We've never really drawn thatwell down south."

The band has been so busythat David has had to abandonhis teaching. "Last summer Iwas still teaching part time. Itgot to where I just had toomany irons in the fire, and itreally wasn't fair to mystudents. So finally I had togive up the teaching anddevote all my time to theband. I really enjoyed it,though. I learned so muchfrom teaching six hours a day,four or five days a week. Thelittlest kid would come in anddo something so elementary,but maybe it was something Ihad forgotten about. If theband ever slows downenough, I'll get back into it. Ireally miss it."

—Robyn Flans

Armand Grimaldi on the roadwith Al Jarreau...Eddie Bayers on a RoyOrbison star-studded LP thatwill include duets with SteveWinwood, Tom Petty, BobDylan, and George Harrison.Eddie is also on recent releasesby George Strait, Roger Miller,Conway Twitty, John Jarvis,Charly McLain, the MccarterSisters, Wayne Massey, theJudds, Gene Watson, BarbaraMandrell, Karen Staley, andRonnie Milsap, and he's onRandy Travis' Christmas LP...Russ Kunkel touring with SteveWinwood...Butch Miles is on a Japanesetour with the Great AmericanSwing Orchestra...Dino Danelli on the road withthe Rascals...Jonathan Moffett producedand wrote a song that ChicoDeBarge recorded for thesoundtrack of Coming ToAmerica. The song is called"All Dressed Up (Ready To HitThe Town)." He can also beheard on Julian Lennon's newalbum...Kenny Aronoff on HollyKnight's new record, as well asreleases by John Eddy andGregg Alexander. He has alsobeen giving clinics while onthe road with John CougarMellencamp...Vic Mastrianni on the roadwith Reba McEntire...James L. Burton has beenworking with Canadianrecording artist MichelleWright...John Ferraro has been doingsome dates with Albert Lee...Danny Seraphine on tour withChicago in support of a newrelease...Kevin Winnard on the roadwith Times Two...Clint de Ganon on DionneWarwick's all-Cole Porter al-bum...Lou Molino touring with KimMitchell...Mark Feldman on recent re-cording by guitarist Joe Tay-lor...John Riley has been giggingwith Mike Stern, MikeMetheny, Bob Mintzer, LeniStern, and Eliane Elias.

News...

ED SHAUGHNESSY

Q. I'd like to say that you're the most musi-cal big band drummer I've ever listened to.Could you explain in detail the sizes andtypes of cymbals and drumheads you usedon the second Tonight Show album?

R.D.New Orleans LA

A. Thank you for your very kind compli-ments. I really appreciate your commentthat you find my playing "musical." I'vefound that with big band drumming, whatyou leave out is just as essential as what

you put in. You have to edit yourself a bitmore in big band playing; you can't chat-ter away as much as you could in a combo.

To start with the heads, all the toms andbass drum batter heads were Ludwig Sil-ver Dots. All the tom bottom heads wereheavy, clear Rockers; the bass drum frontheads were coated. The snare drum batterwas a coated Rocker with a dot, and thesnare side head was an extra-thin. All thedrums were wide open except for the bassdrums, which had felt strips for just theslightest amount of muffling.

The cymbals were all A Zildjians, andincluded a 2V Rock ride, two 18" me-dium-thin crashes (right and left sides), a16" thin crash on the left bass drum, a 22"pang played upside-down, and 15" NewBeat hi-hats. Just to round out the picture,I'd like to tell you that the drums wereLudwig Classic models, and that the snarewas a 5" Black Beauty. I'm crazy aboutthat drum because it's the only metal drumI know of that has a "woody" quality—notas nasal as most metal drums—but still re-tains the added projection of a metal snare.

NICKO MCBRAIN

Q. I've been listening to your drummingfor many years, from your days with PatTravers, through Trust, and now with IronMaiden. I like your style very much. Myquestions are: First, have you ever usedclick tracks in the past, and do you usethem now with Maiden? Second, your rightfoot is extremely fast on the single bassdrum that you use. Was there a certain wayyou worked on that?

Tom BittnerRush NY

A. I have used click tracksin the past, but not withany of the major bandsthat I've worked for. I'veused them only on somevarious sessions that I'vehad to play. The mainones that spring to mindwere with a chap calledPaul Ives. I had to putsome drumming tracksdown to some pre-recorded bass and guitarlines that he did in Paris.He brought the tapes toEngland and I had to putthe drums on top. I'venever used a click withIron Maiden. We actuallytend to allow the time tomove a bit; it's not thatdead strict in terms oftempo. There are parts—

say, for instance, a solo—where the timewill go off a little forward of the beat, thencome back into the groove for the verses. Iprefer to work that way.

I didn't really do anything specifically todevelop my bass drum foot; it was mainlyjust lots of playing over the years with theambition of driving the right foot as muchas was humanly possible. As far as tech-nique goes, for speed I find it's a questionof being quite comfortably balanced with

the ball of the foot on the pedal. It's muchmore a question of that than brute force. Isit pretty low; I'm about six feet tall, andwhen I sit down, my legs are virtually hori-zontal, parallel to the floor.

I think the demanding side of IronMaiden—the sort of songs that Steve Har-ris writes and the bass lines he puts to-gether—tend to dictate what kind of drumpatterns should be played. Because of theway a song is structured, that's the way itcomes about that I have to play what I do.If I were to put a straight classic rock pat-tern over it, it would be boring. So I try toconcentrate on playing with the bass pat-tern, or with some of the super-speed gui-tar riffs.

I should point out that the pedal oneuses has a lot to do with speed. I use astandard Ludwig Speed King. It's a result ofhow you just get used to using somethingfor a long time. I have worked with Sonorpedals, and they're very good. They're very"fiddly," with so many different arrange-ments you can have for spring tension,beater angle, pedal height, and so on. ButI've been a Speed King user for the past15 or more years. I find that I prefer thesimpler, lighter weight pedal. Of course, itmust be maintained: It needs to be oiledand greased quite regularly, and when I'mon the road I'll tighten the springs up aquarter of a turn every month or so. Thatkeeps it pretty sweet.

Q. About three years ago I purchased two Paiste cymbals: a 20"Power Ride and a 16" crash. While setting up a few days ago to dosome studio work, I noticed a crack in the crash cymbal, abouthalf an inch up from the edge. I find this very unusual, since theZildjian 15" crash I have (which was used when I purchased it) hasnot even dented in over six years of playing. This fact, coupledwith the fact that I've had no problem with the ride cymbal, hasleft me with a question: whether or not the crack problem is aresult of weather conditions, playing technique, or something elseI'm responsible for. If it is, why hasn't the same cracking occurredwith my Zildjian crash, which I treat the same as I do the Paiste?To further express my dilemma, my Camber hi-hats, which areover six years old, have held up quite well under the same condi-tions of play and weather. I'd appreciate your comments.

K.T.Roeland Park KS

A. There is no way to predict a crack in any cymbal, and very littleway to determine indisputably why a crack has occurred. There isalso no way to explain why a given cymbal cracks when a similarone doesn't, even though the two are used under the same condi-tions. Whether a cymbal is new or old is rarely an issue; manydrummers keep and use cymbals for decades, while others use upcymbals almost as fast as they do heads or sticks. The brand ofcymbal is also generally not a major factor; equal numbers ofnotable drummers swear by both Zildjian and Paiste cymbalswhile citing "breakage problems" with whichever line they don'tuse.

Individual instruments respond differently to identical situations.Obviously, a crash cymbal receives harder, more intense attacksthan does a ride, so it's not surprising that your Paiste crash shouldhave cracked while your ride didn't. Weather conditions shouldnot affect cymbals, since their metal alloys have already beentempered by many hundreds of degrees of heat, and would not

likely become brittle or more "prone" to cracking unless they weresubjected to sub-arctic cold.

As to whether your playing technique contributed to the crack-ing of the cymbal, that is always a possibility, but probably not alikely one if it took you three years to crack one cymbal. Mostdrummers whose technique is so abusive that they crack theircymbals do so quite regularly, and in short order. In your case, itseems to be a case of simply accepting the fact that cymbalscannot be guaranteed to last indefinitely, and must, in the finalanalysis, be recognized as replaceable items.

Q. It seems that all drum hardware is fairly easy to come by. Myquestion is: Do any drum manufacturers sell unfinished shells for ado-it-yourself drummer to design a personal drumset at an accept-able price?

M.F.Washington PA

A. Of course, what constitutes an "acceptable price" is up to you.Most of the major drum manufacturers do not sell raw shells, but anumber of custom drumshell operations do. According to the1988 edition of the Modern Drummer Equipment Annual, rawwooden drumshells are available from the fames Drum Company,229 Hamilton Street, Saugus, Massachusetts 01906; Modern DrumShop, 167 W. 46th Street, New York, New York 10036; and fromThunderstick, Rt. 2, Box 186, Blue Earth, Minnesota 56013. Inaddition, raw fiberglass shells are available from A.F. Blaemire,5208 Monte Bonito Drive, Los Angeles, California 90041, whilebrass snare drum shells are shown in the catalog of Con Bops ofCalifornia, 2302 E. 38th Street, Los Angeles, California 90058.

Q. I am having problems obtaining the speed I want from my basspedal. I recently bought a DW 5000 Turbo, but I can't seem toplay it as fast as I want to. Basically, what I want is a pedal that isvery easily pushed forward to strike the head, but will spring backextremely fast for the next stroke. Can you give me any adjustmentadvice? Also, what about tuning my bass drum?

D.S.Eastman CA

A. Since you state that you only recently purchased your newpedal, any advice given here must be prefaced with the fact thatany type or brand of pedal must be "gotten used to" in order tofunction to its optimum level. But since you describe a particularaction that you are looking for in a pedal, we must mention thatthe DW 5000 Turbo, like any chain-drive pedal based on a circu-lar sprocket, is not designed to give that particular action. Thecircular sprocket is designed to give a smooth, even action onboth the downstroke and the return. The chain pulls straight down,the sprocket rotates in a circular motion, and thus the leverage isthe same at any point on the rotation of the axle. Due to this fact,adjustments for speed are difficult, since tightening the spring for aquick return will make the downstroke that much tighter as well.

The type of action you describe is more likely to be found froma pedal employing an eccentric cam. This is a popular design,represented today by pedals including Drum Workshop's originalDW 5000 strap-drive model, the Gretsch Floating Action, andmany other lightweight models. The linkage on these pedals isdesigned so that the leverage is strongest on the downstroke,making it easy to depress the pedal. The more the pedal is de-pressed, the smaller the radius of the cam becomes, increasing thepower of the beater impact. At the same time, the tension placedon the spring also increases proportionately. When the pedal isreleased, the small radius of the cam allows the spring to returnthe pedal to its original position very quickly.

It is possible to gain a bit of pedal speed by increasing thetension of the bass drum batter head (for a bit of "bounce"). Butdoing so may adversely affect the desired pitch and tonality of thedrum. Generally speaking, it is better to rely exclusively on thepedal for its own action, and tune the drum for sound purposesalone.

I'm driving in my car, thinking about whatI'm going to write about Jeff Porcaro. Thevolume of the radio is nearly off while my

mind is preoccupied, but suddenly I'mprompted to turn the music up. What I've

heard, almost subliminally, is a groove thatfeels so good. I laugh when I realize it's Boz

Scaggs' "Lowdown," and the subject of mypreoccupation is playing drums. I know that I

heard that drum track from an almostinaudible radio because I couldn't not hear it.

The song ends, and I change the station. Thenext song that blares from my speakers is

"Pamela, "from the newest Toto album, TheSeventh One. It's that feel again, and it

becomes obvious that that's what I want toconvey about Jeff Porcaro.

Hours later, I'm sitting in a restaurant. In themidst of a conversation with a friend,

something I can barely hear in thebackground catches my attention. It's "GeorgiePorgie"from Toto's first album, and I wonder

why I haven't noticed any other music that'sbeen played in the restaurant all night. Maybe

it has to do with the fact that no one plays agroove like Jeff. If you've ever seen him play

live, you know it's because he commits hisbody and soul to

by Robyn Flans

Photo by Jaeger Kotos

He'll laugh when he reads this, and I wish Icould convey his contagious laugh with words.He's been playing professionally since he was17, when he left high school to tour with Sonny& Cher, then graduating to one of the moremusically hip gigs around—Steely Dan. Thenhe became one of the most employed sessionplayers, working for the full spectrum of artists.He'll laugh at the accolades because he simplydoesn't—or won't—acknowledge his specialgift-

In my 1983 interview with Jeff, he made oneof the most ludicrous statements anyone hasever uttered: "My time sucks." Yeah, right. Butleff would rather compliment someone he digsthan talk about why people dig him. His mod-esty doesn't allow him to wear attention well,and he insists that his playing is just a stolencombination of influences. What he overlooksis that he has synthesized those influences intoa style that is all his own. He may have ab-sorbed his hems' playing, but what has beenborn is an amalgamation that is combined withhis own vital, vibrant, emotional personality—the animated way he expresses himself ver-bally, the sensitivity he possesses as a humanbeing, the lack of pretense, and his omnipres-ent vulnerability. All of that is infused in hisperformance as a musician and creates thatsound that makes me feel a drum track he'splayed before I can identify the song.RF: According to Toto's bio, the new albumwas done differently than the past albums inthat it was done live. Is that true?JP: Somewhat true. The first thing different wasthat we had coproducers that we worked wellwith. Toto has always produced their own rec-ords, but then we're worried about the techni-cal end, the control room, the engineering, themaking of work tapes, and on and on to themastering of the record. That takes up a lot oftime. Plus, when you're producing yourself, youlisten to the track as a band. Maybe the track is

burnin', and it feels good, but maybe I'm listening to it andthinking, "I know I could have done a little bit better on thatbridge." But I look around and everyone else is quite satisfied, andit is satisfactory, so I'm not going to cause waves by saying, "Letme do another one." I know through experience everyone is goingto say, "Man, it sounds great," and we move on, because we'retoo kind to each other.

On this album, we had Billy Payne and George Massenburg,who we'd all worked with before and respect highly. So if we cutthat same track, Billy or George might say, "Ah Jeff, try to do thatthing you did earlier on the bridge," and we'll go out and doanother one. The reason we would do another one is because wedid this album as artists. We weren't worried about all the techni-cal things.RF: Does it work the other way, too, where you tend to scrutinizetoo much, and the producer might say, "I think it's cool the way itis"?JP: That has happened, too, and that's also what they were therefor. They were there to push the potential to what it should be.We still tried to arrange, dictate the sounds somewhat, and get thefeel we wanted.

But back to live recording, when we did this album, we tried todo as much rhythm section—bass, guitar, keyboards, and drums—in the studio, with live vocal, as possible. This is the first albumwe've done where we've heard a vocal going on while we cut. Ona couple of songs—for instance, "A Thousand Years" and "TheseChains"—I actually listened to the demo cassettes through head-phones while I recorded the drum tracks. It was like playing alongto a record, which I did when I was learning how to play. I did thaton those particular tunes because the demos were great, the twoguys were singing, so it was definitely the right tempo, and theproduction of the demos was such that I heard all the parts. So Iplayed along. The only other track that's not live is "You Got Me."That track was a demo that David wrote for Whitney Houston. Weheard the song and said, "We should do this in Toto." The songfelt great; it was all electronics, drum machine, and stuff, and wedecided to add real drums, percussion, real horns, guitar, etc.RF: The tune "Farenheit" was pretty machine-oriented.JP: There were two tunes on that album that were Synclavierdrums, and the rest was real drums. "Farenheit" was half Syn-clavier, and the choruses were real drums.RF: How electronic are you these days?JP: Less and less and less and less and less.

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RF:Why?JP: I'm not particularly keen about them—how they are as instru-ments to play or their sounds. A lot of people are very excited andthink their sounds are cool, but it's all very Mattel Toy to me. I stilllike acoustic drums in a big room, and I feel I can match anysample by playing drums in a proper room with proper recording,proper outboard gear, gates, AMS's, and all sorts of digital things.You can process real drums on the spot and they'll sound just asgood as any of the electronic crap around.RF: Don't you use Dynacord electronic drums?JP: Yeah, I use Dynacords for a couple of things. I don't triggerDynacord from my real drums much. Live, instead of setting up abunch of timbales and gongs, I'll use the Dynacord gong and itsgated timbales.RF: Like on what?JP: "Africa," the "Dune Theme," "Mushanga," and a couple ofthings. On this particular tour I won't be using it. Luis Conte willbe using my Dynacord stuff and performing those bits of informa-tion for us. My brother Steve just produced a couple of tracks forFernando Saunders, the bass player. We did it at David Paich'sstudio, where I played my whole Dynacord set. I've done it some-times for people, but it doubly goes to show me that nothing is asversatile as a real drumset and a human being.RF: When we did our last interview, machinery was runningrampant...JP: Was I into them then?RF: You were more into the fantasy of what they could be, be-cause it was just starting.JP: And I kept looking at them, saying, "You're light years awayfrom where you should be."RF: But we were talking about being able to phone in a part inperfect time. In our article "Drum Machines, Friend or Foe," yousaid, and I quote, "I see a future of walking into a studio with abriefcase full of my own sounds—all different kinds of sounds.They will be electronically perfect. I can put them in a Linnmachine, or whatever is available in the future, and play like Ialways play."JP: It still hasn't happened. Samples have happened, but what Isaw potentially back then was something that you could play as aplayer, and be able to have your own sounds. That will happen inthe future. But it has to be something with all the beauty ofplaying—meaning it's a physical thing, a dynamic thing. Whenmy mind and my body say, "Man, slam it," that has to come off. Ifthey can duplicate what happens with a real acoustic drum, yeah.Nobody's got real dynamics yet. I've heard at the most five incre-ments, and everybody's joking themselves if they think there'smore than that. Electronic stuff is cool in its place, but for mepersonally, it's still like the old days. When I first got Syndrums, Iused them on four records: a Boz Scaggs record [Down Two, ThenLeft], a Diana Ross record, a Leo Sayer record [Thunder In MyHeart], and Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better," which was thefirst record out with Syndrums on it. I did those four records in aone-month period. Right after that I saw a Ford commercial withSyndrums, and I threw up my hands and said, "Okay, that's it." Assoon as you hear something on a TV commercial, it's Mattel. It's atoy.RF: In the studio, do you see a swing back to acoustic drums?JP: Oh yes, I definitely do. First of all, a lot of people thought we'dsave time by programming drums—that they are efficient.RF: That isn't true?JP: I don't think that's true. I've gotten a lot of calls in the past twoyears where people wanted me to replace drum machines. Thenthey went back to just using clicks. Then they would say, "Let's geta rhythm section." Studio owners have been tearing down thewalls of their 200-square-foot rooms for synthesizers to build1,500-square-foot rooms for live drums again. At least aroundhere I've been seeing that a lot. It's not cost efficient, either. Theythought, "I don't have to pay a lousy drummer no more; I canprogram stuff." But it takes people hours and hours to do that,when a capable drummer can record as many songs in a day anda half as it would take a week to program. And it'll feel better andwon't sound like every other record on the radio.

RF: Are you as negative about electronics as you're coming off tobe?JP: They're just not my cup of tea. I react to sounds from electron-ics as I do to fireworks at Disneyland. I go, "Wow, that was great,"but fireworks at Disneyland are not anything like seeing a meteorexplode—hearing a real snare drum and the beauty of the drum. If

it's a tune where you don't want any dynamics out of the drum-mer, yes, electronics are cool. You can get some pretty far-outelectronic sounds, but for me and the music I do, and for mycareer, gigs come up 10% of the time where I have the opportu-nity to use those things.RF: What does your set look like these days?JP: A standard set. I guess Pearl is calling my set the jazz-styledrums. When I went to a photo session, it was with a set of drumsthat weren't mine. When I got there, I said, "The toms seem deep;these aren't my sizes." They said, "These are the standard sizes."They explained that, in the past couple of years, the power-tomsizes became their standard drum. They have the super powertoms, but the standard drums that have been around since the '20sand '30s, they call the jazz drums now. So when you see picturesof me behind a drumset in an ad, it's deceiving. It's my setup, butthose aren't my sizes. I use Pearl jazz-size toms, 10", 12", 13", and14" and 16" floor toms, an 18 x 22 bass drum, a Pearl piccolosnare, a Pearl standard-size metal snare, and I have a LudwigBlack Beauty and a 6 1/2" regular Ludwig metal snare drum.RF: I know you endorse Paiste Cymbals. What hi-hats do youfavor, since that's one of your trademarks?JP: I have several pairs I like. I have a pair of 602 Paistes that I'm inlove with. I have a pair of 13" Zildjians—a Z on the bottom and aK on top. One of my favorite pairs is an old, old, old A Zildjian 14"on top and an Italian Tosco on the bottom that has four quarter-

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inch holes drilled around the bell and two setsof rivets on each north, south, east, and westpoint on the bottom cymbal. They're incred-ible. This Tosco is real thick, but very brittle—not a lot of harmonics on the bottom. Thatcombination worked out great. I got the Toscocymbal when I was in Italy with Toto.RF: Was work on the hi-hat something youconcentrated on as a kid?JP: No. It was probably the last instrument tocome into my repertoire of drum instruments. Ifit had been important to me or I had studiedthe hi-hat or paid special attention to the hi-hatin general, it would have been easier. Thisyear, I'm finally comfortable playing quarternotes on the hi-hat through a whole tune orthrough a whole groove. See, I was never taughtthat way, so my foot would stay sti l l ._l wastaught to chick the hi-hat on 2 and 4 from oldbebop records, and everything else involvedplaying the hi-hat closed or a little bit swishyopen. I used to listen to all those Sly Stonerecords with Greg Errico, and I loved his hi-hatstuff, and the guy who took over for him, AndyNewmark. I stole a lot of hi-hat stuff from thosetwo guys, plus David Garibaldi and BernardPurdie.RF: So you did think about it?JP: I thought as much about it as I did bassdrum and snare drum stuff. I'm talking aboutduring this period when I was really picking upstuff. Pre-disco R&B stuff had a lot of hi-hathappening. Funk had a lot of nice hi-hat stuffgoing on, like David Garibaldi and the TowerOf Power stuff. But what I never realized ornever heard or had the ears to hear, was thatBernard always kept quarter notes, 8th notes,or even 16th notes going on the hi-hat with hisfoot—sometimes loud or sometimes real tightand short—while he was playing 16ths or 8thsor whatever on top. This didn't become obvi-ous to me until I got out into the real world andsaw a lot more drummers playing. And when Iwould try to do that...I'm not the most ambi-dextrous type guy, so coordination with myfeet would be real funny. John Guerin does

stuff with his foot that blew my mind.Tony Williams would blow my mind, sothen I'd go, "Gee Jeff, you've got to learnat least how to play quarter notes. Ohyeah, this helps my time if I keep quarternotes going while I'm filling. Good idea,Jeff." I didn't realize that until I was 21years old. By the time I got to be 25 and26 there were Vinnie Colaiuta and allthese guys whose hi-hat technique andability was incredible. So the only thingI ever woodshed if I'm sitting at a set ofdrums is doing quarter notes with myleft foot.RF: Back to The Seventh One. What areyour favorite tracks?JP: I like them all, I really do. I thinkeach one stands on its own merits.RF: Did you have particular fun on anyof them?JP: I had fun on "Mushanga" because,walking into the studio, I knew what thething was going to be, but I wanted tothink of a new beat for me—somethingdifferent. I didn't want one of those situ-ations where, after I heard what I did, it

ends up that I stole it or I'd heard it before in some sort of context.It was fun doing that beat. Now that I know it, I wish we could cutthe track again. It was one of those things where I had to figure outthe sticking a certain way; there are no overdubs.RF: Can you explain the beat?JP: No, this beat of all beats you cannot explain, [laughs] It'simpossible. I sat for an hour trying to explain it to my dad, and hewas cracking up because it involves hitting every drum, the rim,the head, the hi-hat, and it's all this split-hand stuff. It's basically asimple thing once you do it, but it's confusing to figure out for thefirst time—at least for me. And as soon as I got it, it was, "Quick,let's cut the track." We just cut it with David and me, and I wentinto a trance and tried to remember it, because a lot of it had to dowith me just getting comfortable with my sticking. The track cameout great, but then after we cut it, I finally got the beat down andstarted adding more things, like playing quarter notes on the hi-hatand things like that.

And I like "These Chains," but that's because it's exactly a rip-off of Bernard Purdie doing "Home At Last" on Aja. It's not exactlythe same beat, but that was the sole inspiration, just like with"Rosanna." I like "Stay Away" a lot, the rock 'n' roll thing withLinda Ronstadt, and I like "Anna" a lot, and the whole damnalbum.RF: The bio also says that there has been sort of a re-commitmentto the band, and that you guys are taking less session work inorder to spend your energies here. Is that accurate?JP: Every day that anything is needed for Toto, we're all committedto being here for what we need to do—whether that means tour-ing, making a record, writing, or whatever. Any time in between isup to each individual guy to do what he wants to do with it. Me,I've always done a lot of sessions, and I still do. I've got to admit it,I do sessions. Other guys in Toto have been writing more. When Iwake up, I don't get inspired to spend a day or a week writing; thattalent is not a natural thing in me. But when I wake up in themorning, I'm tapping my foot, so it's nice if I have a studio to go toso I can play some drums.RF: I want to go through a list of songs and have you tell me howyou came up with the groove and the patterns, and what was theinspiration and the approach.JP: It's hard for me to remember that stuff, but I'll do the best I can.RF: Do you remember "Your Gold Teeth II" (Steely Dan)?JP: Oh yeah! I definitely recall "Your Gold Teeth II." It was writtenin 6/8, 3/8, and 9/8; that is the way the bar phrases were writtenfor us. It was Chuck Rainey, me, and Michael Omartian for thebasic tracking session. We ran it down once, and all of us thought,"Wow, this is going to be unbelievable," especially me, because I

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L I S T E N E R S ' G U I D EQ. For readers who'd like to listen to albums that most represent your drumming, which ones would you recommend?(Please list in order of preference.)

Album Artist Label Catalog #

Katy LiedSilk DegreesToto IVTeaserAbout Face

Steely Dan

Boz ScaggsToto

Tommy Bolin

David Gilmour

MCA

Columbia

Columbia

Nemperor

Columbia

37043

PC-32760

PC-37728

PZ-37534

PL-39296

Q. Which records have you listened to the most for inspiration?

Album

Pretzel Logic

The Royal Scam

Aretha: Live At The Fillmore West

Accept No Substitute—The Original Delaney &Bonnie & Friends

Houses Of The Holy

Artist

Steely Dan

Steely Dan

Aretha FranklinDelaney & Bonnie

Led Zeppelin

Drummer

Jim Gordon

Bernard Purdie

Bernard PurdieJim Keltner

John Bonham

Label

MCA

MCA

Atlantic

Atco

Atlantic

Catalog #

37042

37044

7205

Out Of Print

SD-19130

was 21 and I wasn't the most experienced bebop player—and Iam of the same mind today. When I heard "Gold Teeth II," the firstreaction in my nervous little body was, "I am the wrong guy; Ishould not be here," knowing the kind of tune and knowing thoseguys real well. They weren't really aware of a lot of drummersback then, but they were aware of Jim Gordon, and I thoughtGordon could do a better job playing that. He was more experi-enced at getting a better feel. I was very nervous about it. Fortu-nately, the whole rhythm section had a bitch of a time. This wasmy first sight-reading.RF: It's a hard song.JP: Not only that. You say, "Okay, it's a big band...," but it's not abig band. It's a little quartet composition, and the phrasing of thelyrics also had to swing. Fagen did the perfect thing. We lived neareach other, and we would hang out and listen to Charlie Mingustogether. He gave me some Mingus album with Dannie Richmondon drums, and he said, "Listen to this for two days before comingto the studio." So I listened to Dannie Richmond and tried to copya couple of things he was doing and copy a couple of things that Ihad heard my dad play. There was this Mingus vibe to the rhythmof the song. I remember that everybody had such a hard time thatwe would record other Steely Dan songs, and every night beforewe'd leave, we'd play "Gold Teeth II" once. I think it was aboutthe fifth or seventh night of a four-week tracking date that we gotthe track of "Gold Teeth II." Next?RF: "Lowdown" (Boz Scaggs).JP: "Lowdown" is from a David Paich composition that he wrotefor what would be Toto. David and I had done some demos in late'75, early '76. There was this one song that, when we got to thefade, we snapped into a completely different groove. That groovewas bass drum on 1, the last 16th note of the second beat, and thethird beat, 16th notes straight on the hi-hat, and snare drum on 2and 4. Boz Scaggs heard this song and said he wanted to do it, butPaich said no, it was going to be for a group we were going tohave one day, but he would give him the fade. So Paich took thefade and wrote "Lowdown" for Boz. Boz wrote lyrics and melodyand stuff, and we went into the studio. When we cut "Lowdown,"it was 1976 and there was an Earth, Wind & Fire album out that Ihad been playing over and over again. It might have been I Am orthe one before that. Instead of 16ths, the groove was quarter noteson the hi-hat with the same beat I just described. We wanted toget that kind of Earth, Wind & Fire medium dance-groove rhythm.But instead of doing quarter notes, I did 8th notes, so if you take

the figure I described to you and substitute 8th notes on the hi-hat,and every two bars or so open the hi-hat on the last 8th note of thefourth beat, that's it.

We cut it that way, but the producer said, "Gee, do you want totry adding 16th notes?" because disco was starting to come inaround '76. I wasn't the keenest guy on disco and said, "Naw, youdon't want to do that, man. You don't want to ruin the groove."He said, "Just try it," and Paich and Boz said so too, so I over-dubbed the hi-hat, which they put on the opposite side of thestereo mix. While I was overdubbing the simple 16ths, I starteddoing some accents and answering my hi-hat stuff, and it got to bea lot of fun.RF: "Love Me Tomorrow" (Boz Scaggs).JP: The most reggae that I had heard at that part of my life wasprobably Bob Marley. I hadn't heard of Peter Tosh or any of thosecats yet. Maybe the most up-to-date record that would tell youwhat I'm talking about would be "Kid Charlemagne," but if youlisten to the groove on that and on "Haitian Divorce" from TheRoyal Scam, that's Bernard Purdie. You'll hear some of the samekind of groove on the Aretha and King Curtis Live At the FillmoreWest albums, both of which Bernard Purdie played on. On KingCurtis Live At the Fillmore West, when they do "Memphis SoulStew," you get a taste of this Bernard Purdie loop that I've heard alot from Rick Marotta, too. My main influence for "Love MeTomorrow" was the Bernard Purdie kind of shuffling type loop,very reggaeish, but it's a bad imitation of Purdie.RF: Were those timbales on it?JP: Yes, set up right by the drums, and it was me.RF: "Hold The Line" (Toto).JP: That was me trying to play like Sly Stone's original drummer,Greg Errico, who played drums on "Hot Fun In The Summertime."The hi-hat is doing triplets, the snare drum is playing 2 and 4backbeats, and the bass drum is on 1 and the & of 2. That 8th noteon the second beat is an 8th-note triplet feel, pushed. When wedid the tune, I said, "Gee, this is going to be a heavy four-on-the-floor rocker, but we want a Sly groove." The triplet groove of thetune was David's writing. It was taking the Sly groove and mesh-ing it with a harder rock caveman approach.RF: "Georgie Porgie" (Toto).JP: "Georgie Porgie" is imitating all the Maurice and FreddieWhite stuff, it's imitating Paul Humphrey heavily, it's imitatingEarl Palmer very heavily. When it comes to that groove, my

Photo by Ebet Roberts

It seems hard to believe that it's been sevenyears since the release of Jean-Luc Ponty'salbum Mystical Adventures. When that albumwas first released in 1981, fusion-drummingfans kept asking, "Who is this guy?" and"Where did this guy come from?" This "guy,"drummer Rayford Griffin, came out ofnowhere with a sound and style all his own.

For followers of fusion music, masterelectronic violinist Jean-Luc Ponty is nostranger. His first major exposure came frombeing a member of the second MahavishnuOrchestra, and since that time Ponty hasbeen one of the few original fusion artists tosuccessfully lead his own band. These bandshave included some of the finest musiciansperforming today, including Ndugu Chancier,Mark Craney, Casey Scheuerell, and SteveSmith. It's a testament to Rayford Griffin'stalent and ability that he has remained inPonty's band for longer than any previousdrummer, having recorded five albums withthe violinist thus far.

by William F. Miller

Besides his main gig with Ponty, Rayford has worked with sev-eral other artists including Patrice Rushen, Cameo, Wilton Felder,The Isley Brothers, George Howard, and Stanley Clarke. In fact, ina recent Musician magazine interview, Stanley Clarke singled outRayford as being the best young drummer happening today.

The following interview was conducted before a performancewith Jean-Luc Ponty at Carnegie Hall. At that concert, Rayfordshowed why he has been so highly touted. He combined tastewith a great degree of technical skills, and his drum solo broughtthe capacity audience to their feet. For a man who came out of no-where seven years ago, Rayford Griffin has risen to become one ofthe best.WFM: Where are you from originally?RG: I'm from Indianapolis, Indiana, but I lived in Houston for alittle while. I started playing drums in Houston when I was ten,and I moved back to Indianapolis in '69. I played in the marchingband and did all of that. I studied for about three years during highschool with Tom Akins, who is the timpanist with the IndianapolisSymphony Orchestra. I attended a whole year [laughs] at IndianaState in Terre Haute as a music major studying percussion. Then Ijoined a band called Merging Traffic, and on our second gig weopened up for Jean-Luc Ponty. That was in 1977. In 1978, Jean-Luc toured through town again, and we opened for him again. In'79, he came to town again, and this time I went to the show andtalked to him backstage. He remembered me from the previoustwo years, and he told me to send him a tape. About nine monthslater, Jean-Luc called and said that he was holding auditions. I hadto scrape and borrow the money just to fly out to L.A. for the audi-tion. I ended up getting the gig.WFM: What type of music were you playing in Merging Traffic?RG: It was fusion, very similar to what Jean-Luc was doing at thetime. Return To Forever was an influence. It was all originalmusic. The style was from what I call the original fusion style. Theword "fusion" has since become bastardized, in my opinion. WhenI think of the term "fusion," Jean-Luc, Return To Forever, BillyCobham, Chick Corea, and all those cats who pioneered the styleare what come to mind. Now "fusion" is used for acts such asSpyro Gyra or Grover Washington, and to me, that just doesn't getit.

WFM: Tell me about your audition for Ponty.RG: Well, I was bugging out because most of the other guys whoauditioned were from L.A., or at least from California, so they allhad their drums. Since I was coming from Indianapolis, I couldn'tafford to fly my drums out there. I did bring my snare drum andcymbals, though. I had been playing a lot of double bass, so that'swhat I would have preferred to audition on, but they rented asingle bass Ludwig kit, so I wasn't that comfortable with it. Iplayed the audition, and Jean-Luc told me to come back the nextday because he wanted to hear me again. However, the nextmorning he called me back to say that he had listened to the tapeagain and that I could have the gig, without having to play for himagain.WFM: What did Ponty have you play at your audition?RG: Well, we played things from his previous album at that time,which I was very familiar with because I was so into his style. Iwas accustomed to the way that his music was played and the wayother guys interpreted his music. Randy Jackson, who had playedwith Narada and Billy Cobham, was playing bass for the audition.Randy and I locked right in. In fact, during the audition Jean-Lucasked us if we had played together before. I think we were so tightbecause he had worked with Billy and Narada, and I was soheavily influenced by their music that we thought in a very similarmusical way. Everything just worked out great.WFM: Were you intimidated at all knowing that you were follow-ing in the footsteps of some very impressive players? Ponty hadplayed with Narada in the second Mahavishnu Orchestra, and hehad people like Ndugu Chancier, Steve Smith, and Casey Scheuer-ell in his bands previous to you. I would think that might beintimidating.RG: I wasn't that intimidated. I had done a lot of playing up to thatpoint, and whenever I would listen to those albums, I would say tomyself, "I can do that!" I kind of had that attitude. I was nervous atthe audition though, mainly because I was playing a set that Iwasn't familiar with.WFM: I'd like to backtrack for a minute and find out how and whyyou started drumming.RG: My uncle was Clifford Brown, the jazz trumpeter. I can re-member being five or six, and hearing my uncle's records. Fromlistening to those records, the thing that my ear went to more thananything else was the drums. I was always beating on stuff withpencils. When I was in fourth grade, my brother Reggie startedplaying saxophone. I was like, "He's playing saxophone; I want toplay something too!" So I started studying drums. It seems to methat, even way back then, I knew that playing the drums was whatI wanted to do for the rest of my life. I wanted to play music as op-posed to being a banker or a fireman or an astronaut.WFM: Since Clifford Brown was your uncle, I would imagine thatjazz was your first big influence.RG: Well, when I first started playing, I only had one drum. WhenI finally did get a drumset, it wasn't jazz that I was playing. I usedto go down in the basement and listen to Kool & The Gang, IsaacHayes, and Jimi Hendrix. A few years later, my brother startedbringing home Mahavishnu Orchestra albums, and I got into that.As a matter of fact, that freaked me totally out. For a long time, Ithought Billy Cobham was the only drummer alive. Everybodyelse, to me, was just bullshittin' on the drums. All the bands that Iplayed in were a little more progressive. I never really played in aTop-40 band, which I think helped to prepare me for the music Iplay now with Jean-Luc.WFM: What type of formal training did you have?RG: It was mainly just drumset and timpani, back when I wasstudying with Tom Akins.WFM: Did you have any rudimental training? I seem to hear a lotof that in your playing.RG: That's what a lot of people say. There wasn't a lot of emphasison rudiments when I was studying. I was taken through the rudi-ments when I was younger. I would practice what was there, but Ididn't put much emphasis on it. It surprises me that people thinkI'm that type of drummer, because I have never thought of myselfthat way. I never did any drum corps or anything like that.WFM: Your first name gig was with Jean-Luc Ponty. How long

Pho

to b

y E

bet

Rob

erts

Griffin's Groovesby William F. Miller

The grooves that follow demonstrate some ofRayford Griffin's playing on a few different Jean-Luc Ponty recordings. Rayford's confidentdrumming always grooves, whether he is playinga complicated odd meter or a simple rock beat.And his excellent technique can be inspiring.

This first example is the title track from thePonty album Mystical Adventures (Atlantic SD19333), and this is the beat that Rayford plays on

part 1. When playing this beat be sure to open the hi-hat whereindicated. This beat isn't as easy as it looks.

The next example is also from "Mystical Adventures," this beingpart 3 of the suite. The first measure is the pattern Rayford playsduring the bridge section of the tune, and the second measure isfrom the guitar solo section.

The following beats are from the tune "Jig," also from /Adventures.The first measure is the intro pattern, and the second is the solo-section beat.

The next three examples are from the Jean-Luc Ponty albumFables (Atlantic 7 81276-1). This two-bar phrase from "ElephantsIn Love" really grooves.

This odd-meter beat is from the tune "Radioactive Legacy." Noticehow the accents on the hi-hat set up four-note phrases that remainconstant, which changes the emphasis from an upbeat feel to a

This last example is from the song "Metamorphosis."

The last two examples are from the most recent Jean-Luc Pontyalbum, The Gift Of Time (Columbia FC 40983). This rathercomplicated beat is from the tune "New Resolutions," from theending section of the song. Rayford accents on the hi-hat andplays tom notes that correspond with the other instruments on thetrack.

This is the beat to "Cat's Tales," which Rayford plays in the guitarsolo section. This beat looks simple, but the way these few notesare phrased makes for an interesting beat.

downbeat feel when going from measure to measure.

Pho

to b

y Li

ssa

Wal

es

Rikki Rockett takesissue with those

who think of drumsas a backup instru-

ment and drummersas musicians who

support the "key fig-ures'" in a band. Inthe years since he

and singer BretMichaels organizedthe successful rock

group Poison, Rikkihas worked long

and hard to becomea drummer who is

as entertaining visu-ally as he is acousti-

cally. Leaping frombehind his drumkit,

flailing his armsabout, and generallymatching the chore-ography of the band

is Rikki's uniquestyle of showman-

ship. So it's not sur-prising that many

fans come to Poisonconcerts just to see

and hear RikkiRockett play.

Photo by Mark Weiss

by Mary Ann Bachemin and Mark Konrad

MD: When did you first take an interest indrums?RR: I was 10 years old at the time, and mysister had a boyfriend who played bongos.One day he left them out in the car, and Itook them into the house and started play-ing around. I liked them so much that whenhe came looking for them, I hid them un-der my bed. Eventually, I confessed to thetheft, and because he already bought anew set, he let me keep them.

role models in the beginning?RR: Peter Criss from Kiss, Bun E. Carlos ofCheap Trick, Joey Kramer of Aerosmith, PhilRudd from AC/DC, Joe X. Dube [Starz],Dicky Diamond [Sparks], and of course,Keith Moon.MD: And now?RR: There are so many great drummers outthere. I can always pick up ModernDrummer and find an interview on a greatdrummer—sometimes someone I'm not

other drummers?RR: I study their techniques, even play alongto their records, but my playing will neversound exactly like theirs because I havemy own interpretation and style of playing.Our new album, Open Up And Say...Ahh!,has some real boogie-woogie type songs.For ideas, I went back and listened toTommy Aldridge, who's a great rhythm &blues drummer. When it came time forsomething more solid, more rock-bottom, Itook time to listen back through Led Zepalbums. I think it's important to not getburied in a one-style coffin.MD: How important is showmanship toyou?RR: I think it's very important; it's impor-tant to rock 'n' roll in general. Musician-ship, image, and showmanship in roughlyequal parts is ideal.MD: On stage, you seem to enjoy leapingout from behind the drumkit. Does thishelp your playing or is it just pure show-manship?RR: [laughs] It's my medication! No, at anytime you do something other than just play,your concentration and accuracy are at risk.It can be very difficult to do both, but it is ashow, so both are important. Who said itwas supposed to be easy?MD: Throwing in some extra visuals seemsparticularly important since Poison is a vis-ual, excitement-oriented band.RR: That's right. Frankly, a lot of bandswon't tour at all because they feel their liveperformance will endanger their credibilityas musicians, and a lot more shouldn't p\aylive, because they're so damn boring towatch!MD: How do you prepare for the tensenessand excitement of a live show and stillremain psyched up for it?RR: I'm always a nut case just beforeshowtime. I have to keep moving; I stretch,do some sticking that Bun E. Carlos showedme, and basically go over the show in mymind.MD: Does the excitement of being on stagehelp your playing, and do you miss that inthe studio?RR: Oh, definitely! It does change thingsbeing in the studio. I approach the studioin a whole different way. I strive for preci-sion while trying to envision what it will belike live; that gets me excited and keepsmy enthusiasm up. That's what rock 'n' rollis all about.MD: Do you prefer recording live, with allthe band members playing at once, or multi-tracking each instrument one at a time,looking for technical perfection?RR: I love a "live" sound. But in order tocompete with other bands that do exten-sive multitracking and overdubbing and

Photo by Anna Maria DiSanto

MD: So you were on your way to becom-ing a drummer...or a thief. When did youstart playing acoustic drums?RR: When I was 12 my parents bought—and let me emphasize the word "bought"—me a set for $50. I began practicing to mymom's Elvis records, my sister's Beatles rec-ords, and my own Johnny Winter albums. Inever had a bona fide teacher, althoughmy brother-in-law—the guy I stole the bon-gos from—taught me pretty much every-thing he knew.MD: Did you do any playing in school?RR: After a brief attempt at trying to playtrumpet in a school band, I decided tostick to drums and rock 'n' roll, my firstloves. During the next several years, I wentthrough a slew of basement bands. Eventu-ally I formed a band that got gigs playingclubs in our home state of Pennsylvania.Things really started happening when Ihooked up with Bret Michaels and weformed Paris, a visually-oriented band thatwas basically the same concept as Poison.Bobby and C.C. joined up, we moved toLos Angeles, changed our name to Poison,and started working the local club circuit.MD: Who were your drumming heroes or

even familiar with—and learn somethingfrom that person because of his or her skill.But if I'm going to name names, I guess I'dalso add Alex Van Halen, Bobby Blotzer,Tony Thompson, Shelia E., Neil Peart, BillBruford, Terry Bozzio, and Tommy Lee.MD: All these people influence the workyou do, combined with your own experi-ence?RR: Yes. I think you can't help but wind upbeing a product of your influences.MD: How so?RR: It's almost automatic to try things you'veheard on records, to see if something likethat will work for what you want to do.Influences become a point of reference. Iusually try all sorts of things covering abroad range of music. By the time I'vesettled in on something or some combina-tion of things that fit the part I need, it'sbecome my own style.MD: So you don't consciously try to copy

"A LOT OF BANDS SHOULDN'T PLAY

LIVE BECAUSE THEY'RE SO DAMN BORING TO WATCH!"

such, you have to utilize the technologyavailable now. My goal, though, is to gointo the studio, shoot for technical perfec-tion, but make it sound like I just went inthere and winged it. I don't want it to soundlike there's an orchestra or all these se-quencers going off. When the people whobuy records see you live, they want to hearthe same sound, to see you play what theyhear on the record.MD: Then you don't use electronic drumson stage?RR: I do, but only for effects. The fans wantto see what the hell I'm hitting.MD: Do you prefer acoustic drums to elec-tronic drums?RR: I do. Most of the new electronic drumsare touch-sensitive, but there's still a cer-tain feeling missing...and you can't hit rims.I like electronic drums and I think theyhave their place. Out on tour I know thatthere's going to be some effects I've used inthe studio that I'll want to reproduce live.The only way I'm going to be able to dothat is to sample the sounds and pop themout later on stage. So there are times whenI'll use electronic drums.MD: So the new album was done with liveacoustic drums?RR: Yes. I thought at some point in time Imight have to go back into the studio andoverdub a bunch of samples, but I did onlya few samples. There were a couple oftimes I used RotoToms for the beginning ofa song or someplace where I wanted a veryspecialized sound. Basically, we did thewhole album with straight acoustic drumsand a few samples thrown in here andthere for the fun of it.MD: Are you more satisfied with your per-formance on Open Up And Say...Ahh! ascompared to Look What The Cat DraggedIn?RR: I like it a lot better! I had more timeand money at my disposal. Look What TheCat Dragged In was done in 12 days on a$30,000 budget. I know guys who spendthat kind of money on drum tracks alone inone day. As we were working on the newalbum, if something didn't sound right tome, I could move on to the next song. Thenext day, after I'd thought it over and messedaround with the troublesome part, I'd try itagain. This has been the most comfortableI've ever been in a studio situation. I hadthe drums set up the way I wanted them,and I was surrounded by a group of verypositive people.MD: Positive as in "yes men"?RR: Definitely not. Positive in the sensethat if I made a mistake, the producer orengineer would say, "That was a little 'outthere,' but everything else sounded great,so let's take it again." Somebody else might

have said, "Hey! What's wrong with you?You're really screwing up!" In the studio,you've got to have people who are bothpositive and helpful, because it's almostinevitable that you're going to be hard onyourself.MD: When you listen back to the workyou've done, do you tend to be overlycritical?RR: I think almost every musician, afterlistening to his own work, thinks he couldhave done it better. It's all because youwant to do the very best you can. If I do adrum track and two weeks later I listen toit, I'm sure I could have done it better.MD: Is that how you feel about Open UpAnd Say...Ahh!?RR: With this new album, I put in a lotmore time than I ever have before—cut outmy social life and even lost my girlfriend. Iwould go to rehearsal at 1:00 in the after-noon and not finish until about 9:00 atnight. Then I'd take my portable four-trackhome and use either my drum machine orplay beats on the Octapad. I would playjust kick and snare the whole way throughon track two, and turn around and play hi-hats and fills on track three. After a while,I'd have a whole song with drums included.I'd be able to sit back and say, "Now, whenthis goes on the vinyl, am I gonna want itto sound like this?" I figured, once I had

everything in my mind, then it was downto where it sounded like a good song. Timeafforded me that luxury. We really had torush our first record. The most we hoped togain from it was enough groundwork to setourselves up for the next record—a biggerbudget, more time, and some name recog-nition. But it turned out that Look WhatThe Cat Dragged In really skyrocketed. Itdid ten times what we hoped it would do.But I still listen to it and think, "God, I wishI could've done it differently."MD: Are you a "feel" player as opposed toa "technical" player?RR: I guess I am more of a "feel" player. Idon't play mathematically. I don't reallycount things out unless there's a breakcoming up or there's something that has tobe counted. I can read music to a degree,but I'm very slow at it. I certainly can'tsight read, but I can figure out a chart if Ireally look at it for a while, play aroundwith it, and have someone tell me whetherI'm right or wrong.MD: Do you consider this a weakness foryou?RR: Yes, and it's something I've started towork on. Using a drum machine and learn-ing to program it has helped me learn nota-tion and charts a helluva lot more.MD: Do you try to play right on the beat,behind it, or ahead of it?

Drums: DrumWorkshop withcustom greenfinish.Cymbals:Zildjian.A. 8x 14brass or 6 x14 maplesnareB. 9 x 1 0rack tomC. 10 x 12 rack tomD. 12 x 14 floor tomE. 14 x 16 floor tomF. 16 x 22 bass drumG. 16 x 22 bass drumH. Duo Pads (electronicdrums)1.14" Z Dyno Beat hi-hats2. 10" A splash3. 17" A rock crash4. 20" or 22" Z Heavy Power Ride5. 18" K crash ride6. 18" A medium crash7. 19" K China Boy8. LP cowbellHardware: A combination of DW hardware with a Collarlockdrum support system. DW hi-hat, DW 5000TE bass drumpedals.Electronics: Dynacord Add-one digital drums and DrumWorkshop Duo Pads (kick and snare only) triggering Rikki'sown samples using an Akai S-900 digital sampler.

The city of Miami is becoming, more and more, a melting pot ofdifferent peoples, cultures, and ethnic backgrounds. With thesevaried cultures comes a wealth of musical sounds and styles. Itseems appropriate, then, that within this community thrives one ofthe most innovative music schools in the country: the Universityof Miami.

The School of Music at the University of Miami first opened in1926, and since that time has grown to become the largest schoolof its kind at any private institution of higher learning in the U.S.The success of this school can be largely attributed to the trulyinnovative course studies that have been created at the university.The primary concern of the school has been to offer its graduatesthe tools necessary for success in the music business.

The University of Miami's degree programs reflect the school'sdesire to offer its students an education in music that can cover theentire spectrum, from the traditional to the most current trends intoday's music. The degree programs offered include the moretraditional areas such as Music Performance, Music Education,and Composition. In addition to these, the University of Miamiwas the first school to offer degrees in Music Merchandising (nowcalled Music Industry), Music Engineering Technology, and StudioMusic and Jazz.

At a school where innovation and forward thinking is sought,the percussion department is, by all means, leading in that direc-tion. Much of the credit for this can be attributed to Fred Wick-strom, the head of the percussion department: "My responsibilitieshere have been to establish a curriculum that we—I and the otherpercussion instructors here—feel is meaningful in today's music.We continually update our program to meet current trends."

Fred first came to the University of Miami over 20 years ago.Prior to coming to the university, he had drumset and percussiontraining in addition to a multitude of varied performance experi-ences in his hometown of Chicago. Fred received degrees fromNorthwestern and the University of Illinois, where he received hismaster's in percussion after studying with Jack McKenzie. In addi-tion to his considerable training, Fred has performed with the

Harry Hawthorne

Grant Park Sym-phony, the ChicagoSymphony, and onnetwork televisionshows, has backedrecording and showbusiness stars in Mi-ami Beach, and wasthe principal percus-sionist and timpanistwith the Florida Phil-harmonic. He alsohas two publishedbooks on percussion,Keyboard MasteryFor Mallet Percussionand Latin PercussionTechniques For Rock,Pop, and Jazz.

When Fred firstcame to the Univer-sity of Miami, he wasinterested in makingthe percussion pro-gram as contempo-

rary as possible. According to Fred, "The first curriculum that I im-plemented was very much a carbon copy of the University ofIllinois program. However, the one thing I did add to that was thestudy of drumset. Believe it or not, I was looked at as being a bit ofa rebel for doing that. Now, with our new drumset curriculum, thisperception of me will probably increase. That's okay. It doesn'tbother me.

"I've always prided myself in being both a diverse player andteacher," he continues. "I firmly believe that hands, rhythmicrelationships, and reading ability can, initially, be best developedon a single-surface instrument, which is the snare drum. If astudent develops basic skills on snare drum, they can be modifiedand used on other instruments. I consider myself a good snaredrum teacher. Also, I've always earned a portion of my incomebehind the drumset. I still love to play drums, and I feel I have

Steve Rucker (seated) Steve Bagby (left)

by William F. Miller

some things to pass on in that area. Hav-ing approached keyboard percussion frombeing a drummer first myself, I'm able tohelp others over that transition, teachingvibes, marimba, and now MIDI malletcontrollers. I feel I'm a strong mallet teacherup to the point of the virtuosic repertoirethat many people are playing now. Withexperience playing timpani and acting asprincipal percussionist in a symphony or-chestra, I have a good grasp of orchestralpercussion. In building the program here,I've surrounded myself with a faculty andteaching assistants, each of whom coversome aspect of percussion in depth."

Over the years, Fred has built up thepercussion program in many ways. Hefounded the U. of M.'s percussion andmarimba ensembles, playing traditionalpercussion works as well as getting intomore esoteric-type pieces as well. MusesFred, "A couple of years ago at a PASconvention, I ran into one of my old, moretraditional percussion friends who askedme if I was still teaching a lot of drumsetdown here at the University. Two minuteslater, I bumped into another old friend, and while we were dis-cussing music he said to me, 'Oh, you always did like the kind ofmusic where you're banging on a bunch of flower pots.' [laughs]So, I don't think anybody really has my number, and that's fine! Ilike to do it all."

The other members of the University of Miami percussion anddrumset faculty include Harry Hawthorne, Steve Bagby, TimRichards, and Steve Rucker. Each of these men has his own field ofexpertise in percussion. Harry Hawthorne has performed withGlenn Miller, Tex Benecke, and Skitch Henderson's Orchestra,and he's also a former staff musician for NBC and ABC in Chicago.Steve Bagby is a drumset specialist, and has performed with IraSullivan, Sonny Stitt, and Red Rodney. Tim Richards, the tablainstructor, is a former student of tabla virtuoso Pandit Sharda Shai,and he is the recipient ofa Smithsonian grant forstudy and performance oftabla in India. SteveRucker, a drumset spe-cialist, has performedand/or recorded with JoeSample, Bob James,Hiram Bullock, Jaco Pas-torius, Dave Liebman,Paquito D' Rivera, RandyBernsen, and the Ross-Levine Band, as well asdoing extensive recordingwork and shows in theMiami area. Steve is thejazz percussion instruc-tor, who, as he puts it,serves as "the go-betweenbetween the Studio Mu-sic and Jazz department

Fred WickstromPhotos on pages 32 & 33 by Atdo Mauro

and the Instrumental Performance department."In any given semester, the percussion department

has between 50 and 60 students. Within that numberare Studio Music and Jazz majors, Performance majors,Music Industry majors, Music Engineering Technologymajors, and Music Theory and Composition majors.According to Steve Rucker, "Of the 50 or 60 total, 35 to40 of these students are primarily interested in drumset.Of those, about 20 are Studio Music and Jazz majors."

"With that number of students," says Fred Wickstrom,"we are able to give all of the drumset and percussionstudents good ensemble experience. They all have placesto play and grow." And Steve Rucker adds, "One of the

Dean Anderson (left), chairman of the percussiondepartment, with Steve Smith at a recent clinic.

Boston's Berklee College of Music was founded in 1945 byDr. Lawrence Berk, an MIT-schooled engineer who happenedto also be an accomplished pianist with a burning love ofcontemporary music. Originally called the Schillinger Houseof Music, in honor of Dr. Joseph Schillinger (with whomLawrence Berk studied), the name was changed to Berklee in1950 after Dr. Berk's son, Lee, was born.

Berk's goal was to provide an alternative to the "tradi-tional" conservatory type of school based on European classi-cal music. Instead, he opted for jazz instruction by actual per-formers in the field. And while jazz hascertainly remained a fundamental ele-ment of the curriculum, the school hasgrown—both figuratively and literally—with the times. When Lee Berk took overas president in 1978, he made it a per-sonal crusade to keep the curriculum vi-tal and reflective of the total music in-dustry. As a result, Berklee College ofMusic now offers a diversity of subjectsunparalleled in the field of music edu-cation.

A list of Berklee alumni reads like averitable "Who's Who" in contempo-rary music. The percussion list alone isimpressive enough: Gary Burton, TommyCampbell, Terri Lyne Carrington, VinnieColaiuta, Al Foster, Jake Hanna, Joe La-Barbera, Harvey Mason, J.R. Robinson,Marvin "Smitty" Smith, Steve Smith, andTony Williams are among the more fa-miliar names. (Burton is now Dean ofCurriculum at Berklee, while Campbellis an instructor in the percussion depart-ment.) Literally hundreds of not-so-fa-miliar Berklee graduates are filling thedrum and percussion chairs in bands,symphony orchestras, studio ensembles,and musical groups of every style andsize around the world.

Berklee is a large school, compared to most college or uni-

all enrollment is around 2,900, with the per-cussion department numbering between 400and 450. But while these figures may seemdaunting, the variety of programs and coursesof study make it possible for a given individ-ual to get more intensive instruction andhands-on playing time than might be pos-sible in many smaller institutions.

Dave Semanca, Assistant Director of Ad-missions, outlines the basics of the Berkleecurriculum: "There are basically two four-year programs at Berklee: the degree pro-gram and the diploma program. The degreeprogram is a regular bachelor of music col-lege program. In this program, the student isnot only taking music classes, but also aca-demic courses such as English literature, Eng-lish composition, history of art, western civi-

lization, acoustics, and things like that. In addition, in the degreeprogram, the student also takes what we call 'traditional' musiccourses like counterpoint, conducting, harmony—the more famil-iar music courses that you would find anyplace else.

"The diploma program is still a four-year program, but thestudent simply takes music classes. Depending on what a student'smajor is, he or she may or may not take some of those traditionalmusic courses. At the end of the four years the student is awardeda professional music diploma, which is a pretty common aca-demic award among music colleges and conservatories.

"Within either of these programs, a student must eventually

Steve Wilkes, percussion instructor and electronicspecialist, giving a clinic.

versity music departments or music conservatories. The over-

by Rick Von Horn

Members or the Kainbow band, a top-ranked jazz ensemble, rehearse under the eye of instructor Phil Wilson (right).

declare a major. For example, a student can be a Performancemajor in either the degree or the diploma program. It's the same injust about any of the other majors, except for Music Education. Inthe Music Ed curriculum, the student must be a degree candidate.That's due to the multitude of academic classes that he or she isgoing to be taking, such as psychology, teaching practices, andthings like that. Our Music Ed certification is on a reciprocal

agreement, so basically our graduates are eligible to teach in thepublic schools in any of the 50 States.

"Students can only enter Berklee on a full-time matriculatingbasis; they cannot enter part-time. And they don't have too manychoices as to what they are going to be doing during the firstsemester of study here. That's all laid out for the students based onplacement exams and on their placement audition. For the mostpart, everybody takes the same classes during their first year ofstudy here, but on a variety of levels, based on their incomingproficiency."

Jazz ensembledrummer Jim

Black performingin one of

Berklee's sevenrecording

facilities(right).

John Ramsay,Associate

Professor ofpercussion and aprofessional jazz

drummer,demonstrates apoint during a

student's privatelesson (far right).

Bright lights illuminate a stage filled with percussion equip-ment and soon the lush, jazzy strains of a special arrange-ment of Dave Samuels' "Whirlwind" fill the standing-room-only theater. A 20-member percussion ensemble is in fullswing, taking the audience with them. During a solo passageby one of the vibists, several of the other players kneel at thefront of the stage, enjoying their colleague's performance,heads nodding to the groove of the beat. This is what mak-ing music is all about. Where is this concert? Where else?North! Texas.

The University of North Texas (formerly North Texas StateUniverity) is located in Denton, about 35 miles north of theDallas-Fort Worth metroplex. This is one of the best musicschools in the country, known for its strong percussion pro-gram and famous lab bands. After all, who hasn't heard ofthe "One O'clock Lab Band"?

There are over 100 percussionists at the music school, di-viding themselves into three main areas: Applied Perform-ance, I Music Education, and Jazz Studies. The majority ofstudents come from out of state, although the internationalmusic: scene is also represented by drummers from countrieslike England, Poland, Germany, Italy, Brazil, and Australia,just to name a few. There are two full-time professors ofpercussion, Robert Schietroma and Ron Fink. There are alsotwo drumset teachers, Ed Soph and Henry Okstel. (For thepast several years, Randy Drake has assisted Ed with theteaching chores.) In addition, there are several adjunct pro-fessors (like Doug Howard and Kal Cherry of the DallasSymphony Orchestra) and several graduate teaching assis-tants.

Dr. Robert Schietroma is Coordinator of the PercussionDepartment. He taught at Morehead State University in Ken-tucky for 12 years before coming to North Texas in 1977."Doc," as he is known by his students, is the man behind theexpansion of the percussion department in recent years. Inaddition to the basic percussion ensembles, he has added asteel band, a gamelan, and ensembles that specialize inAfrican and tabla drumming. He also oversees the marchingdrum line, who are four-time National PAS Champions. Hecompares the atmosphere of North Texas to the momentumof a freight train: "The energy of the music school pulls thestudents along. Their progress is incredible."

Ron Fink came to Denton in 1964 at the re-quest of Dean Cuthbert. "He wanted to know if Iwas interested in taking a job that required ex-pertise in drumset and percussion," remembersRon. "That appealed to me because I enjoyedboth areas very much. You have to understandthat in those days they were two different areas,unlike today, where everybody pretty much playsa little bit of all of it."

The most recent addition to the faculty isdrumset artist Ed Soph, a former student at theschool. Upon graduation, he went on the roadwith Woody Herman, and then with Stan Ken-ton. Before long, he was in New York doing agreat deal of studio work. Now he is gettinginvolved in a more educational aspect of thedrumset by returning to North Texas to teach hiscraft.

"The drumset program here is very compre-hensive, covering everything from basic techniques to advancedimprovisation in all styles," Ed explains. "The strongest resourcewe have is the chance to work with the students in conjunctionwith the many playing opportunities available. There are smallgroups, an improvisation program, of course the big bands, andthen all the percussion ensembles. That's one of the major strengthsof the school: It allows ample opportunity for a student to perform,which is the best way to learn. You don't just learn out of books.And this school has very high standards, especially in the jazz andpercussion departments. North Texas is one of the few schools Iknow of that has grown considerably yet managed to maintain avery high caliber of instruction."

The instruction at North Texas follows a very detailed (andsuccessful) procedure. Each incoming student is given a 30-pagemanual that covers what is expected of him or her, from auditions,to lessons, to practice rooms. It explains the levels of proficiencyto be mastered in four areas: snare drum, mallets, timpani, anddrumset. (Each student must pass certain "barrier" levels on eachinstrument before graduation.) Applied Percussion students arerequired to take at least six semesters of chamber music (percus-

Ed Soph

Steel Band

Dr. Robert Schietroma

Randy Drake

Ron Fink

by Lauren Vogel

sion ensemble), while Music Education and Jazz Studies studentsare expected to perform in those same groups for four semesters.And the list goes on and on.

The manual also lists the books that students will be workingout of during their different levels of study. They include Cerabino'sDrumset Essentials and Latin Beats, Chaffee's Volume II Stickings,Chester's The New Breed, Dahlgren's Drumset Control, Fink'sDrumset Reading, Hammond's Drumset Reading Workbook,Latham's Advanced Funk Studies, and Pickering's Studio/Jazz DrumCookbook. Certain pages in each book are identified as require-ments for passing the various proficiency levels.

The audition process, whether it be to enter the school or toattain a position in a performing ensemble, is in itself an invalu-able education. "Time and time again," Bob Schietroma says, "mystudents come back and say that the one thing they really learnedhow to do here was audition. The competitive auditions here havehelped them get incredible jobs out there."

All incoming freshmen and transfer students are required toenroll in a percussion class taught by Dr. Schietroma. "I want to bethe first one to see them, not the last one," he explains. "I don'twant to wait until students are juniors before I find out theirmusical expertise. I'm quite frank with them, and our attrition rateis close to 50% in the first year. That's because our program istough, and if I believe you shouldnot be in the profession, I tellyou. They're here because of thereputation of our students, andthey need to know what's ex-pected of them. I've noticed that,many times, our juniors are bet-ter than some of the graduate stu-dents coming in from otherschools."

Lessons are divided into 12assignments per semester, andstudents are encouraged to splittheir lesson schedule betweentwo teachers. "They progressmuch more rapidly," Schietromareasons. "For example, if I wereteaching you snare drum anddrumset, we could spend thewhole hour on snare drum andnever get to the drumset. Thiswould help your snare drum tech-nique, but then you'd be a weekbehind in drumset. This way, eachteacher disregards what you do in the other teacher's lessons, andyou spend 30 minutes each week on your prepared lesson."

Jeff Falcone, a junior from Las Vegas who plays in the ThreeO'clock Lab Band, relates what it's like to study with Ed Soph."It's great," he exclaims. "He's the best drumset teacher I've everhad. He can pinpoint what it is you're doing wrong and give youfour or five exercises to work on to correct it. Sometimes he'll evencome into lab band rehearsal to help out with interpretation orstyle. He teaches you to become a well-rounded musician."

Dan Wojciechowski was the drummer for the One O'clock LabBand for four semesters between 1985 and 1987. He studied withHenry Okstel for his first three years at UNT. "After an audition,we'd listen to the tape, and Henry would find 500 things to workon!" laughs Dan. "He'd have me listen to a lot of older, big band

styles featuring different drummers. I learnedhow one figure could be played 300,000 dif-ferent ways, and that there is no right or wrongway to do it; there are only better or differentways to play a figure. He really helped me tovoice figures differently, too. I would think

about how the band would play it. I'm not a drummer, I'm amusician. He got me to think in terms of musical figures instead ofrhythmic ones."

Bob Schietroma expands on Dan's concept: "A drumset is amelodic instrument as well as a rhythmic instrument. It's impor-tant for drummers to have a thorough knowledge of melodictraining, which we do through mallets. It's important for them tohear what's happening musically, tonally, and harmonically, aswell as rhythmically."

Randy Drake offers a teacher's perspective on lessons. "It's hardwork! We have 40 students per week, and since the lessons areonly a half hour, things move real fast. It's nice because thestudents are very good, and they work hard. Plus they're up on

by Rod Morqenstein

What's In A Note:Part 1

Understanding notes, their values, and their mathe-matical relationship to each other is of extremeimportance to a musician. Drumming quite ofteninvolves split-second decision making, especiallywhen playing an extemporaneous solo or fill. Thefollowing examples present five of the most com-mon notes. Play each of them using a quarter-notepulse either on a metronome or by tapping your

foot. (This is indicated under each of the rhythms, on the firstspace of each exercise.)Quarter Notes

8th Notes

Let's take these five different note values and combine them into a 16-measure exercise. First play it, and then try to hear it (that is, playit in your head).

8th-Note Triplets

16th Notes

16th-Note Triplets

Now, without playing, try to hear each of these examples in yourhead. At any given moment—anywhere, anytime—you should beable to hear as well as play quarter notes, 8th notes, 8th-notetriplets, 16th notes, and 16th-note triplets.

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To make things more challenging, in the next example each of the different note groups lasts for only two beats.

In this final example, each of the note groups lasts for only one beat. This means that each quarter-note pulse must be divided intodifferent numbers of evenly spaced notes: either one, two, three, four, or six.

Remember, your goal is to become so familiar with quarter notes, 8th notes, 8th-note triplets, 16th notes, and 16th-note triplets thatyou can play and hear these figures in any combination, at a split second's notice. If these exercises seem relatively simple at first glance,stay tuned, because I'll be making things more challenging in my next column.

by Clive Brooks

Building Blocks Of RockIn past programming articles, I've dealt with waysin which your drum machine can be persuaded toemulate certain musical styles. While these indi-vidual patterns provide a reasonable approxima-tion of the output of a "real drummer," they offerno provision for the natural improvisation thatoccurs when you sit behind a kit.

Playing along with a group of good musicians,the good modern drummer will instinctively add fills throughout apiece that highlight principal chord changes and transitions fromverses to choruses, etc. Drum machines aren't human, but theycan be programmed to react in a similar way, and it is this aspectthat I want to concentrate on this month.

Song Structure

It can sound boring if the same single-bar rhythm pattern isrepeated over and over again to provide a complete rhythm track.It is far better to punctuate this percussive bed with intelligentlyplaced fills. Patterns 1 and 2 are a couple to start you off, andshould be programmed with your machine set to quantize 8thnotes.

These are known as 8th-note based fills, and although useful, dolack the speed and drive of 16th-note ones that most kit drummersinstinctively play. However, they are simple to program and makean ideal starting point for our short study. There are, broadlyspeaking, two different types of fills: one that lasts for a whole bar,and one that only lasts for a half bar. The half-bar fill is connected

Fill Positioning

Now we can begin to look more closely at effective positioningwithin a song track. Much modern music owes a great deal toblues, and one particular progression, the 12-bar, is one thatfrequently occurs in many different contemporary styles. Obvi-ously there are variations, and not all songs follow the sameformat. However, it does make a good basis for percussion study.From a pitched instrument's standpoint, such a progression (givenhere in the key of C) would look like this: C, C, C, C7; F, F, C, C; G,F, C, G7. Each chord represents one bar. The fundamental chordchanges occur on the fourth and twelfth bars, which are high-lighted by the use of dominant seventh chords. It is during thesebars that the drummer should insert fills.

To construct a rhythm track such as this, you ideally require adrum machine that has a facility known as track or song mode.This will enable many different patterns to be individually pro-grammed into selected memory locations, and then chained to-gether in a user-definable way to create the percussion track for acomplete song. If your machine is not equipped with this facility,all is not lost. You can simply switch across to the fills manually atthe required bar, and back again. Most machines will finish thepattern that they are replaying before moving on to the nextselected one. Thus, you can switch patterns in advance of thechangeover, and likewise switch back again. (It's easier than itsounds.)

Try programming a 12-bar progression now. First off, choose asuitable basic rock rhythm; use pattern 4 if you can't think ofanything yourself:

to a portion of a conventional rhythm pattern, as in pattern 3:

Set your machine up in song mode using your dedicated usermanual and, assuming that you have programmed the early part ofthis chapter into memory locations 1 through 4, proceed as fol-lows: 04, 04, 04, 03; 04, 04, 04, 04; 04, 04, 04, 02.

It's always best to arrange for a half-bar fill to appear on thefourth bar, and a full-bar fill to appear on the twelfth bar. Aftersuccessfully loading this sequence into your machine, use therepeat function to continually cycle through instead of program-ming it several times; this saves memory. If you have a guitar/keyboard/bass available, try playing along. It'll give you a muchbetter understanding of what's going on.

16th-Note Fills

Now you can try substituting the following fills for the ones thatyou've just programmed. They are more akin to what you wouldexpect from a kit drummer. This time you will need to quantizeyour machine to accept 16th-note input. If you're a kit drummeryourself, then why not attempt programming these in real timemode, tapping the pads of the drum machine in the same way asyou would play a rhythm?

Each style of music has its own fills. One such style that we'velooked at previously is funk, so I've presented some funky fillshere that can be combined with some standard funk rhythms toprovide the basis for some exciting 12-bar tracks. We've alsolooked at heavy metal and blues, so why not attempt program-ming some of your own fills for these styles too?

they can make it back—provided they'rewilling to really try. Mousey Alexander'sstory is one overflowing with ups anddowns: a career sparkling with memorableplaying highlights, yet filled with what manymight easily consider more than oneperson's fair share of adversity. Mousey hasfaced problems that would surely test thewill of any man.

"People really have no idea what it's liketo go through what I went through," says apensive Mousey. "That's why I do the clin-ics. Maybe people who hear my story willpick up a little inspiration, work a littleharder to recover, and, most importantly,refuse to give up."

Mousey's story begins in Gary, Indiana,in 1922. "My dad played a little banjo, butI really wasn't into music that much when Iwas growing up. Then, Dad took me tohear a drum & bugle corps, and I reallyliked the drums. At Christmastime that year,he bought me a set of drums. It was one of

The early days in Chicago with jimmy and Marion McPartland.

Mousey Alexander is a fine drummer firstand foremost, and has been for a goodmany years. But at this stage in his life, inaddition to playing, Mousey gets the great-est amount of satisfaction from presentingclinics—not the type of clinics we drum-mers normally relate to, but clinics for vic-tims of strokes and heart attacks. He does itto show people who've had their lives af-fected by these debilitating illnesses how

Mousey Alexander:those deals that came with free lessons. Iwent to the first lesson, and the teacherwas all bent over and walked with a limp.That scared me half to death! Was thatwhat I would look like if I played drums foryears? It turned out that the guy was acircus drummer, and he had great chops.He really taught me a lot, and I stayed withhim until the war came along."

After the service, Mousey enrolled in theRoy Knapp School of Drumming in Chi-cago, and soon began to work around theChicago area. A fellow musician recom-mended him to Jimmy and Marion McPart-land, and he joined their band at Chicago'sBlue Note. He stayed with the McPartlandsuntil 1950, when Marion left for New Yorkto work the famed Hickory House.

"Marion kept writing and asking me tocome to New York, but I was scared. I wasmarried by then, and I had two kids. It wasa big move, but I finally decided to do it. Iplayed from 10:00 PM until 4:00 AM, andthen worked at a bakery from 11:00 in themorning to 7:00 at night. I did that for sixmonths to save money for the trip.

"A bass player named Bob Peterson andI made the trip together. What a trip! Thecar kept breaking down. By the time wereached the Holland Tunnel in Jersey, wehad $5.00 between us. Then, just outsidethe tunnel, a tire blew and we got hit for$4.50 for a tube. That left us with 50CENTS toour name! Well, we drove straight to theHickory House, and borrowed money fromMarion for food and a room.

"Fortunately, I went to work with Marionthe very next night at the Hickory House.

What a place that was! All the top musi-cians would hang out there—especially thedrummers. Guys like Roy Haynes, DonLamond, and Joe Morello would come inall the time. After a year, I left Marion tojoin the newly-formed Sauter-Finegan Or-chestra.

"I joined up with the band in Buffalo fora concert, and I was terrified. Here I was inthe middle of a 24-piece band with twopercussionists—Buster Bailey from the NewYork Philharmonic, and the great WalterRosenberger. Eddie Sauter and Bill Fineganhad sent me some charts, along with theband's album, and I really thought I had itcovered. But when I sat down to play, Ikind of froze. Finally, Bill and Eddie said toput the music away and just watch them. Idid exactly that, and we ended up bringingthe house down. I stayed on that band forthree years. We did a 16-week TV showwhere I met a lot of really big stars. Sinatraused to hang with the band when we playedthe Crescendo in Los Angeles.

"After that, I went with guitarist JohnnySmith for two years, and then I joined BennyGoodman's band. Back then, The BennyGoodman Story was just coming out, so itwas first class for the band all the way. Weopened at the Empire Room in New Yorkin connection with the movie. Ludwig sentme two brand-new sets: a black one to usewith the trio out front, and a white oneback with the band. We had a ball thatnight.

"I went with Charlie Ventura for a while,and I finally settled in New York. I began toget a lot of calls for record dates and jingles,

by Russ Lewellen

Profile In Courageand I started making some really goodmoney. But I was killing myself for it. Yousee, I was also working at the Half Notewith the house band. There were manynights I'd get home at 4:00 AM, and getback up at 7:00 for a date at 9:00. Duringthe late '60s and early '70s I was gettingabout 400 recording dates a year.

"I'd also go out on tour every now andthen. I did a lot of things with Clark Terry,and with Paul Anka. Later, I toured Europewith Sy Oliver, and I did a two-week thingwith Doc Severinson. I was really workinglike a madman.

"In July of '73, I woke up in the middleof the night with a pain in my arm. I figuredI was just playing too much, so I went backto sleep. But by morning the pain got worse,so my wife drove me to the hospital. I'dhad a mild heart attack. Well, I was theworld's worst patient. I was supposed tostay in the hospital at least 21 days, but Ionly lasted ten. I was home two weeks,and then I had another attack.

"Everything went okay for the next fewyears. But in 1976, I suffered another badheart attack that did some damage to theheart. When the doctor found out I'd goneback to my old ways, he really lashed intome. He said that if I didn't straighten outfast, I'd die! Well, I did take it easy for awhile, but in December of that year I wasback playing full time with Zoot Sims.

"In 1980, I got the chance to fulfill alifelong dream, by putting a big band of myown together. We were playing at a newclub on Long Island, and things were reallygoing great. But in August of that year, Iwas rushed to the hospital with what turnedout to be a series of mini-strokes. The realthing hit early in the morning. As a result, Iwas completely paralyzed on my right side.The doctors doubted if I'd ever regain thefull use of my right side.

"I went through the worst period of mylife when I came home from the hospital. Iwould lay in bed and cry all the time. Yousee, playing was my whole life, and now itwas all gone. I couldn't even stand to listento music. The doctors told me that manystroke victims just give up. And when theydo, the tendons draw up, and the jointsfreeze. Well, finally I just made up my mindthat I was not going to give up without afight!

"I started out by just lifting my dead righthand up over my head, and letting it fall onthe pillow. I did this over and over again.Then one of my therapists sat me down at atable and put four cotton balls and a papercup in front of me. I had to pick up eachcotton ball and put it in the cup. I workedat it every day, and finally, the hand began

to move. First an inch, then two, and then Ifinally made it to the cotton ball. I'd putone ball in the cup, then another—day af-ter day, hour after hour. In six weeks, I hadall four cotton balls in the cup.

"Then I managed to unclench my righthand enough to insert a drumstick. It hadbeen frozen like a claw. I worked for 12hours a day until I could manage to play astroke on the practice pad. I should alsomention that I had a great deal of help froma protege of Louie Bellson's named AlanDale, who would drive up almost everyweekend to work with me.

"I also began to work on my right foot.First one toe moved, and then another.Within a couple of months, I managed todrag myself across the room with the helpof a leg brace. I started trying to lift things.At first it was only a jar of jam, but then Icould lift heavier objects. I switched tometal sticks that weighed about a poundeach. I also squeezed a small rubber ball,and tossed it from hand to hand.

"Then, of course, there was the mentalstrain of the whole thing. I had no incomefor almost three years. We lost everything—our house, our investments, and our sav-ings. Then Eddie Tone, a bass player friendof mind, ran a benefit for me on Long Is-land. That was a night to remember. Every-one was there. Even Buddy took a cab allthe way out from the city just to play thatnight. They raised over $11,000. It's some-thing I'll never forget.

"One year after the benefit, I had an-

Mousey with the Benny Goodman band.

other massive heart attack. This time, fourarteries were closed, so I was scheduledfor a bypass operation. The night beforemy surgery, I had another massive attack,and my heart literally stopped beating. Ispent the next ten days hooked up to aheart machine. They finally performed thequadruple bypass almost eight weeks later,after I'd regained some of my strength. Butbelieve it or not, I managed to return toplaying on a limited basis even after allthat. Unfortunately, it wasn't over for meyet. I was at the Sarasota Jazz Festival in'86 when I had still another heart attack.Four arteries were closed again, so I had toundergo another quadruple bypass."

Sitting back, Mousey reflects on a seriesof events that would easily have made aless determined individual throw in thetowel. "Hey, I really wanted to give up alot of times. No one will ever know howhard it was to keep going. To be renderedso terribly helpless after a playing careerlike mine wasn't easy to deal with, by anymeans. But you see, I'm a fighter. And that'sthe main reason I do the clinics. I truly feelthat if I can get just one heart attack orstroke victim to make a serious effort torecover, then I've really accomplishedsomething. I can tell it by the look in theireyes when they hear my story—and espe-cially when they hear me play. Man, I'lltell you, that's what really makes it all worth-while."

Transcribed by Bobby Cleall

Solo IntrosHarveyMason

This month's Drum Soloist features the drum-solo introductions to three different tunes.Each of these tunes is in a different feel. The first solo intro, which is in a funk feel, is byHarvey Mason. The song is "Ragtown," from Wilbert Longmuire's album Champagne.

VinnieColaiuta

The next solo intro is to a song called "Too Hip For The Room," which is off of a PatWilliams album entitled Dreams & Themes. On this track, which is a rock shuffle, VinnieColaiuta grooves hard and plays a few tasty licks. In the intro, the hi-hat is played slightlyopen.

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The third solo intro is by Gerry Brown, who plays this Latin-tinged intro to the song"The Dancer," from Stanley Clarke's School Days album.

GerryBrown

by Craig Krampf

The Headphone MixMost engineers and producers will want tohear the bass and drums before they bringup the rest of the instruments on the con-sole. In order for the two of you to playsomething together, you must be able tohear one another, which brings up the sub-ject of headphones.

The balances of the instruments in thephones can be very critical in getting atrack to groove with the right feel. Often-times, what you hear will determine whatyou play. Jim Keltner has said, "The head-phones and cue system can change theway you play. You have to check out aplayback in the booth to see if everythingis working together. Sometimes I find that Icould be playing a little more, but what Iheard in the phones led me to believe that Iwas getting in the way."

The cue system, monitors, type of head-phones, and the mix are vitally importantin getting a great track. And yet, at so manyotherwise excellent studios, the phonesseem to be an afterthought. Sometimes Iwish that engineers and producers were

forced to wear phones during tracking, justto experience what musicians go through.

I recently did a project at the Sound Stagein Nashville. The unique studio design hadno wall between the studio and the booth.The engineer and producer had to wearphones to listen to the band, since thespeakers would have bled into the openmic's. To say the least, the phones' mixeswere the best I've ever heard. A lot of timeand care went into getting a great mix, andthe whole system was excellent.

Some engineers don't put the drums inthe phones while we're getting a drumsound. I guess they feel the constant turn-ing on and off of mic's and popping equal-izers in and out could be distracting. Thefact is, I don't find it distracting at all. I liketo know what they're working on; it makesthe whole process less mysterious. It alsofacilitates working out problems with thekit, should they arise. Since I have to wearphones to hear the engineer and produceranyway, I might as well hear my drums. I'llusually ask engineers to please put mydrums in the phones. Sometimes they will-ingly oblige, but quite often my request isignored. You just have to go along with it.

After the drum and bass sounds are up,they'll usually move on to the rest of theband, and finally to the lead and back-ground vocals. You generally won't have toplay along as each section is added. How-ever, there is a whole school of engineer-ing that holds the opposite to be true. Thesepeople want to hear how the track is beingbuilt, and they'll have the band play againand again while they bring each new in-strument up on the console. This is amethod I've gotten used to, and actually Ifind it very logical. But it can definitely betiring on you as a drummer since you'rethe first one up. Again, you have to goalong with it and learn to pace yourself.One of the side benefits, however, is thatthe phone mix can be worked on simulta-neously.

Each set of headphones is normallyplugged into its own box, with a volumecontrol and switches for the desired cuemix. Most systems are stereo, with at leasttwo separate mixes. Sometimes more aredesirable, especially if you need tons ofclick and you don't want to drive the otherplayers bananas! A few studios use a sys-tem that allows each musician to have hisor her own mixing panel for the phonemix. This can be a joy for experiencedmusicians, but in the wrong hands, it canprove disastrous.

For example, I once did an album at a

studio using such a system, with an inex-perienced recording artist who happenedto be the guitar player. Well, we struggledthrough the takes on the first day. The bassplayer and I couldn't believe how bad thisguy's time was. He was definitely in an-other zone! We continually asked him if hehad enough of us in his phones, and hekept assuring us that he did. So, westruggled on. The next day, I put his phoneson before he arrived at the studio. What Ifound was the most exaggerated case of"more me" in the phones that I had everheard. Of course he couldn't play with us;he couldn't hear us! It sounded like a gui-tar solo with the amp on 12. Needless tosay, the producer had to have a talk withhis artist.

At the Sound Stage, they also use indi-vidual phone mix consoles. However, thewhole basic mix is brought up properly onthe first two faders. The remaining six oreight faders are used for what they reallydo call "more me." This is especially help-ful for the hard-to-hear instruments likeacoustic guitar and piano. It's also great fora singer who can add echo or effect bybringing up that assigned fader.

You'll run into a variety of brands ofheadphones. It seems that AKG appearsthe most. They make both an open andclosed set. I always ask for closed phonesthat completely cup the ear. A drummeralways hears so much from the drums them-selves that closed phones are almost a ne-cessity to hear the rest of the band. Also,closed phones tend to stay on your head alot better, particularly since drummers seemto move around more than other musicians.

You really can't become too fanaticalabout your phones and the mix. But if you'rereally having trouble hearing and playing,by all means speak up! One of the fastestways to correct the situation is to ask theproducer or engineer to put on a pair ofphones and work with the mix for a sec-ond. That may seem obvious, but so manyfirst and second engineers just keep addingthings, without ever really putting on thephones and giving the mix a good listen.

As with so many other things that occurin recording, phone mixes call for lots ofgive and take. Just remember, the artist andmusicians are all there for one singularpurpose, and that is to end up with a greattrack. But everyone has to be fairly happyfor this to occur. Your conception of a goodphone mix might not be the same as theguitar player's. Try to work it out. And al-ways watch out for the "more me"syndrome!

biggest influences were Paul Humphrey,Ed Greene, Earl Palmer, and the godfatherof that 16TH-note groove, James Gadsen.That "Georgie Porgie" groove I owe to them.RF: Would you explain that groove?JP: It's the groove on "Lowdown," just adifferent lift of it maybe, a different tempo.I stole all those grooves from those guys,but I may lay the beat just a little bit differ-ently, depending on the song.RF: Like "99."JP: Right, "99" is from that same genre. It'smy R&B chops that I got from those people.RF: "Dirty Laundry" (Don Henley).JP: "Dirty Laundry" is just me laying it. Itwas an electronic track, meaning it was

sequenced; that Farfisa organ part is a se-quence going down, so I was just bashing.I played 1 on the bass drum, 2 and 4 on thesnare drum. I'm just pounding. It's just agroove.RF: How did it come to you?JP: If you took the drums out and listenedto it, there would be nothing else you couldplay to that song except that groove. Noth-ing else fits. Because of the machine, thetempo is dictated, the dynamics, and whatthe song is about, dirty laundry. It's anattitude thing. The backbeat was obviouslylaid back as far as I could lay the suckerback, and I hit as hard as I could hit.RF: "Africa" (Toto).JP: I was about 11 when the New YorkWorld's Fair took place, and I went to theAfrican pavillion with my family. I saw thereal thing; I don't know what tribe, butthere were these drummers playing, andmy mind was blown. The thing that blewmy mind was that everybody was playingone part. As a little kid in Connecticut, Iwould see these Puerto Rican and Cubancats jamming in the park. It was the firsttime I witnessed somebody playing onebeat and not straying from it, like a reli-gious experience, where it gets loud, andeveryone goes into a trance. I have alwaysdug those kind of orchestras, whether it bea band or all drummers. But I just love abunch of guys saying one thing. That's whyI loved marching band, and I said, "Gee,someday there's going to be a little drum

orchestra where everybody plays one thing,and you don't ever stray from it. You do ituntil you drop. You're banished from thatland if you move from that one part."

So when we were doing "Africa," I setup a bass drum, snare drum, and a hi-hat,and Lenny Castro set up right in front of mewith a conga. We looked at each other andjust started playing the basic groove—thebass drum on 1, the & of 2, and 3. Thebackbeat is on 3, so it's a half-time feel,and it's 16th notes on the hi-hat. Lennystarted playing a conga pattern. We playedfor five minutes on tape, no click, no noth-ing. We just played. And I was singing thebass line for "Africa" in my mind, so wehad a relative tempo. Lenny and I wentinto the booth and listened back to the fiveminutes of that same boring pattern. Wepicked out the best two bars that we thoughtwere grooving, and we marked those twobars on tape. We made another mark fourbars before those two bars. Lenny and Iwent back out; I had a cowbell, Lenny hada shaker. They gave us two new tracks, andthey gave us the cue when they saw thefirst mark go by. Lenny and I started play-ing to get into the groove, so by the timethat fifth bar came—which was the first barof the two bars we marked as the cool barswe liked—we were locked, and we over-dubbed shaker and cowbell. So there wasbass drum, snare drum, hi-hat, two congas,a cowbell, and a shaker. We went back in,cut the tape, and made a one-bar tape loopthat went 'round and 'round and 'round.The Linn machine was available to us.Maybe it would have taken two minutes toprogram that in the Linn, and it took abouthalf an hour to do this. But a Linn machinedoesn't feel like that! So we had an analoggroove.

We took that tape, transfered it ontoanother 24-track for six minutes, and DavidPaich and I went out in the studio. Thesong started, and I was sitting there with acomplete drumset, and Paich was playing.When he got to the fill before the chorus, Istarted playing the chorus, and when theverse or the intro came back, I stoppedplaying. Then we had piano and drums ontape. You have to realize that there aresome odd bars in "Africa," so when youhave a one-bar loop going, all of a sudden,sometimes Lenny's figure would turnaround. So Lenny went in and played thesong again, but this time he changed hispattern a little for the turn-arounds, for thefills, for the bridge, for the solo. We kepthis original part and the new one. Then wehad to do bongos, jingle sticks, and bigshakers doing quarter notes, maybe stack-ing two tracks of sleigh bells, two tracks ofbig jingle sticks, and two tracks of tambou-rines all down to one track. I was trying toget the sounds I would hear Milt Hollandor Emil Richards have, or the sounds I wouldhear in a National Geographic special, orthe ones I heard at the New York World'sFair.RF: "Good For You" (Toto).JP: That's just a rock 'n' roll thing.

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JP: My ballad playing is me emulating JimKeltner, and all I think about is Jim Keltner,Jim Keltner, Jim Keltner, Jim Keltner. SinceI was 16 years old, I've had a vivid pictureof Jim Keltner sitting at a set of drums onmy right. I think of relaxing the groove sothat there's space. I like space in ballads.And sometimes I like those long, open fillsI stole from Ringo Starr and Jim Keltner.Drummers have to be sensitive to the song,the dynamics. Toto's ballads happen to giveyou a lot of dynamics. You can get outthere and still stay open.RF: When you play the Baked Potato, youreally let go. Most people don't ever get tohear you play like that.JP: It's because I'm allowed to play likethat, because it's a small club and I'mamongst my friends. A lot of drummerscome by the Baked Potato, and they're guyslike Sonny Emory, who I'll meet for the firsttime. I'll say, "Sonny, play a song." Heplays and I think, "Oh shit, I can never goup there again." When I play there, I try toget off some chops; it's my one opportunityto get off stuff I don't normally have anopportunity to do. I realized, though, thatwhen I do it, I'm holding back solos some-times. You might not think so, but I knowwhen somebody gets into an outside thingwhere don't have the facility to be realfree. l'm tight and nervous, playing too loudand too fast. People don't see me do a lotof that because I'm not really good at itI don't get called to do that a lot. There arebetter guys at that than me—guys who aremuch more musical than me on a broadarea. It's a hard thing to explain. I got calledby Zappa to do a couple of albums, and Iwould not take the gig; I would blow thesessions, he'd be pissed, and he'd nevercall again. When I've heard the materialand seen charts, there is stuff that I justcan't do. I can't do stuff that Bozzio orVinnie can do.RF: The feeling I get when I see you playthe Potato, though, is that there is a wholelot of you that is being repressed. I don'tthink I've ever seen you miss what youwere going for.JP: But I have. I can smooth out a screw-upreal cleverly.RF: You must do it real cleverly.JP: I do. You have to learn how to do that.When someone goes off into an over-the-bar thing and it's a great figure, I'll hearVinnie immediately; his ears catch on to it,and he has the facility—the motor sensefrom the mind, to the muscle, to the tech-nique—to go bam, just like reading a word.I don't, so I'll go for something, and I knowfrom my first 16th note that I've screwedup. I'll cover it with something, and some-one might say, "Gee, that's exciting," butit's simple, it'll get me out of there, and Idon't mess up the time. But I'm sitting therefrustrated as hell, and my arms are real stiffbecause my nervous system goes nuts whenI go for something where I'm thinking somuch. So I'm playing that uptempo sambathat I don't have the chops for, and I'mstruggling. People see me smiling and

RF: There's a great drum break in the middleof the song.JP: Just that weird-feeling fill—that's all itis. I can't recall what it is. The reason it's aweird-feeling fill is because it was one ofthose spontaneous things; what you hearon that record is the first time I ever playedthat fill.RF: You don't have a problem with weird-feeling fills.JP: The reason I don't have a problem is,first of all, they're weird-feeling because Itried to do something else and I failed, butyet something came out that still was sortof in time. If you listen to it, that fill isrushing. After I learned that fill and I had toplay it live, there are live tapes where thefill was even hipper because it layed whereit was supposed to lay. Sometimes some-thing good comes from an accident or goingfor something.RF: The Clapton song, "Forever Man."JP: "Forever Man" is the kind of drummingI stole from Jim Gordon and Jim Keltner.It's a very bad example of what you'd hearon those Tulsa rock 'n' roll type tracks, likethe Leon Russell or Delaney & Bonnie typegrooves Gordon, Keltner, and Chuck Black-well would play.RF: "Pamela" (Toto).JP: I immediately thought of Stevie Won-der doing "Sir Duke." That's a "Sir Duke"groove; Bernard Purdie did that groove.RF: Let's talk about your approach to bal-lads. I love the feel to songs like "I Won'tHold You Back" and "Anna."

sweating, and they think I'm having thebest time of my life, but actually I'm goingthrough terrors up there. My right hand,man, I'm holding the stick so tight andgoing, "Please don't cramp, because if youcramp, I can't play for two weeks, andman, I'd better start practicing again." Allthat stuff goes through my mind. Some-times I have no business being up there, forthat particular band. Maybe there's an in-between where I don't have to get into thatoutside stuff. There's stuff that I do playthat I think is exciting, which isn't main-stream stuff, but it also isn't fusion.RF: You're not Vinnie Colaiuta, but you'rea different drummer.JP: I know that, and I respect myself forwhat I am, believe me.RF: It's all a matter of personal preference.Maybe the people who are slayed by Vin-nie aren't the ones who would be slayedby you, but obviously there are people whowould prefer to listen to you.JP: I thank people for that, and I knowthat's true, but when people say, "Man,Jeff, go for it. You've got time, you've gotgroove, you can do things those guys do.Just woodshed, and don't be lazy," well,I'd rather paint. Plus, I'm close to whatthose guys feel like as human beings—whatthey feel like spiritually and artistically—and if I could play like Vinnie, I would notbe able to not use those chops. I knowpeople who don't like drummers becausethey think they're too busy. If I had thosechops, I would use them. It's impossiblefor Sonny Emory or Gerry Brown not to usethem. I know if I had the chops they havehow frustrating it would be to do sessions.RF: My original point was that there is awhole side of you that very few people getto see, and I've thought to myself that youmust feel awfully repressed doing sessions.JP: Not at all. On some sessions I do—andyou may not hear them—I get to play thatkind of stuff.RF: Like what?JP: Lots of instrumental stuff that's releasedin japan. I thought on albums like KatyLied I did somewhat that kind of stuff. Ihave not been frustrated or felt held backfrom anything I've wanted to do. Believeme. Not yet. I'd love to have more time forthe Baked Potato type gigs—live gigs whereI'd just play and not be under pressure,having fun.RF: Your dad recently said that what youplayed in the beginning was hipper thanwhat you play today. What did he mean bythat?JP: I don't know. Maybe he personally likedwhat I played when I was younger morethan what I play now.RF: Do you agree? Were you more adven-turous then?JP: I really don't know. I might have beenmore adventurous with the kind of music Iwas playing at the time. But I think I canlook at some stuff I played back then anddisagree with that. Maybe some peoplehaven't heard all the stuff I've played overthe years. Maybe people who only heard

me do Steely Dan stuff ten years ago thinkthat's a lot hipper than stuff I do now, butmaybe they haven't heard all the stuff I'vedone now.RF: I assumed your father would have heardmost of it, though.JP: My father? He's maybe heard one tenthof everything I've ever done. He doesn'tbuy pop records, and I don't go around tohis house saying, "Daddy, listen to what Iplayed on." But I think my dad said whatI've been trying to tell everybody for years:I'm just a street drummer. My father heardme play with Sonny & Cher more than heheard me play with anybody. Maybe he'stalking about what I played when I was areally young kid, back in the Jack Dough-erty days—that first album I did that waslike a big band that I did with Keltner. Weplayed uptempo sambas and stuff like that,so maybe he thought I'd be some greatbebop jazz fusion drummer or something.RF: Let's talk about the studio. I would liketo detail everybody's function in that situ-ation, and how it relates to you and affectsyou as a drummer. First, the producer.JP: There are many kinds of producers. Ithink the best way to do it is give examplesof different people. Say the producer is GaryKatz. He is the kind of producer who knowshis artist real well, and works for the artist.He also knows the musicians, and he knowsthe artists' music so well that he knowswho is best suited for the session. As aproducer he has his set ways of doing rec-ords, but his set ways are many differentways—whatever works best. He's the kindof producer who has natural ears and cantell you things aren't feeling as good asthey should be or there's something wrong,and make those suggestions in a very non-threatening way, and be very complimen-tary and understanding. And that's the GaryKatz kind of producer.RF: Considering that Steely Dan puts adrummer through hell, that's quite interest-ing.JP: We're talking about the producer.[laughs] Let's take a Richard Perry. RichardPerry is very well-versed in music and hasa very good musical background. He is amusician and a singer. Richard's sessionsmay rely on having an arranger there, andRichard does a lot of big hit records, so adrummer may get a lot of very set dictationfrom him.

People like Quincy Jones do more pre-production on the master tape, meaningthey will put the tracks together with greatdrum machine sounds and sometimes withnice involved drum programs also. Theyalready have set in their minds the beatthey want. Most of the time, I don't evenknow why they hire a drummer, but if theydo hire a drummer, they're going to wantthe guy to duplicate what the drum ma-chine is doing. Sometimes Q will have arhythm section thing. It depends on theproject that a versatile guy like Quincy isdoing.

Then there are producers who I call "fig-urehead" producers. They should be ex-

ecutive producers. They may be there inthe studio, but they're leaving it mainly upto the arranger, the artist, or whoever.Sometimes you find the producer to be oneof the guys. If it's a five-member band, he'sthe sixth member. They work with the band,they're very helpful, and they're musicians,too. And a producer may be different ac-cording to the project, because the artistmay be more dominating as far as what hewants, and rightfully so—not that the pro-ducer doesn't have the same talent, butmaybe the producer is just there to helpand oversee.RF: The engineer.JP: For drummers, the engineer is impor-tant. A lot of them have their own differentthing. They all have special mic's they liketo use, some have certain studios they like,some have certain consoles. Some engi-neers might be very good, but they mightbe very set in their ways: "This is the onlyway I get drum sounds." There are certainengineers I work for who even have snaredrums: "This is my snare drum." Some ofthe drums may sound great, and there maybe something special about them, butthere's always the size stick and who's hit-ting it. You may use the same mic', withthe same EQ, have your same level, recordin the same room, and it's still going tosound different. There are engineers whodon't like tom-toms. I remember when theSimmons first came out, there was a par-ticular engineer who just loved them be-cause, "Man, it takes so long to get tomsounds, but with Simmons, I just have tothrow it up and it's there." You also haveengineers who are only used to a deadroom. If you put them in a live room, theygo nuts. Some may be experienced andversatile enough to make that change.RF: How much latitude do you get?JP: I've been fortunate that on the sessions Ihappen to do, I have a lot of latitude. Oneof my favorite, favorite engineers is AlSchmidt. Al Schmidt recorded all the rhythmstuff for Toto IV, and not once—for that oranything since—did I ever hear, "Show upan hour early before the session. Can I hearthe bass drum? Can I hear the snare drum?I have to set my gates. Can I hear the tom-toms?" I remember Roy Halee. When Iworked with him on a Paul Simon recordin New York, Roy was the same way—thekind of guy who listens to musicians play,and as you're running a song down, is hear-ing how you play. It cracks me up howmany engineers never walk out into thatroom to hear what your instrument soundslike. They just stay in that control room."Snare drum doesn't sound good, man." AlSchmidt, Roy Halee, and George Mas-senburg would walk out into the room,listen to the sounds, and hear if I changedthe snare drum. What if I'm using a high-pitched piccolo snare drum on this tunenow, and I'm in a big open room? Theywalk around, they may put up some moreoverhead parabolic reflectors, they maymove the baffles in a little closer, they maymove a couple of the mic's to get a tighter

sound, but they listen and get your sound.Hopefully, you have an understanding withthe producer, the arranger, or artist of whatthat sound is supposed to be. But, of course,you run into things like, "Muffle your toms,that sympathetic ringing..." And you justcame from a studio where your drums werehappening.RF: The artist.JP: The functions vary, how good they arevaries, how fun the music is to play varies.But the artist, to me, is the most inspiringthing. First of all, I'm being paid a highwage to work for him. Or, I'm being paid ahigh wage to work for the producer whosuggested to the artist that I'm the guy touse. It depends on the session. Lately, onmost sessions I do, the artist has the influ-ence. I'm a guy who gets upset if I walkinto the session early and hear someonebugging the artist before he plays. Or if Isee that the artist doesn't have what heshould have, I get personally upset. It be-comes a personal thing to me. It's impor-tant that the artist be comfortable and havewhat he needs so all that's on his mind isto do his thing. If an artist gets the musi-cians excited, you're going to get some-thing good. I don't care what style it is,you're going to get something good.RF: I have to ask about Ricky Lee Jones.Carlos Vega mentioned his experience inmy interview with him, and he mentionedyou.JP: I was called to do the entire Ricky LeeJones Pirates album. On her first album, Igot called in to replace a certain famousdrummer's drum part, and I replaced it. Iforgot the name of the song, but it was aballad and I played brushes. She remem-bers that, so she wants me to do her wholenext album. The producers are Russ Titel-man and Lenny Waronker, and I get a tapeof the demos a month before the sessions.What a great thing. I go to the session, it'sChuck Rainey on bass, Dean Parks on gui-tar, Russell Ferrante on piano, Lenny Cas-tro on percussion, and Ricky Lee Jones play-ing piano and singing. The drums are in anisolation booth with a big glass going acrossso I can see everybody in the main studio. Ihave my headphones on, and we start goingover the first song. After the first pass of thetune, Ricky Lee in the phones goes, "Mr.Porcaro, I know you're known for keepinggood time, but on these sessions, I can'thave you do that. With my music, whenI'm telling my story, I like things to speedup and slow down, and I like people tofollow me." When she said it, there wassomething in the tone of her voice that wasweird, but that wasn't predominant in mymind. The first thing that entered my mindwas that it reminded me of Seal & Crofts,who liked to have their bridges up, but notradically. So the natural thing for me to sayto Lee Herschberg, the engineer, was, "CanI have more of Ricky's vocal and piano inmy phones," very calm.

We start playing again, and I'm prettygood at listening to people and following.She stops halfway through and says, "The

time is too straight. You gotta loosen up alittle bit. Did you notice on this one line,I'm speeding the line up, and I need you tospeed up with me." I go, "I'm sorry. Lee,can I have a little bit more of Ricky's vocal.Take my drums down in the phones just alittle bit." We start again from the top andwe come to that same section and I hearher intentionally speeding up, it seems like,and emphasizing it. I'm following, and that'scool. She slows down again, and I thoughtI was slowing down, but she stops againand says, "Can you hear me good? Try toget out of your..." I got the impression shewas saying to get out of my "perfect studiomusician" routine and be an artist for her.When she said that, the blood rushed up tomy head, because I'm always nervous whenI play for anybody, especially people whoare critically acclaimed and supposed tobe the artistic statement of the times. So Iget real nervous because I don't want to besquaresville; I want to be hip. And I lookout into the studio, and all the guys in theband—who I've known for years—are look-ing at me with this look on their faces, andI think, "Wow, what's going on? This isreal strange." So we do it one more time,and it is so weird that I think it was LennyCastro who went into the control room andsaid something to Russ and Lenny War-onker like, "Guys, what's going on? Call abreak or something."

A break is called. Ricky is still at thepiano, and I am sitting at my drums going,"What the hell?" And I'm staring at her.She's not looking at me, I'm just lookingover at this person hunched over the pi-ano, and she's playing a different song thanI have on the demo. Lenny Castro comes tovisit me, going, "Man, something is weird,"and I say to Lenny, "She's messing withme." I didn't want to go to Russ and LennyWaronker and cause a scene, but I toldLenny to tell them that they better pay at-tention to what was going on—to call offthe dogs or I'd be skating. I'll take criti-cism, but I won't take anything that is un-necessary.

So I'm sitting down, and she's playing.She doesn't have headphones on, but ChuckRainey and I do, and we're playing alongwith her and it's grooving! It's a shufflegroove, and Lenny and Russ hear it in thebooth and go over the talkback, "Ricky,put your phones on. Listen to this." Sheputs her phones on, she's still playing, andshe's going "Yeah!" with a big smile on herface. I go to myself, "Thank Cod." So Lennyand Russ say, "Let's move away from thisfirst thing and do this," and I'm going,"Great!"

So we start laying the track down, and Icome up to this simple fill: triplets over onebar. It's written out on my music, and Iplay the fill. She stops. She says, "You haveto play harder." I say, "Okay," with a smile,and we start again. I have brand new heads.I like to keep brand new Ambassador headson my drums, and my toms are soundingnice. I play the fill again. She stops. "You'vegot to play harder." Everybody looks at me.

I look at everybody. I go, "Okay, let's do itagain." We start again. One bar before thefill, I hear, louder than hell in my phones,"We're coming up to the fill. Remember toplay hard," while we're grooving. I whackthe shit out of my drums, as hard as I'veever hit anything in my life. While I'm hit-ting them, she's screaming, "Harder!" I stop.She stops. I'm looking at my drums. Myheads have dents in them; if I hit the drumlightly, it will buzz, and I'm pissed. I'msteaming inside. I'm thinking, "Nobody talksto me that way." Lenny Waronker says,"Let's do it again." We start again, andeverybody is looking at me while they areplaying. We're coming up to the fill, andshe goes, "Play hard!" and I take my stickslike daggers and I do the fill, except I stabholes through my tom-tom heads. I land onmy snare drum, both sticks are shaking,vibrating, bouncing on the snare drum. Iget up and pick up my gig bag. There'scomplete silence. I slide open the slidingglass door, walk past her, down the hall-way, get in my car, and I drive home.

I get home, and the first call I get is fromLenny Castro. "It's insane here. She's goingto sue you. She's got all these musicianshere and you split." I said, "Let her sue me.Nobody, but nobody, talks to me that way."If I was the wrong cat, the producers shouldhave broken up the session, called me over,and I would have been the first to say,"Hey, you don't have to give me two days'notice. Find somebody else. I'm the wrongdrummer. I'm sorry, I wish I could havebeen a better drummer for you guys, but Idid the best I could." But they let a situ-ation go on way too long for anybody,especially someone like me who workedfor them before. I thought I demanded alittle more respect.

She never sued me, and I didn't hearanything for a couple of years. Last year Iget a call from James Newton-Howard. He'sproducing Ricky Lee Jones' album and hegoes, "You won't believe this, but she wantsyou to play on two songs." I go, "Does sheknow who I am?" What I really didn't know,but had perceived—although I didn't takeit into complete consideration—was maybe,at the time, she was going through somehard times, like we all go through, and Igot messed with. Maybe we all handle ourhard times differently. The way JamesNewton-Howard explained it over thephone was, "Maybe she doesn't rememberthat situation too well." I said, "Whethershe does or doesn't, I'd love to play withher. I hold no grudges. I know that you,knowing that whole story, won't let thathappen. If I'm wrong, you'll just stop thesession and do an overdub while you finda drummer for the next session."

I get there. Ricky says, "Hi Jeff, good tosee you again. You seem to have lostweight." Well, actually I had gained 30pounds from the last time she saw me, sofor a second I thought, "She's messing withme." But I realized she was much moretogether than the last time I had seen her,and she looked gorgeous. The plan was to

do one song a day; we were booked for sixhours a day for two days. We did the firstsong in two takes. "Thank you, see youguys tomorrow." The second song we didin three takes. At the end of three takes, infront of the whole band, including peoplewho had been there when I had stabbedmy drums with the sticks, she says, "Jeff, Ireally have to tell you this. No drummerhas ever played so great for me, listened tomy music so closely, understood what I'msaying with lyrics, and has followed me aswell as you. I just want to thank you for thegood tracks." I almost broke up laughingbecause I had played no differently for herthe year before.

The story got around where it was eitherJeff who went way left under the pressure—which I can go; I've gone left under lesspressure, believe me—or that Ricky wentleft on Jeff. Whatever the case may be, thatwas just one situation. We've worked witheach other under other circumstances. Yet,I would still do the same thing with any-body. I'll help you find somebody for yoursession. It's not like I'm a triple-scale,$1,000-a-day drummer, like a lot of drum-mers. I've been double scale since 1975. Ibelieve I get paid great for what I do, but ifanything, people will tell you I work forfree and I don't charge for overtime. So itwasn't an attitude trip or anything. I justdemand respect—human respect.RF: Aside from the studio thing, there's Toto,which is your own. Everybody thinks it'sglamorous to have your own band. Butisn't it harder to be in your own band—where the successes and failures are abso-lutely your own—than doing most sessionwork, where you wash your hands of it theminute you walk out that door?JP: Get four MIT scholars and show themmy career in the band, and show them mycareer as a musician. They'll have me putin an insane asylum for even thinking aboutbeing in a band. Being in a group is hard,too, because you have five guys, but it's astudy in boy scouting. It's a little club. It'shard to keep a democracy together, as thiscountry knows, and Toto has done it forten years. Not too many bands have beentogether for ten years, and we've done itwith the ups and downs of being rippedoff. We're not rich. If any of us put moneyaway in our early 20's that's still collectinginterest, that's what we're buying grocerieswith right now. Maybe it'll be better if thisalbum does well, but believe me, therehave been so many opportunities for Tototo have said, "Man, let's not be a bandanymore because it's not economical." Butthe joys of being in a band are so great,and the potential of there being economicsuccess doing something you love is al-ways there. I don't know how long it canlast, because as everyone gets older andthere are more financial responsibilities andfamilies, that is more important than any-thing. So other things start taking a backseat. The importance of having freedomtakes a back seat.

he last time we featured a Ludwigdrumkit in Product Close-Up was March of1986, when we covered that company'sRocker II series. Since then, Ludwig hasintroduced a new line, called the SuperClassic series. These drums feature rela-tively thin (4-ply) maple shells with no re-inforcing rings, in an effort to return to thetype of construction and sound that madeLudwig drums the standard of the industryin the '50s and '60s. But the kits also fea-ture Ludwig's top-of-the-line Modular se-ries hardware, so they are by no means

historical recreations or throwbacks. TheSuper Classics are offered by Ludwig ashigh-quality, professional drums, intendedto provide an alternative sound to the ma-jority of the kits on the market today.

The kit we tested was the LS-4426-MMmodel, and consisted of a 16x22 bass drum,9x10 and 11x12 deep rack toms, and 12x13and 13x14 suspended "floor" toms. A 6 1/2x14 Supra-Phonic snare drum is standardwith the kit. The kit was finished in Ludwig'sClassic Mahogany stain, and was fitted withLudwig's Silver Dot Rocker heavy-duty bat-

Ludwig Super Classic Kitters and clear Rocker bottom heads. Thebass drum featured a black Rocker Ludwig-logo front head.

The Sound

Let's start with the most important ele-ment of any drumkit: its sound. These drumssound terrific! The thin shells allow for atremendous amount of resonance, and abright, cutting attack. I used the kit on sev-eral of my gigs, and my band commentedon how huge they sounded—especially thebass drum. I was impressed by the timpani-like sustain that the toms provided; I actu-ally had to muffle them a bit to keep themunder control (which I normally never doon any drum). This means that they stillhad lots of "headroom" for power and reso-nance, should it have been necessary.

The bass drum was deep and boomy,owing to the depth of the shell and the in-tact front head. Concerned at first aboutthis boominess, I originally planned to cuta hole in the front head to control some ofthe overring. But I found that a small pieceof suede taped to the batter head a coupleof inches below the beater impact pointdeadened the impact just enough to keepthe bass drum controlled without losingthat big, fat sound. I was able to use thedrum at moderate volume and still retain afull, round, bottomy character; when I re-ally hit the drum hard, I swear I could seeplaster falling off the ceiling of the club.

Now, I must point out that all of thistremendous sound was produced by thedrums after I made a significant drumheadchange. When we first received the kit, itwas fitted with Ludwig's Silver Dot batterson all the toms and the bass drum. Every-one at MD played the kit, and we all agreedthat the heads did not serve the kit well.They tended to sound too thin and "at-tacky" (owing to their single-ply construc-tion and thick plastic dot) on drums thatalready had a bright sound with a lot ofcut. The bass drum especially sounded thinand high-pitched. The bottom headsseemed to resonate just fine; the problemseemed restricted to the top heads. So wechanged them over to Remo Pinstripes onthe toms, and a clear Emperor on the bassdrum. The difference was amazing! Thedrums seemed to come into their own, pro-ducing depth and tone and projection thatwere truly impressive.

In fairness to Ludwig's drumheads, keepin mind that the qualities desired from agiven head selection will vary with everydrummer. You might find that the attackproduced by a Silver Dot head in combi-nation with a Super Classic drum is justwhat you're looking for. With any new set

T

by Rick Van Horn

that every bearingedge is machine-feathered "for opti-mum shell-to-headcontact" and thenhand waxed. I couldfeel the smoothnessof the waxed bear-ing edge when I waschanging the heads,and can attest to theway the heads fittedquickly and evenlyon the drum. Thiscontributed to a veryeasy tuning process.

Another contribu-tion to tuning wasmade by the tensionlugs and lug receiv-ers. When loosened,every tension lugspun smoothly andquietly on and offeach drum with themerest twirl of adrumkey. (And re-member, I changeda lot of heads.) Andyet, once tensioned,each lug stayed inplace; I had noproblem with need-ing to re-tune any ofthe heads con-stantly. This is evi-dence of excellentmachining—an at-tribute I found pres-ent throughout thekit.

I do have a fewsmall complaintsabout the overalldesign of the kit. Themost important ofthese pertain to the Modular double tommount on the bass drum. It is positioned onthe shell much closer to one edge than tothe other. Most companies offset their shellmounts somewhat, to allow for flexibilityin tom placement. A drummer may posi-tion the toms closer or further away fromhimself (or herself) simply by decidingwhich bass drum head will be the "front"and which will be the "batter." That's tothe good. But I think Ludwig positions thetom mount a bit too far off center—espe-cially with a 16" deep bass drum shell.What happened in my case was that whenI set the toms up in the "traditional" man-ner, with the tom mount as far away fromme as possible, I could not bring the 10"

tom close enough in to my snare drum—even when I mounted it at the very end ofthe tom arm. When I experimented withturning the bass drum around and mount-ing the toms with the mount close to me,the toms were placed too close—even whenI put them as far back as possible on thetom arms. Once again, this is a problemthat will not apply to every drummer, sincedrumkit arrangement is such a personalmatter. On the other hand, I do feel that agood tom-mounting design should be asuniversal as possible. I can see two verysimple solutions to this particular problem:The tom mount could be placed a bit moretoward the center of the bass drum shell, orthe tom-mounting arms could be made a

& Black Beauty Snareof drums, an experienced drummer is likelyto experiment with many different brandsand types of drumheads in order to find thebest combination for his or her personaltastes and needs. This just serves to illus-trate how important it is not to judge theperformance of any kit on the basis of acouple of whacks with a stick in the dealer'sshowroom.

In terms of overall pitch relationships, Iwould have preferred a kit with more tradi-tional floor tom sizes. I know that smaller,suspended toms are quite popular today—especially for recording. But although theindividual sound of each drum on our testkit was quite large and powerful, and theintervals between them quite distinct, there'sno way to achieve the pitch of a 16x16floor tom on a 13x14 suspended drum.However, Ludwig has already consideredthis, and notes in its catalog that this samekit configuration is available with drums inseveral different sizes, including a 14x15suspended tom as the largest size. I cer-tainly would like to have heard a 16x16traditional floor tom from this series; I tendto think it would have rivaled a timpani!

The Supra-Phonic snare drum has beenone of Ludwig's most popular snares foryears. It is a fine, well-designed, good-sounding chrome snare. Our test drum hadall the qualities you would expect from ametal snare drum: cut, projection, a loud,cracking rimshot sound, and crisp snareresponse. The 6 1/2" shell depth gave thesnare a full-bodied sound. As is the casewith most metal snares, any attempt to bringthe pitch of the drum up too high resultedin a soup-kettle clanginess. (If you want ahigher-pitched snare, Ludwig offers a 5"model in this same series.) The Ludwigwhite-coated Rocker batter head soundedfine on the drum when the appropriateamount of ring control was applied. (I useda medium Noble & Cooley Zero Ring.)

Design And Construction

The overall workmanship and qualitycontrol on our test kit was absolutely flaw-less. Particularly nice was the fact that thedrumshells were stained on the inside andoutside, including even the bearing edges.This gave a very rich, deep appearance tothe overall kit, considering the clear bot-tom heads that allowed a view of the in-sides of the drums. Ludwig applies a clearlacquer to the insides of all Super Classicshells. This provides both a moisture sealand a reflective surface for sound that un-doubtedly contributes to the drums' cuttingpower.

The bearing edges of all the drums wereperfect. Ludwig points out in its catalog

little longer to allow smaller drums to ex-tend out a bit farther.

Another problem I had with the tommounting system is speculative in nature.Ludwig's Modular system involves massivecastings. For the tom mount, there is onesuch casting on the bass drum, anotheratop the adjustable height post, and slightlysmaller ones on each of the two rack tomsthemselves. Add to this the lengths of steeltubing that connect all these castings, andyou have a significant amount of hardwareweight—not to mention the weight of thetwo rack toms themselves. All of this isbeing supported by a 4-ply drumshell withno reinforcing rings. I am concerned thatthe shell might eventually be forced out ofround under all this weight. Again, a simplesolution might be the use of an extendabledown tube to distribute some of the weightonto the bottom of the shell as well as thetop—thereby equalizing the weight andkeeping the shell in round. An option avail-able to any buyer, of course, would be toslightly alter the configuration of the kit—which is extremely easy to do with Ludwig'sModular system—and opt for toms sus-pended completely from floor stands and/or cymbal stands, keeping them off of thebass drum entirely. This would probablyalso benefit the sound of the bass drum(not that it needs much help!).

I mentioned earlier that I would havepreferred traditional floor toms to themounted toms supplied with this kit. The

main reason I object to "sus-pended" floor toms—no matterwhat their size or resulting pitch—is that they hang from a floor standthat must have a wide tripod basein order to support them. This basegenerally extends out and awayfrom the drums, thereby taking upalmost twice as much floor spaceas would traditional floor toms withvertical legs of their own. Comingfrom a background of club workwhere stage space is always at apremium, I see this as a handicap.I readily admit that the LS-4426-MM kit mounts a cymbal boom onthe same stand, and that one couldargue that this combination couldactually save floor space. But aseparate cymbal boom could beplaced in many places on the kit(with a much smaller tripod basespread) and still put a cymbal inapproximately the same place inthe air; this one can only go in onebasic spot, since the placement offloor toms is pretty much standard.Again, this is a matter of personaltaste and application—but I dothink it's something to be aware ofwhen you are considering youroverall set design.

Hardware

Given the reservations I've already men-tioned (along with a few others I'll mentionlater), I must say that I was extremely im-pressed by Ludwig's Modular hardware. Itis very strong, very well-machined, andbeautifully finished. There are some excel-lently thought-out touches to specific items,such as the grooved shafts in the "pistolratchet" tom arm assemblies that allow forthe horizontal adjustment of the suspendedfloor toms without the tom arms falling outof the mount—even when placed in themount upside-down. The three differentgrooves also improve the flexibility of racktom positioning. During actual playing, thetom mounts proved to be as stable as anyI've ever seen; even with oversize drumsthere was absolutely no movement, droop-ing, or sagging. This applies both to therack tom mount on the bass drum and thedouble tom stand suspending the two"floor" toms.

The cymbal stands (one LM-426-CSstraight stand and one LM-436-MBS mini-boom) feature nylon bushings at all adjust-ment points (which made for smooth op-eration and a secure grip). The legs aredouble-braced, and the tripods wide andstable. All wing bolts are large, allowingfor a comfortable grip in the hand. I'veseen bigger stands, but not by much. Thesewould certainly accommodate any ride orcrash cymbals for even the hardest players,but (as has often been said) might be a bitmuch for casual or weekend drummers.

A clever and thoughtful design elementis featured on the cymbal tilters. The lastquarter inch or so of the tilter bolt is smallerin diameter than the balance of the bolt,which makes spinning the wing nut on oroff—even one-handed and in the dark—very quick and easy. You can drop the nuton over the tip without having to feel forthe beginning of the threads, and just spinit down into place. When you spin the nutoff, it comes up to the top of the threadsand then spins free around the smaller lip;it doesn't fly off. A minor convenience, I'lladmit, but who needs the aggravation ofdisappearing wing nuts?

The LM-416-HH hi-hat is probably thenicest I've stepped on in a long lime. Gen-erally speaking, a hi-hat either works or itdoesn't; there aren't too many features thatyou can discuss. The Modular hi-hat is anexception, in that there is an intangibleinvolved: comfort From the first time I triedit, I was impressed by how comfortable itfelt to operate. All of the basic elements arewhat you'd expect: double-braced legs,wide footplate, twin external springs, chain-pull action. These features are found onalmost any pro-quality hi-hat today. Butthis one was so smooth, and so quiet, andquite simply so nice to play on, that itstands out from others I've tried.

I wish I could be so enthusiastic aboutthe snare stand (LM-421-SS). Basically, thereis nothing wrong with the stand; it's a solid,basket-type stand that has a decent heightrange for drumset purposes (Ludwig alsooffers a Low-Profile model for extra-lowpositioning and deep drums) and holds thedrum quite securely. My objection is to thelegs and feel. In order to reach the stand'slowest height point, the adjustable tripodbase must be extended out to quite a widespread. But this is usually impossible whenfilling a snare stand in among bass drumand hi-hat pedals, the hoop of the bassdrum, and other floor stand feel. Most drum-mers I know tend to bring the legs of theirsnare stand up quite a bit, in order to mini-mize spread. With Ludwig's stand, doingthis raises the height of the snare drumquite a bit. I had difficulty getting my snareto the level I wanted while keeping the legsto a manageable spread. Once I did findthat compromise point, I still had the stand'simmense rubber feel to deal with.

I like rubber feel on any stand; they helpto protect against slipping on solid floors,and also protect the drums and standsagainst scratches when items are moved inclose to one another. However, I thinkLudwig's feel (on all the Modular stands)lend to overdo a good thing. The oversizefeel on the snare stand made it absolutelyimpossible for me to tuck one stand leg asfar as I wanted it to go into the cornerwhere the bass drum pedal meets the bassdrum hoop. As a result, the snare drumwas easily 1/2" to 3/4" too far to the left. Thatdoesn't sound like much, but try playing

precise rimshots when your rim isn't whereyou're used to having it. My suggestionhere would simply be to reduce the massof rubber involved with these feet.

The LM-441-TSM double tom standserves its purpose very well, supporting thesuspended floor toms with no visible move-ment at all—even when they are hit hard.The mini-boom fitted into the third hole ofthe casting is a useful touch, and the heightadjustability of the stand (when combinedwith upside-down mounting of the ratchetarms) allows for quite low tom positioning.I was able to get my toms as low as Iwanted them, and still keep them flat. I'vehad problems achieving this with other,similar, suspended floor tom stand configu-rations in the past; it was refreshing not tohave any such problems while testing thiskit.

The bass drum pedal supplied with thiskit is the grandaddy of 'em all: the SpeedKing. So much has been written about thispedal over the years that most people knowall about it. It's fast, it's smooth, it's fairlydurable, it's simple in construction—and itsqueaks. Right out of the box, our test pedalcame supplied with the classic Speed Kingsqueak, which no amount of fiddling orlubrication would get rid of. And while Iventure to say that on an amplified rock gigno one would ever notice the noise, myband members did comment on it during afairly low-volume private party we playedwhile I was testing the drumkit. I don'tprofess to know what it is about this pedalthat makes it squeak, but I've never knownone that didn't, or known anyone else whoowned one that didn't. It's just a part oftradition that comes with the otherwiseexcellent performance of this pedal: "Loveme...love my squeak!"

Although a drum throne is not includedin the drumkit package, Ludwig thought-fully sent along a representative throne fromthe Modular series. It is of the piano-stoolvariety, and features a seat with thick, firmfoam padding. Double braced legs and awide stance make this seat quite stable andstrong. It is available separately at a priceof $117.00.

Overall, Ludwig's Modular system offersa great deal of flexibility in the positioningof drums and stands. For example, in addi-tion to the six-piece configuration shownin the catalog for this kit, we were able tocreate a very comfortable four-piece jazzkit using the 10" and 14" toms, and sus-pending the ride cymbal from a mini-boomarm mounted in the bass drum tom mount.All of the hardware adjusted easily, withmemory clamps where they needed to beand twin drumkey-adjustable tighteningbolts on the tom mounting castings for ex-tra security. The oversize ratchet teeth onthe tom and cymbal tilters did not allow forinfinite adjustability, but by the time wecombined all the various ways of movingdrums and cymbals, we could get just about

any setup we desired.All in all, I was most impressed by the

Super Classic kit. Taken in perspective, mostof my criticisms are minor, and many areof a personal nature that may not be at allimportant to most other drummers. I wantto emphasize again that this is a set with asound and character all its own, and I thinkthat that, above all, is its most appealingfeature. The LS-4426-MM model, as re-viewed, lists for $2,895.00.

The Black Beauty Snare Drum

As an added treat, Ludwig provided uswith a 6 1/2" snare drum from its recentlyreinstated Black Beauty series. This drum isidentical to the Supra-Phonic in terms ofshell design and hardware, including tendouble-ended lugs, Ludwig's simple andefficient P-85 cord-type snare strainer, andtriple-flanged hoops. But the material withwhich the shell is made makes a great dealof difference. The Black Beauty features abronze shell, in what Ludwig calls a GunMetal finish. This is a gleaming black/greyfinish that contrasts very nicely with thechrome lugs and hoops.

(In the interest of historical accuracy, Ishould point out that the "classic" BlackBeauty snare drums of the '30s and '40swere made of brass. However, the modelsmade in the '70s and discontinued untilrecently were made with bronze shells.)

The sound of the Black Beauty I playeddiffered from that of the Supra-Phonic(which I consider to be representative of a"standard" metal drum) in several ways.Both had crispness, but the bronze drumseemed a bit drier and more precise. Iftruth be told, the "crack" of most metalsnare drums might be more accurately de-scribed as a "clank." I didn't find this to bethe case with the Black Beauty. The drumhad a much clearer and less ringy "crack"sound—especially when playing rimshots.(This description is based on a comparisonof playing the Black Beauty and the Supra-Phonic drums side by side, tuned as closelyto the same pitch as possible, and fittedwith the same Ludwig coated Rocker headsand the same size Zero Rings.)

The Black Beauty was a bit more respon-sive to softer playing than was the Supra-Phonic—and yet it cut like crazy when Ireally laid into it. My band also commentedon the power and attractive sound of thisdrum. I don't know whether or not the"classic" nature of this drum gave me somepsychological predisposition toward it. I willsay that I've heard some equally classicdrums from other manufacturers and wasnot nearly as impressed. I'm pleased thatLudwig has seen fit to offer the Black Beautyagain, and even more pleased to hear theperformance that today's version of this"classic" drum has to offer. List price is$475.00.

have you been with him?RG: It's been eight years, on and off. Ididn't play on two of his tours. Thosewere in '85 and '86. I have played on allof the albums in that time though.WFM: Can you think of any specific thingsthat you have learned from w o r k -ing with Ponty?

ply that same kind of thinking in my ownplaying.WFM: When Jean-Luc brings in a new song,does he use charts?RG: Originally, he'd have a chart or hewould know what he wanted. He mighthave a part programmed on a drum ma-chine that I would learn and then add a

RG: Jean-Luc has helped me get into thewhole polyrhythm concept to a muchgreater degree. As a matter of fact, whenI'm playing with him, my thinking is to-tally different from any other situation Iwork in. I love the way Jean-Luc layersrhythms on top of each other, and thatmakes the music very interesting to playfrom a drumming standpoint. I try to ap-

few things of my own to. It really dependedon the tune. Some were more strict thanothers. Lately, on the past two albums any-way, he pretty much let me come up withmy own parts. I enjoyed that a lot. I think, ingeneral, a drummer usually knows what willfit better, even if it is someone else's song.He might not like me saying that, but I've al-ways felt that way.

"Good soloing is not aquestion of technique.

How you compose the solois more important."

WFM: On the past few Ponty records, hehas moved away from having an entireband recording in the studio and towardplaying and/or programming most of theinstruments himself, except for the drums.How does that affect you?RG: Well, I look at it as just the way tech-nology is going. At this point, most musi-cians, if they're good musicians, can theo-retically go into the studio and do an al-bum by themselves. Luckily, Jean-Luc stillprefers using live drums. On most of thetracks we've done, I would play along toSynclavier and with a bass player, whichwould help keep things from feeling toomechanical. There is some interaction goingon between the bass player and myself.Working this way restricts my playing alittle bit, because I might stretch out a bitmore with four or five guys in the roomgoing for it. Also, the interplay between awhole band is more exciting, but it's just adifferent approach. On a few of the newtracks, Jean-Luc came in and soloed oversections with the bass player and me so wewould have some kind of idea what wasgoing to be happening. That helped withthe interplay as well.WFM: When recording with Jean-Luc, doeshe offer any opinions as to the way yourdrums should sound?RG: As far as the sounds of the drums them-selves, like tuning and that type of thing,that's completely up to me. On the last al-bum, I toyed around with it a little bit, but Ididn't do anything drastic. I used some dif-ferent drums on certain songs, but that wasabout it. What normally happens is that werecord the drums before we start tracking,and then I go in and listen to see if that'swhat I want to hear. So the ball's in mycourt on this one; Jean-Luc leaves that upto me.WFM: Does he make any suggestions as towhat cymbals you use?RG: For the most part that's also up to me.If there is something specific that he knowshe wants to hear, he might suggest it, butthat doesn't happen too often. Sometimeshe might suggest that I play a different cym-bal in a certain part of a song. Let's say onecymbal is too loud for a certain accent hewants to hear; he'll suggest me playing adifferent one on the kit. That happens oncein a while.WFM: Speaking of cymbals, does your setupchange between the studio and live play-ing?RG: It may change slightly if there is a cer-tain effect I want while I'm recording. Imay use a lighter ride cymbal in a softertune, or use a different type of crash cym-bal—whatever is necessary.WFM: How long did it take to record thelast album?RG: I was in the studio doing my parts foronly four days.WFM: Did you get demos of the materialsbefore you went in?RG: Yes. About a week before I started re-cording, I went up to his house and hegave me a copy of all of the Synclavier

parts and some rough drum-machine ideasthat he had for those parts. I took that tapeand programmed parts on my drum ma-chine for those songs. That way I couldreally analyze the drum parts to make surethey worked and sounded good. Then Ilearned those parts on the drums them-selves.WFM: On the new album, there's a songwhere you play almost nothing but hi-hatand bass drum. Is that something that hesuggested?RG: His input was that he wanted me toplay a pattern on hi-hat and bass drum thatresembled the parts I played on some of hisearlier works. That was the main thing thatI played in the body of the song. So, be-cause someone tells you, "Okay, play justbass drum and hi-hat," that can sound lim-iting, especially to someone who has asmany drums as I do. [laughs] But the pointis that you have to take that limitation andturn it into something musical, so that'swhat I tried to do in this case with just bassdrum and hi-hat. I used accents to corre-spond with what was going on elsewherein the music, as well as dynamics and thatsort of thing; that's what you have to do.WFM: How did you feel about the drumsound on The Gift Of Time?RG: Actually, I've never played on an al-bum where I was completely happy withthe drum sound. On The Gift Of Time,some of the songs have a good drum soundand some aren't exactly how I would havehad them sounding. But that's to be ex-pected. When someone else has the finalsay and hears things differently than youdo, he'll do it the way he thinks is best.That's only fair. I suppose the only way I'llbe happy with my drum sound is when Ido my own album.

I'm sure a lot of other working musicianshave had these feelings. You come in, playyour part, and split. Then it's up to some-body else to put everything together. Andthen when you hear the record, it seems sodifferent than how you envisioned it whileyou were recording your parts. That's justthe way it goes.WFM: When you are performing live, doyou work with sequencers, or does thekeyboard player handle all of the parts?RG: There were two songs on the last tourthat involved a drum machine, but otherthan that, the keyboard player played all ofthe parts.WFM: When Jean-Luc is putting together atour, how much rehearsal time do you have?RG: On all of the tours previous to this lastone, we took about two weeks. We spent alittle over two and a half weeks preparingfor this last tour, and we just barely made itby the skin of our teeth. Since Jean-Luc hadso many parts on the album that wereplayed by Synclavier, it was more chal-lenging for the band to reproduce thosesounds live. Before, when the albums wererecorded by a band, all that had to happenwas for the band to just play their partslive.WFM: How is Ponty to work for?

play that often, the audience was crazed—definitely the most enthusiastic audiencethat I've ever seen! That type of responseisn't that common when you're playingfusion; it seemed more like a major rockact. In fact, they screamed so loud that myears actually hurt onstage from their voicesalone!WFM: About how many months per yeardo you spend working with Ponty?RG: Normally, it averages about three tofour months per year, which includes re-cording the album and touring. Over thepast year and a half, I've been workingwith Jean-Luc over eight months of thattime, which is the most that I've workedwith him continuously.WFM: Why are there such gaps of time inyour touring schedule? It seems that youtoured for three months, took two off, wentout for a month, took some more time off,and then went out again.RG: I guess for the most part it's the natureof the music. If the style of music you per-form is pop, for example, you tour con-stantly to support the record. With musiclike Jean-Luc's, he does tour in support ofan album, but he can also tour when hewants to because of the nature of the mu-sic. His fans will come and see him when-ever. He doesn't have to have a number-one jazz album on the charts for people toknow that they will enjoy a live perform-ance.WFM: You mentioned before that you havebeen on the road with Jean-Luc on this tourfor a considerably longer amount of timethan usual. What do you think accounts forthis?RG: I think part of it has to do with the jobhis management is doing. I also think apart of it has to do with the times, now thatnew age music is prevalent. Interviewershave tried to categorize Jean-Luc as a newage artist, but actually he's been what he'sbeen. The music industry has come up withthis name, which in a way vaguely re-sembles the type of music Jean-Luc writes,and I think that has made it easier for peopleto get into his music. Maybe that's whywe've been able to work so much, eventhough I really don't know how you cancall what Jean-Luc does new age.WFM: Your performances with Ponty seemphysically demanding. Are there things youdo outside of drumming to help prepareyou for the demands of being on the road?RG: The main thing that I used to do a lotwas stretch before gigs. I work enough sothat my endurance isn't normally a prob-lem. The drumming itself kept me in shape.Recently, I started working out a few timesa week, just to see if it would have anyeffect on my playing, and strangely enough,it does make a difference. I'm able to hitthe drum hard with less effort. I was kind ofsurprised, because I thought that workingout might stiffen me up. I've had positiveresults from it.WFM: Along with being in shape, I wouldimagine that pacing yourself would beanother factor when trying to get through a

RG: I have a lot of respect for him, first ofall. His musicianship, of all the people I'veworked with, is on such a high level. He isvery consistent, and he is more "on" thanmost musicians. He always nails the part.That keeps me on my toes, just being inthat kind of company. As a boss, he's prettyeasygoing. I mean, he wants what he wantswhen he wants it, but that's to be under-stood. Also, his music is not something tobe taken lightly; you have to do your home-work to make it come off right.WFM: How long was the last Ponty tour?RG: It started in September of '87 and wentthrough November of that year. Then weworked in January '88, and in May wewere in South America. In July we touredEurope, and in August we toured the Statesa second time. That was all of the live gigsthat we did for The Gift Of Time tour.WFM: Playing all of these different places,do you notice any differences in the audi-ences?RG: The audience response is different. Inthe States, it's not uncommon for an artistto tour once a year, so the audience isn'toverly excited. But when I was down inChile with Jean-Luc, a place where we don't

strenuous gig.RG: To be perfectly honest, I don't thinkabout it that much. If the tune is a really upthing that calls for me to play "balls-buster"on, I do it. If the next song happens to bethat way, then I go for that, too. Normally,though, Jean-Luc organizes his set in sucha way that it has high points physically andemotionally, as well as not quite so highpoints. So I don't have a problem withstamina.

Jean-Luc is understanding of that type ofthing. His music involves a lot of fast tem-pos with many notes for everybody in theband, not just me. He orders the set withthose things in mind. In fact, Jean-Luc evenasks me if I'm up to second or third en-cores. I normally play a solo in the lasttune of the set, which is usually a fast song,and then we come back and do an encore,which is normally an up-tempo tune aswell. And if it seems that we can do an-other song, he will ask me if I feel alrightfor another. After a good set I just want tokeep on playing anyway, so I always say"yes" when he asks.WFM: Do you find that your level of con-centration is greater when playing a gigwith Jean-Luc compared to playing a morepop-oriented gig?RG: Yes and no. I try to pay attention andbe aware of everything that is happeningon stage all of the time, no matter who theartist. Although there have been situationswhere I've been bored to tears. But that'snot to say that my ears weren't wide openand paying attention.

I would say the concentration level isthe same, but it's used in different ways.With Jean-Luc, I have to pay attention tomany things, not the least of which arecues to different sections of songs, for ex-ample. When I was working with Cameo,my main concern was to make sure thetime was happening and that I caught thekicks they would make onstage—thosetypes of things. It's concentration any wayyou cut it; it's just different types of thingsthat you have to concentrate on.WFM: When I saw you with Ponty recently,you were concentrating to such a degreethat you didn't bother with any showman-ship-type things—flipping sticks or makingfacial expressions, for instance. How doyou feel about that sort of thing?RG: I think it's great, actually. I wasn't in adrum corps, so I didn't learn the stick twirl-ing thing. And when some guys in highschool band were trying to learn how to doit, my attitude was, "If it doesn't make asound, I'm not interested." I was more con-cerned with getting the playing down first.

At this point, I see guys do it and italways goes over big with the audience,whether they are playing well or not. Forpeople who have no ears for music, some-thing visual gives them something they canrelate to. I don't have anything against it atall, even though it's not something I do.WFM: I recently saw an interview withStanley Clarke, where he stated that youwere the best young drummer happening

been doing. I prefer getting a good soundwith an acoustic set, but for sessions, it'sfaster with the Simmons.WFM: When you were working withStanley, his material at that time was verycommercial sounding, which is quite dif-ferent from the style of music you play withJean-Luc. Which type of music do you pre-fer playing?RG: I like playing both. If I were to donothing but Jean-Luc music all year, I wouldprobably have a strong urge to just playsome 2 and 4, or some funk. The same istrue the other way. When I was with Cameo,I had the urge to play in 7/8. Varying it upkeeps my playing fresh.WFM: When you're playing a pop gig for awhile, do your fusion chops go away?RG: They do; they definitely do! Gearingup for this tour, I had to get back in shapeto play this kind of music, because a lot ofJean-Luc's tempos are 120 plus. With apop gig, you're not going to be playingthose super-fast tempos or fills.

I feel very fortunate. I've talked to a fewguys who do mainly pop gigs, and whowould really like the opportunity to stretchout. This is one of the few gigs where youare required to stretch out and play every-thing you know. I'm lucky I get the chanceto do both.WFM: You are known primarily for yourwork with fusion artists. Do you think thatmaybe you've been typecast as that kind ofplayer, and are not called for more pop-type gigs?RG: I think to a certain degree that's true.For a long time, as far as doing any R&B oranything pop oriented was concerned, Ifelt that a lot of the reasons I wasn't gettingthe calls was because of my exposure play-ing fusion. I'm sure people were saying,"Don't call him. He'll come in here withtwo bass drums and play a long roll!"WFM: Is there a style of music that youhaven't had a chance to play on a profes-sional level, but that you would like to?RG: Not really. I always enjoyed the con-cept that Weather Report had, which hadelements of bop, as well as many differenttypes of ethnic rhythms incorporated intothe sound. In that way, Jean-Luc's music issimilar to Weather Report's. Lately, Jean-Luc has used ethnic-sounding rhythms, likeAfrican-oriented and Eastern-orientedthings. However, Jean-Luc's music leansmore towards classical than rock, as op-posed to Weather Report, which had closerties to bebop.WFM: You are regarded as a player with agreat amount of technique. In fact, I haveread reviews commenting on your tech-nique, especially during your solo in Jean-Luc's show.RG: Well, to me, good soloing is not reallya question of technique. I'm a drummer,but a lot of times I don't care for otherpeople's drum solos. One of the best com-pliments that I have ever received was froma person who told me that he hates drumsolos, but he liked what I did. The reasonfor that is I don't just go up there and blow

had met Stanley. I used to bump into himfrom time to time around L.A., too. Stanleyhad also seen me play with keyboardistRodney Franklin, who I did a tour with. Infact, Stanley had produced the album thatwe were supporting with that tour. Alto-gether it took about four years before hedecided to give me a call to do some workwith him.

The first thing I did with Stanley was atour in support of his Time Exposure al-bum. That was in 1984. Right after that werecorded the Find Out album. That wasrecorded at the very beginning of '85. Wetoured behind that album, covering theStates, South America, and Europe.WFM: Do you do any type of session work?RG: Not as much as I would like. Since I'mon the road, it's hard to do it. When I firstmoved out to L.A., it seemed like I wasstarting to break into the studio scene, butjust as I was getting known, I left town totour with Jean-Luc. That was right aboutthe time when drum machines were get-ting very popular, so the guys who werealready in, like the Jim Keltners and the JeffPorcaros, were getting the calls, or drummachines were being used. That, combinedwith my not being in town enough, made ittough for me.

Lately, on most of the sessions that Ihave been doing, I've been using electronicdrums. The time it takes to get a goodsound with Simmons is much faster thanwith acoustic drums, so that's what I've

today. That's quite a compliment.RG: Yes, that was. I saw that interview too.It was interesting to me because I tookwhat he said two ways; I was glad aboutwhat he said and a little surprised, but hedid mention a few other players, and withall of these other guys, he said somethingspecific about their playing. I wish he wouldhave said what it was he liked about myplaying, just so I know what I'm doingright. [laughs]WFM: When did you start working withStanley?RG: I started working with Stanley the sum-mer of '84. I was out with Cameo earlierthat year, and they had about two moremonths to go on that tour. I got a call fromStanley at that time, so I finished the tourwith Cameo and then left to work withhim. I thought I would enjoy playingStanley's music a bit more than Cameo's. Itwas fun with Cameo, because we weretouring arenas and the whole productionwas very big. It was just time to move on tosomething else.WFM: How did Stanley hear about you?RG: I met Stanley during the first tour I didwith Jean-Luc back in 1981, when weplayed at the Civic Center in Los Angeles. Iwas freakin' out because I was playing withJean-Luc, for one, and there were all thesepeople backstage at the gig who I hadadmired and listened to. There I was, meet-ing George Duke, Stanley, Lee Ritenour,and a few others. That was the first time I

a lot of chops. Some cats just run down alist of their licks, or they play the same oldcliches that everybody does. I try to takemyself and the audience somewhere. Chopsand technique are a part of it, but how youcompose the solo is more important. I tryto think of it as an entire statement, asopposed to just a list of licks.WFM: Are there any players today that in-spire you, either as a soloist or otherwise?RG: When I was younger, I listened topeople like Billy Cobham, Lenny White,Narada Michael Walden, and Steve Gadd.To me, most of the players my age who areon the scene now are a product of whatthose guys did. So there isn't anybody whoreally inspires me anymore. There are a lotof great cats out there, but as far as inspira-tion goes, that came to me a long time ago.At this point I'm trying to inspire myself.WFM: Getting back to technique, as youmentioned before, you play a right-handedkit, but you play ride rhythms with your lefthand, a la Billy Cobham and Lenny White.Are you left handed?RG: I write my name with my right hand,but the first time I sat down at a drumset, Icrossed my left hand over my right to get tothe ride cymbal. For me, leading with theleft hand was just the natural thing to do.When I first started studying, though, Iplayed the traditional way. I did that forabout a year. Actually, what I was doingwas playing my lesson right handed, andthen I would go home and practice it lefthanded. Then, at the following week's les-son, I would get through the assignmentadequately right handed, even though Icould play it better with my left. After ayear I convinced my teacher that I wasbetter left handed, and I think it was veryclear to him by how much more easily Icould play that way.WFM: Do you think that this method ofplaying gives you any musical benefits overthe traditional cross-handed approach?RG: I think it does. It frees up my righthand so it can go anywhere on the drumswhile my left plays time. I think it gives mea little different approach.WFM: Another thing that you are knownfor is your excellent double-bass technique.RG: When I first joined Jean-Luc's band, Iwas using double bass quite a bit. How-ever, most of the gigs I did in between mywork with Jean-Luc were on single bass.On Jean-Luc's last album, I was trying tothink of some places where I could usethem, but I really didn't hear any momentswhere they would be appropriate. I didn'twant to use double bass just for the sake ofit. If I can find a place for them within thecontext of the music, then I will, but I don'twant to use them just so I can say, "Lookwhat I did." Now that I've been playingsome of these songs live, and hearing thema bit differently, I've been using the doublebass more.

The difficult thing with two bass drumsis knowing when to use them. If the song isa real aggressive type of tune, then doublebass lends itself more than otherwise. Basi-

a lot of times when I didn't have the spaceto have that second drum. The double pedalis different than playing two bass drums,though. You have to get used to it. The onething that feels different is when I'm play-ing something fast with both feet; I can feelthe vibration of the head from one foot tothe other because the head is moving somuch. That takes a little getting used to.WFM: What types of things do you prac-tice these days?RG: That's almost a funny question. I don'tthink I've practiced anything consistentlyin over three or four years. That's mainlybecause I live in an apartment. Also, whenI'm on the road, I always have somebodytaking care of my equipment, so I getspoiled. When I'm off the road, I have togo up to my locker in Hollywood, get thedrums, find a place to rehearse, set themup, practice, pack them up, and take themback to my locker. I'm too lazy for all that!It's frustrating because I can't do that everyday, and I can't get into a regimented kindof thing. I also work a lot, so that keeps mefrom practicing as much as I would like.For the most part, all I can really practiceare hand things in a dressing room or onmy living room floor.

I recently dug out an old Nick Cerolibook called Speed And Endurance Studies,which I've been using for ideas for warm-ing up before gigs as well as practicing. It'shelped a whole lot. It has sparked my inter-est again in practicing, because I haven'tbeen into it for a while now. I have beentoo busy doing other things like playingkeyboards and writing.

Normally when I go on the road, I don'tpractice at all, but my chops don't sufferbecause I'm playing all the time. Now Iwant to start taking a lot of books on theroad with me, because I have found that Ican make a lot of progress on the road,which is something I didn't think I'd beable to do.WFM: You mentioned earlier that you hadto practice a little bit to get your chopsback up for this most recent Ponty tour.What types of things did you work on?RG: It was mainly just working things backup to speed with my hands. I did a lot ofparadiddle-oriented things concentrating onspeed and making sure they weren'tchoppy. I wanted to make sure it soundedas if I knew what I was doing!

Jean-Luc's music can be pretty fast. Play-ing along with him when he solos candemand some good chops from a drum-mer. He plays a lot of 16th- and 32nd-notetriplet patterns, so if I want to complementwhat he is doing, my chops have to bethere. It's just the nature of his music.WFM: When you are playing behind Jean-Luc during one of his solos, what are youtrying to do in order to leave space and yetbe supportive rhythmically?RG: The way Jean-Luc plays, and the waymost instrumentalists that I've worked withplay, you can tell when they want you tojust groove and do a minimum amount ofinterplay, and you can also tell when they

RG: No, he never makes a comment aboutthat. That's probably because his back-ground was the beginning of all that. Ofcourse, Louie Bellson was using doublebass years ago, but the context that I usethem in is similar to how double bass wasused back in the early days of fusion. Backwhen Jean-Luc was playing with Mahav-ishnu, everything was mega-loud, mega-fast, and mega-aggressive, so he doesn'thave any problem with me playing themnow. I think he kind of likes them.WFM: Have you fooled around with any ofthe double pedals?RG: Yes I have. I've used the DW pedalfrom time to time. I've also used the Tamadouble pedal as well. I think they have apretty good feel to them. There have been

cally, it has to fit in with the music.WFM: How did you develop your doublebass playing?RG: I started out by playing alternating 16thnotes with my feet at all different tempos. Ialso would play quarter notes with myhands and feet together, and I kept work-ing on that faster and faster. Then I did thesame thing with triplets. I've never reallygotten into that thing of playing paradiddlesor rudiments with my feet. That could soundgreat, but I never really explored it. It goesback to what I was saying before. It mightbe technical wizardry, but musically it'skind of blah.WFM: To a lot of other instrumentalists,double bass can sometimes be too much.Does Jean-Luc ever object to them?

want you to nail something with them. Imean, sometimes Jean-Luc will even go sofar as to turn around and look at me, andit's as if he's asking me, "Can you playthis?" At times it does get into that, whichis fun. But the secret really is to concen-trate and lock in with the soloist, whoeverit is. You've got to make it comfortable forthe soloist.

I like working with Jean-Luc, and StanleyClarke as well, because they both inspiremy playing. It's fun to play with peoplewho can do something musically that makesyou go "ooh." They're always playing some-thing new, which pushes me musically andmakes me grow.WFM: What does your setup consist of thesedays?RG: I'm playing a Tama Artstar kit that I'vehad for a couple of years now. They are theoriginal Artstars, not the new Artstar II's. Asa matter of fact, they did some customartwork that I designed for these drums.The design is a combination of red, black,and yellow, in a triangle-diamond sort ofpattern. The toms are 10", 12", 13", and14", and a 16" floor tom. When I got thiskit, I also got an 8" and 15" tom as well, butI don't use them all at once in the samesetup. To me, that looks kind of stupid.There are two 22" kicks, and a Gibraltersnare drum from Tama, which is a verythick ply drum and sounds really good.

I'm using a different head combinationon my drums than I've used in the past. Iused to use Remo Pinstripes on the top andAmbassadors on the bottom. On this lasttour I used Emperors on the top and Diplo-mats on the bottom. My drums are sound-ing a lot more open; they sing a little more.As far as sticks are concerned, I'm usingthe Dean Markley 8R model, which is simi-lar to the Pro-Mark 808, but not as heavy.

My cymbals are all Paiste, mostly fromthe 3000 series. Some of the cymbals arewhat Paiste calls Reflectors, which is a morebrilliant finish than the usual 300's. They'rea little thinner sounding. I have a 22" ride,18" and 20" crashes, a 13" splash, and two18" China-types. I have 14" hi-hats. I alsohave a mark tree.

As far as electronics go, on this tour I'musing an Akai sampler and a Roland Octa-pad. I'm also using the Simmons MTX 9 forpercussion sounds, which I'm using a greatdeal. I'm triggering some sounds on theAkai from my acoustic snare drum as well.I have a trigger on the bass drum, but Ihaven't been using it that much.

I'm very happy with the way I've got thewhole thing set up. I have a 12-channelmixer set up near me, and with this mixer Ihave control over what I want to hear. Thesound desk sends me a mix of the wholeband, and I can control that level. I cancontrol my entire acoustic drumset level,as well as individual controls over bothkicks, snare, and hi-hat. I also control theSimmons and the Akai individually, as wellas the drum machines. It's nice to be ableto take care of that myself, without havingto depend on some guy 30 feet across the

stage for everything that I hear. It can be anightmare trying to get his attention to tellhim what you need between backbeats!WFM: In a way, it sounds as if operatingthis mixer is more of a challenge for you.Soundcheck must be pretty important.RG: Actually, it's pretty easy at this point.Everything is set up for me, so all I have todo is just turn up my master and the drumsare all there. Whatever fine tuning I haveto do as far as EQing the snare and bassdrums, I do myself. For me, the only thing Ireally have to adjust at soundcheck is theoverall sound of the band that I'm gettingthrough the monitors, and having the mixerright there makes that easy.WFM: What are your future plans?RG: One of the projects that I'm involved

with right now is a band thing that I'mdoing with most of the players from GeorgeHoward's group. We've been working ongetting signed. When we started off, theidea was to play pop/R&B. But we startedplaying some jazz gigs in town [L.A.], andthe next thing that we knew, people werecoming out of the woodwork to sign us asa jazz group. So now we're in the processof somehow trying to do both. The jazziermaterial is very strong, but the pop stuff isvery good as well, so it's a matter of seeingif we can make the two work. I'm writingfor this group as well, so I'm enjoying thataspect of it, too. As for Jean-Luc, he proba-bly won't be recording a new album untilthe beginning of next year, so I have a littletime for other things.

Subbing: A Musical ApThe phone rings, and a drummer friendwants you to sub for him on his steadyweekend club date. There's no time forrehearsal, nor time to hear his band. Per-haps it's the leader of a popular local wed-ding band calling. You've never met, buthe needs a drummer tomorrow night, andsomeone recommended you.

In either case, you've been called to subwith a band that works steadily, with set ar-rangements on a list of popular standardsand Top-40 material—arrangements you'venever played, with a band you've neverheard, and there are no charts. Confident,you accept the gig, and you're ready to hitthe bandstand for the first set of the night.Now the real challenge begins.

This scenario can be quite unnerving fora drummer. But there are certain things youcan keep in mind that will help make theexperience a musically satisfying one forall concerned. Let's examine a few.

Listening: The Key Factor

Listening can be separated into twoareas: First is the listening you've hopefullydone prior to the gig of radio and record-

ings, to familiarize yourself with the poptunes you should know and that you arealmost certain to be called upon to play.This type of listening is essential for anyjobbing drummer.

The second, and more important of thetwo, is the careful listening you simply haveto do on the bandstand—listening that takesin everything going on around you. Restassured, a regular working band will haveits own unique time feel, a sense of swingor groove (or lack of it), dynamic nuances,and special arrangements that will proba-bly vary in complexity. The point is, youneed to focus in on everything as early inthe evening as possible. The obvious secretlies simply with careful, concentrated lis-tening, and making certain that your play-ing blends into the total picture.

What should you be listening for? Oneof the most important areas is band figuresand accents, which you want to support. Ifyou've done enough listening prior to thegig, it's not that hard to do on familiarmaterial. It does become somewhat moredifficult on tunes or arrangements you'reunfamiliar with—but it can be done. We'lltalk about that in a moment.

Making the rhythmic figures will usuallybe well-received by the other band mem-bers. It's further indication that you're alistening drummer, and what musiciandoesn't appreciate a drummer who listens?No one is likely to make an issue of it ifyou fail to do so, but it's something mostmusicians will be listening for, even if it'son a subconscious level. It's also one of thebest things a first-time subbing drummercan do to please everyone involved.

Listening also involves paying strict at-tention at every stage of every tune played.Intros are the best place to start. Stay firmlyfocused on the band member who sets thetempos, and make your entrances withconfidence. It's important to project a senseof self-assuredness, even if you're not quitesure of what's going to happen in the sec-ond bar!

The same thing applies to endings, Get-ting neatly out of a tune can be tricky whenyou don't know the arrangement. Endingsmay be intricate and varied, or each tunemay end in a manner similar to the onebefore it. Either way, the clear objective isto finish up in accordance with the ar-rangement as closely as possible, so you'llhave to listen and stay alert.

Listening for variations in dynamics isstill another area. As most drummers know,they have the power to control dynamics.Play softly, and, assuming you're workingwith sensitive musicians, they'll have a ten-dency to play softer. Play loudly, and you'llgenerally find the band will go with you aswell. Keep in mind, however, that in asubbing situation, the dynamics have proba-bly been worked out previously. It's pos-sible you'll do more following than con-trolling, but there's nothing essentiallywrong with that. Better to adjust and blendthan to totally ignore. And doing so is stillanother indication of the sensitivity youwant to demonstrate in the subbing situ-ation.

Anticipating

At this point, you may be thinking it'snot all that difficult to apply everythingsaid on tunes you know. But what aboutunfamiliar material? The trick is to rely onyour musical instinct and work on devel-oping what I refer to as a "sense of antici-pation."

The great Buddy Rich had the capacityto sit in with just about any band and liter-ally accent most, if not all, of the key fig-ures, even though he'd never heard thearrangement before. Buddy had an acutesense of anticipation, an ability to sensewhat was coming musically before it came,and to react immediately when it did. Thiswas only one of Buddy's remarkable gifts,but it's also something that most of us, withpractice, can develop to some degree.

Anticipating means utilizing your instinctsto sense what's likely to occur musicallybefore it actually occurs. It comes with alot of listening, playing, and experience.And though it's extremely useful in accent-ing and filling with the band, it's also mosthelpful in sections involving changes indynamic levels, time feel, and tempo.

Another form of anticipating is listeningand retaining where certain figures occurredin the arrangement. Experience teaches youthat, in many cases, groups of similar fig-ures tend to repeat themselves as the tunerepeats, possibly with minor variations.Don't worry too much if you missed it thefirst time around; it's surprising how often

by Mark Hurley

proachyou'll get a second chance—if you're lis-tening for it.

Watching For Cues

Another important aspect is staying re-ceptive to cues from the bandleader oranother selected band member. They maybe verbal, or could come at you in theform of hand or head cues. Regardless,they provide clues to what's happening, orwhat's about to happen.

Generally, when a fellow band memberrealizes that you're trying to adhere to thearrangements, that person will go out of hisway to supply you with all the cues you'llneed. Once that connection has been es-tablished, make that individual the focus ofyour attention throughout the evening. It'sparticularly important at key points in com-plex arrangements, or whenever you're justa bit unsure of what's about to happennext.

Cues will get you through those sectionsthat involve breaks, special phrasings, fills,short solos, abrupt endings, and tempo orfeel variations. If you're intent on doing agood job, you need to pay careful attentionvisually as well as audibly.

Keeping Priorities In Perspective

Keep in mind that you haven't been hiredfor the night to impress the audience orother band members. You're not there todisplay your blazing left hand, unless you'respecifically asked to do so, which is highlyunlikely in this type of situation.

You're there to make it as comfortablefor everyone as you possibly can—as com-fortable as it would be if the regular drum-mer were actually present. Focus the ma-jority of your energy on making it sound asthough you've rehearsed or performed withthis band before; that's the key. It's amaz-ingly simple, yet equally amazing howmany subbing club drummers totally losesight of it.

Do a good job, and you'll very likely becalled back, or find yourself getting favor-able recommendations to other bands inneed of a sub. Drummers who performwell as subs are often asked to join theband when and if the regular drummerdecides to leave at some point. This hasbeen known to occur repeatedly in themusic business.

The point is, you make the very bestimpression as a sub when you take a solidmusical approach to the challenge. Absorbthe concepts here, and put some of theminto practice the next time you're called. Ithink you'll be rather surprised at howthey'll work to your advantage.

Photo by Lissa Wales

RR: It depends on the song. On this newrecord, I was anticipating the click in acouple of instances. I found that this reallypushes a song, gives it a lot of snap. Othertimes, I'll slow it down in certain parts andI play a little behind it in a verse, then pickup right on the beat during a pre-chorus ora verse that needs to be lifted up. I'll dothat sometimes to highlight an upcomingvocal lead or guitar lead. But it's very im-portant not to walk all over the singer or

the instrument that needs to be featured atthat moment.MD: Any special method you use for re-hearsing with Poison?RR: For a new song that we're hammeringout, I'll just play what I feel is basicallycorrect—no tricks, nothing special. ThenI'll take that beat and begin to move itaround a bit, searching for something thatreally works. For example, if I'm playing instraight time, I'll begin to wonder what more

snare beats per measure might sound like,or maybe something a little different withthe hi-hat. I always try to work around theoriginal feel I had. That way, even if theend result is fairly intricate, it's not some-thing I can't "feel" and play live.MD: What if you don't "feel" anything rightoff the bat?RR: If I don't know where to begin, espe-cially on something new, the other guysusually have good suggestions for me. Be-sides, if C.C. came up with the guitar riffthat's the basis for the song, he must havehad something in mind. Who better to lookto for suggestions?MD: Is this back-and-forth work betweenthe band members typical of rehearsingand writing together?RR: Yes. The reason I'm playing with Bobby,Bret, and C.C. is because I respect and trustthem. All of us play enough guitar to getbasic ideas across. That's a big plus, andC.C. isn't the type of guy who gets insultedif another member writes a guitar riff.MD: During rehearsal, do you use a clicktrack or rhythm machine to hold any fixeddrum tracks while experimenting with fillsand alternate patterns?RR: I do, but that's usually in the second orthird stage of rehearsals. Our first rehearsalis just to get the song out in the open, getthe basic skeleton of the song down ontape. If that's not the way the drums aregoing to go, so what? As long as everyonecan play together with that song and getsome good ideas. Later, I'll go home andlisten to the tape, work out a few solidideas, and come back and try them. If ev-eryone pretty much likes the direction it'sheading, then maybe I'll play with a drummachine and put the song in good solidtime.MD: Practice at home, then, is an impor-tant part of making the songs.RR: It is. After we get some rough basicsdown, I'll have C.C. or Bobby record aguitar or bass line to a click track, whichI'll put on track one of my portable four-track tape machine. Then I'll go home andplug in some electronic drums, and playalong with the guitar and bass. I'll messaround with some different beats and rec-ord the ones I feel comfortable with. Afterthat, I'll take the tape back to rehearsal andhear what the guys have to say about it.Home practice is very helpful from a per-sonal, creative standpoint. But we do havea rehearsal studio, so when I want to playmy live drums, I go there.MD: Are you a rock 'n' roll drummer or aheavy metal drummer, and is there reallyany difference to you?RR: I'm both, but I'm more of a rock 'n' rolldrummer. Heavy metal is a little more an-gry, and I do play like that sometimes. Ac-tually, all rock 'n' roll is a little aggressiveand rebellious. It's not for everybody, butthen neither is hockey.

[Note: At this point, Rikki's drum tech,Tony Moon, joins the conversation.]MD: What is the current configuration ofthe new studio drumkit?

Moon: The kit is essentially Drum Work-shop drums and hardware with Zildjiancymbals. The Purecussion RIMS are great!They isolate the drums acoustically andmechanically from the hardware withoutdrilling holes in the shells. The set is allcustom, but since DW only makes customkits, there's nothing there that isn't "off theshelf." We had the luxury of going to thewarehouse and handpicking the shells, tap-ping them out, and making sure the timbresmatched.MD: Any similarity to the kit for Look WhatThe Cat Dragged In?Moon: No, I think that was one of HermanRarebell's kits. I wasn't the tech then.RR: Yeah, it was Herman Rarebell's, fromThe Scorpions. I had a Pearl kit with con-cert toms, but they didn't have the controlof double-headed toms that we needed forthe studio. Since we didn't have the budgetat the time, Herman let me borrow one ofhis sets. It wasn't the right set for me, but itcertainly got the job done. The sound defi-nition with this new set is great! A 12"sounds like a 12".MD: Is a lot of that due to careful miking inthe studio?Moon: Yeah. Duane Baron, our sound en-gineer, set up all the mic's: one per tom,three on the snare, two on the hi-hat, threeon the kick drum, four room mic's, and soon. He was really meticulous, and that'sone of the reasons we got such a gooddrum sound on this album.MD: How well do you two work together?RR: Tony is my right-hand man on the stageand in the studio. I drive him nuts at timesbecause I think I'm hearing something dif-ferent even if the setup is exactly correct.Most of the time my hearing is just off! It'shis job to make the sound I want and thento remake it exactly every time I need it.We're like "Master Blaster" in the movieBeyond Thunderdome! We disagree andargue, but it ends up being productive.Sometimes I overlook practical or mechani-cal things. But he never does, and that'swhat I need.MD: What about the differences betweenthe live setup and the studio setup? Howdo you compensate for that?Moon: I aim for there not being any differ-ence at all, but of course there is. There'sno comparison between a rigidly controlledstudio and a concert hall. As far as thedrums go, I try to make them as studio-perfect as possible. On the next kit, I'mgoing to try to go with internal mic's, proba-bly the May EA system—409s in the toms,D112s in the floor toms. We'll see whatworks best, because there really is no "right"way. To be perfect, you really need threemic's per drum in order to reproduce thesound of the stick striking the head, thesound off the bottom head, and the reso-nance of the shell. And that's not reallyenough! We could use 28 channels off thedrums, but that's just not feasible for a liveshow. The trick is to isolate the drum soundyou want to amplify. External mic's canallow too much bleed-through, and if you

try to gate it, the reverberations get cut off.With a live internal mic' setup, we will getall the natural resonance and very littlebleed-through, and we can choose a de-layed gate anywhere we want. The rest isreally up to the sound man.RR: And we don't have much control overthat. At something like Texas Jam, wherethere were about six bands, we were toldto set up as fast as possible, play our set,and then get out of Dodge! The sound mandoesn't have the time to play with differentcompressors or gates for each band.Moon: For situations like that we'll try topre-fab the sound as much as we can. We'llprobably have two complete kits: one forthe tour and one that can be flown to anylocation at a moment's notice. The soundman won't have to worry about mic's; they'llbe set up inside the drums. There's nothingto do but hook up the harness.MD: Any big differences in equipment forthe road as opposed to the studio?Moon: All the hardware is the same. I justcarry plenty of spares and tools. The lasttour was so rushed I had very little time toprep all the gear. I'm looking forward toreally prepping this kit and taking it on theroad.MD: What do you need to do?Moon: I'll build all my own harnesses andsnakes using top-quality materials, checkand recheck everything. There will be nodoubts or misgivings. If something breaksor goes down, I won't waste time checkingover someone else's stuff.RR: If I go through a snare head halfwaythrough a song, he can throw another snareup and have the original one fixed andtuned before the beginning of the next song.He's fast! Our relationship with Drum Work-shop really helps, too. They're a small,American, perfectionist company. I don'tmean to drool all over them, but a lot ofequipment companies could stand to learna thing or two from them about support,backup, and commitment—not to mentionquality and reliability.MD: How about trick accessories, micro-phones, or switches that are great for thestudio but aren't reliable on tour?RR: Some microphones are so room-de-pendent they can only be used in the stu-dio, and the engineer knows his room best.They'll fiddle around all day or longer justfor a snare or cymbal sound; it's that exact-ing. The road is different that way. Ourdrum equipment is the same, except formaybe the drumheads, but things likemicrophones have to cover the most likelyrange of conditions. A few specific soundsfrom the studio can be digitally sampledand then triggered out on stage, but I'malways leery of becoming too dependenton electronic switches and triggers.Moon: Triggering drums live is still a prob-lem. Nobody has really come out with atrigger that's truly dynamic in terms of strikepressure. The closest is probably ReekHavoc's Drastic Plastic triggers, which weused on the last tour. Even then, we had touse a safety gate. I've got some ideas for a

magnetic trigger, but...we'll see.RR: Tommy Lee uses a mic' as a trigger.That's a good way to go, but one that's verycomplicated and very expensive.MD: Is the equipment or preparation anydifferent for an outdoor show versus anenclosed concert hall?RR: The drums at an outdoor show basi-cally sound dead. The sound goes out andit's gone; nothing bounces back, no naturalreverb. The only advantage is that all out-door shows will sound about the same, sowe can at least prepare for that. Virtuallyevery enclosed hall has its own uniquesound and acoustics. Sound checks are criti-cal.Moon: Outdoor shows can play hell withequipment. I've got to be prepared for rain.The heat from the sun can change the tun-ing. Cables and harnesses are exposed toheat, dust, and moisture. The sound manhas the tough job, though. Outdoor showsare not known for their sound quality!MD: If something's going to break down,what will it most likely be?Moon: Electronics. All triggers and switchesare vulnerable, and I won't even botherwith anything that I have doubts about.Still, since an acoustic kit will always makesome noise, only electronics are left.RR: Nicko from Iron Maiden once said, "Ifthe house goes down, the audience willstill be able to hear my drums. It may be aweak argument, but that's the way I feel."And I agree. Even if a monitor goes down, Ican still hear what I'm playing. It all addsup; reliability builds confidence.MD: Tell us about the RoboDrums.RR: The best way I can describe theRoboDrums is as "a mechanical fantasybecome real." Poison is a band to see aswell as hear. We always put out for ourfans who come to the shows. Even whenwe couldn't afford it, we tried to add inter-esting visuals. I've always wanted a morehigh-tech drumkit, but you know how Ilike acoustic drums. One day I waswatching The Transformers on TV, and Igot the idea of an androgynous robotic crea-ture, almost a cyborg, made up of drumsand toms and cymbals, with armatures thatcould move things in and out of reach as Ineeded them. So I threw a few ideas atGlenn Brooks, a friend of mine who buildsarchitectural models and does graphic de-sign. Within a few hours, we came up witha killer drumkit design. A movie special-effects artist, Mark Williams, is building itfor me now. We're hoping it will be donein time for our next tour; it's gotta be road-able, though. That may take some testing.The whole concept is cool. It's a drumkit ofthe future.MD: What if you were just starting outnow?RR: If I were starting out on the rock 'n' rollclub circuit in 1988, I'd have a straightfive-piece acoustic drumset for simplicity,reliability, and consistency. For Top-40 barmusic, I'd probably go with an acoustickick drum and have everything else be elec-tronic: Simmons, Dynacord, etc. That way

I could instantly change sounds, grabsamples, adapt quickly to all the differentstyles and sounds. The recording studio iswhere you set up your "death list," be-cause those are the sounds you'll have todo live. A rock 'n' roll audience doesn'twant to see you on stage walking over to amachine and pushing a button! The rootsof rock are still so strong—musicians mak-ing live music right in front of a crowd!

by Kenny Aronoff

Warming Up: Part 2Warming up is important, both for preventing in-juries and for helping you utilize all of your devel-oped technique. Playing the drums is a very ath-letic activity, especially rock drumming. And likean athlete, a drummer needs to warm up beforeperforming. Warming up is essential for prevent-ing tension, especially if you're a hard-hitting andaggressive player. Tension makes it difficult to play

at your best ability level. It will affect your time, the groove, andyour coordination when trying to execute technical beats or fills.When you're warmed up, you'll feel relaxed, more coordinated,more confident, and consequently, you will play better.

In "Warming Up: Part 1," I showed you a few exercises utilizingall four limbs. In this article, I will give you more exercises thatfocus on using all four limbs. I feel it's important that both yourhands and feet be warmed up and coordinated together as oneunit. If one foot or hand is dragging, it will affect the other limbsand slow you down. You're only as good as your weakest limb.

Exercise 1

The first exercise that I want you to practice is one that focuseson your hands, and at the same time incorporates the feet. Practicethe following 13 fundamental sticking patterns with your hands,using the 8th-note rhythm that appears above them. Keep a steadyquarter-note pattern going with your right foot.Hand Patterns:

Now reverse the foot pattern to begin with the left foot:

When these foot patterns are combined with the previous handpatterns, both hands and feet are playing 8th notes:

As you move from line to line of the hand patterns, try to makeyour hands and feet play perfectly together as if they were onesound. Once again, work with a metronome or a drum machineand gradually increase speed. Never sacrifice being relaxed formore speed. Tension is not what you want.

Finally, play all three exercises, one after the other, and at thesame tempo. For example, play each of the 13 sticking patterns(hands) once with Foot Pattern 1 (right-foot quarter notes), thenFoot Pattern 2 (left-foot quarter notes), and finally Foot Pattern 3(alternating feet playing 8th notes). Keep repeating the entire cyclefor 15 to 20 minutes, and you should begin to feel warmed up.

These exercises, along with those outlined in Part 1 of thisseries, are only part of my warm-up routine, and represent a basicprogram for warming up all four limbs. There are many otherexercises that you can do to warm up. The routine that youdevelop for yourself will depend on your own ability, musicalstyle, time constraints, and other factors. You need to experimentand try different exercises that best suit your particular needs. Ihope these exercises will help you and inspire you to come upwith your own warm-up routine.

Foot Pattern:

Play sticking patterns 1 through 13 with your hands, while playingthe foot pattern with your right foot. Keep your heel down whenplaying this exercise to help strengthen your ankle. Play eachhand pattern one time before going to the next line (pattern). Try togo from line to line evenly and smoothly, and be sure to practicethis exercise with a metronome or drum machine. The combinedhand and foot pattern for line 1 of this exercise would look likethis:

Exercise 2

Once you've accomplished playing these hand patterns alongwith your right foot, you should then practice them along withyour left foot. Increase your speed as you get more comfortablewith the patterns.

Exercise 3

Now we will change the foot pattern. Practice playing the 13sticking patterns with the following foot pattern:

Pho

to b

y R

ick

Mal

kin

advantages to studying at the University ofMiami is that we have an excellent en-semble program. It is the best in the coun-try. We have, quite possibly, one of the bestbig bands in the world, and we have threeothers besides, all directed by some of thefinest jazz educators. We also have manydifferent groups that specialize in certainstyles of playing. We have an ECM en-semble, a Horace Silver ensemble, the JoeHenderson ensemble, the Wayne Shorterensemble, the Monk/Mingus ensemble, thebebop ensemble, the funk ensemble, thefusion ensemble, and many more smallgroups that don't specialize in a certainstyle. All of these ensembles have coaches,ranging from graduate assistants to the headsof departments."

"We, of course, have the percussion andmarimba ensembles, as well as the moretraditional ensembles like the orchestra andthe wind ensemble," adds Fred. "Playerscan get a lot of varied experiences in a lotof different kinds of music here. I'd alsolike to mention that it does not matter whatdegree program a student is pursuing. Theplayers for the ensembles are picked byability only, at auditions."

"We also have the studio rhythm en-sembles, which are an outgrowth of themusic engineering department," says Steve."The music engineering department is sucha big part of the university, and they haveto have groups to record all of the time."The university has a 24-hour, state-of-the-art recording studio, which is used to train

future engineers as well as give musiciansan opportunity to get recording experience."By recording, drum students are able tolisten to themselves and learn what worksand what doesn't in the studio," says Steve."A requirement that we are going to bemaking of our drumset students is that theyprepare a high-quality demo tape of theirplaying before they leave here. That way,when these students move on, maybe toNew York or L.A. or Nashville, they'll havea tape that they can submit to people forauditions. And, since they are down here,they have the advantage of some of thefinest musicians available right here oncampus to play on that tape."

Other playing experiences at the Univer-sity of Miami include the school's innova-tive rhythm section classes. Fred explains,"We have what we call rock class and swingclass. When students come in as freshmen,most young drummers have more experi-ence playing 8th-note music rather thantriplet-pulse music. If a drummer needs ex-perience in either the jazz or rock areas, heor she can enroll in one of these classes.The classes are made up of keyboardists,guitarists, bassists, and drummers, and ateach class these students are combined intodifferent groups, given a week to rehearse,and asked to perform the piece they haveprepared for the class. Then the instructorsand other students critique the perform-ance in an open discussion format. This isvery helpful to musicians in pointing outweak points they may have.

"Rock class is co-taught by Randall Dol-lahon, our jazz guitar instructor, and SteveRucker. Swing class is taught by VinceMaggio, our jazz piano instructor. Theseinstructors are masters in their areas. Vincehas got a very convincing way of beingable to sit down with young drummers whohaven't played swing and get them to re-ally cook and work within a rhythm sec-tion. He is able to turn some heads towardthat type of music."

With all of these playing opportunitiesmentioned, Fred is quick to point out thatthere is much more than just playing at themusic school. "Every semester, all studentsare required to play in two ensembles. Theymay play in three. Some people havewanted to be in four or five ensembles,because all they wanted to do is play.However, that doesn't leave much time forthe academic requirements that are a bigpart of everybody's life in school.

"I think one of the most common mis-conceptions that new students have is thatall they are going to do is play. There's a lotmore to attending a university than justplaying and practicing. People think thatthey are going to take lessons and practiceeight hours a day. Once they get here, yes,they do have lessons and do spend timepracticing, but they have other responsi-bilities as well. They'll have ensemble musicto practice, as well as piano music, musicschool classwork like theory and ear-train-ing, as well as general university classwork.People don't realize the amount of effort

that they are going to have to put into theacademics as well as to the music require-ments."

The percussion and drumset students atthe University of Miami follow a similarprogression of studies while meeting therequirements of the department. No matterwhat degree a student is pursuing, be it aperformance degree or a non-performancedegree, that student must graduate withcertain performance abilities. According toFred, "Each student receives four semestersof basic instruction: one semester ofdrumset, one of snare drum, one of tim-pani, and one of mallets. During these firstfour semesters, the student fulfills basicrequirements in each area."

When asked if all students study the same

things or are treated on an individual basis,Fred responds, "Students follow a basiccurriculum, but you have to make excep-tions. The basic curriculum assures the stu-dent that he or she will cover all of thematerial required, which will give a goodfoundation in all areas of percussion. Afterthat, students are then free, to a certainextent, to specialize in the area that inter-ests them.

"For an example, one of our former stu-dents, Rod Morgenstein, went through theStudio Music and Jazz curriculum, and byhis senior year, he hadn't fulfilled the mal-let requirements. At that time, Vince Mag-gio, who teaches jazz piano, happened tohave an opening in his studio for a student.Since Rod's piano background was so

strong, Vince accepted him as a jazz pianostudent. I thought that was beneficial forRod to have that opportunity, so he studiedpiano instead of mallets. To have somemallet experience, he prepared the secondmovement of the Creston marimba con-certo on his own and played it for mebefore he graduated! So, in answer to thequestion, we do have a set curriculum, butwe certainly can make room for individualdifferences within that curriculum.

"Getting back to the basic requirementsof the percussion program, the student mustcover each of the four basic areas. There isone exception to this. We instituted adrumset specialty track in our performancedegree last year. In the past, one thought ofapplied music as the study of nothing butsymphonic or legit training. We have broad-ened our program so that now students canfollow a course of study in the area ofgeneral percussion, an all-encompassingprogram I've called Instrumental Perform-ance Percussion for the 1990's, or they canconsider the drumset as their primary in-strument in this degree. I feel that havingthis choice is a more contemporary atti-tude to have."

Steve Rucker concurs. "Before we hadthis program, students who were primarilydrumset players had to take advanced im-prov courses in the jazz department on amallet instrument, which wasn't really fairto them because they were taking the coursewith horn players, guitarists, keyboardists,and other melodic instruments. All of theseother people who had played their instru-ments all their lives were in a class withdrumset players trying to get by on vibes.Fred decided that there should be an im-prov section for drumset players, and sub-sequently we designed the drumset majorin Instrumental Performance."

"With this degree," Fred says, "we arenot requiring people to study mallets, butthey have to enter the program with a strongpiano background and continue to developtheir piano abilities while at the university.I think in this era of synthesizers, perhapskeyboard ability is more important thanmallet keyboard ability. The drumset pro-gram piano requirements are necessarybecause we feel that a drummer must havesome connection with melodic and har-monic instruments.

"I feel this is important because this is amusic school. You don't just study rhythmand drums at a music school. A student hasto study music theory, ear training, musicliterature, and all of the related topics thatwill make a student a complete musician.It's important for the drumset player of thefuture to be able to express himself or her-self harmonically and melodically, as wellas rhythmically. Plus, after spending thetime learning so much about music at thisuniversity, it would be an exercise in futil-ity to not be able to use that knowledge byjust playing drumset."

When asked to discuss the specific re-quirements made of the percussion student,Fred responds, "I think the best way to

normally disoriented and have a tendency to drift off," says Steve."We can be there to help them through that initial breaking-inperiod. I also make it a point to meet with all of them during theirfirst semester. That way I can make sure everything is going okay.

"At the end of the first semester," he continues, "the studentshave an idea what their weak points are and what they have towork on. Obviously, a person can't totally get that all together inone semester, but most of the students do a pretty good job. At thatpoint in their training, I know I could send them out on a gig andthey could cover it."

"During the percussion student's second semester, he wouldstudy snare drum," Fred continues. "We still require a semester ofsnare drum as a sort of levelling process for everyone who comesin. Everybody has studied snare drum at some point along theway. However, I feel that by working with hands and working onreading on the snare drum, we are able to strengthen the student'soverall technique. If your technique is together on the snare drum,it's much easier to move to other percussion instruments. Drumset,timpani, or mallet keyboard playing is all enhanced by a propersnare drum technique. While students are studying snare drumduring that second semester, they have the opportunity to attendmaster classes on drumset with Steve. The master classes covertopics such as in-depth style studies of players and more involvedtranscribing.

"In the student's sophomore year, timpani and mallets would becovered. At that same time, though, the student's drumset playingshould have progressed to the point, through private lessons, firstsemester drumset class, and possibly rock or swing class, to wherehe or she can take a class in advanced drumset improv and/or playin a more advanced ensemble. So, for the people who are inter-ested in playing drumset, they never really leave the drumsetwhile studying other percussion instruments.

"The advanced drumset improv course, which I just mentioned,is a requirement for the Studio Music and Jazz major, as well asthose enrolled in the new Instrumental Performance drumset track.Of course, it's open to all other students by audition. Studio Musicand Jazz majors take an improv course with a melodic instrumentas well. The jazz faculty doesn't care if it's piano, vibes, or ma-rimba. Most SMJ majors put that one off to their junior or senioryear."

"The drumset improv course is a two-semester course," addsSteve. "The first semester is an intense style study. At that point inthe students' training, they have already studied the early drumsetstyles and artists, from Baby Dodds all the way up to the swing erabig band players. That is covered in the freshman class. In the firstsemester of advanced drumset improv, we continue on with MaxRoach, Art Blakey, Philly Joe, Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, and JackDejohnette. We cover the players who I think of as the 'big six.'There are other players that I love, like Roy Haynes, but byconcentrating on the styles of the six drummers mentioned, we geta pretty well-rounded look into the jazz style.

"We cover the 'big six' by doing transcriptions of their playing.We also analyze the individual characteristics of these players,and we take all of this information and try to learn how to thinkand play like one of these great drummers. So, we start out bycovering Max Roach for a couple of weeks, and for those twoweeks the students become Max Roach. And then the next twoweeks we analyze Art Blakey, and again, the students become ArtBlakey. When I say 'become' Max or Blakey, I mean the studentreally must try to get inside of these drummers' styles and learn thenuances as well as the major features of these players.

"There is a rhythm section assigned to the class, so each of thestudents comes in and plays with the rhythm section in the stylethat we have been studying. By doing this we can see how thestudent actually is applying what he or she is learning in an actualplaying situation. In the later part of the first semester, after the 'bigsix' players are covered, we do the same thing with the morecontemporary players like Gadd, Erskine, and on up through Vin-nie, Omar, Weckl, Bozzio, and so forth.

"In the second semester, we leave that approach and concen-trate more on individual styles. I start off in a soloistic and timeapproach with developing motifs, playing over the bar, metric

answer that question would be to track a typical student. Let's startwith a freshman, and let's say that he is a Studio Music and Jazzmajor, for example. My views are different than most percussionteachers at other universities, because most feel that the first thinga freshman percussionist should start with is private mallet instruc-tion. In general, that is usually the weakest area of an incomingfreshman percussion student. Our Studio Music and Jazz freshmanwould come in, and for the first semester, he would study drumset.At that same time, if the student is deficient in mallet skills, hewould enroll in a class called Mallet Ensemble. Mallet Ensemble isa course for beginning mallet players, and it allows students tobegin to get accustomed to a mallet instrument. So even thoughwe don't begin in-depth mallet instruction during the first semes-ter, we do have a way of introducing mallets to students andgetting them started. It's my hope that students will also learn agood deal of general music techniques from their theory andpiano classes, so when it does come time to study mallets inearnest, they can concentrate on the technical side of the instru-ment and already have a knowledge of the proper musical consid-erations."

Steve Rucker, the person in charge of the drumset program atthe University of Miami, is responsible for the first semester drumsetclass. "I had the freedom to design the direction of this course, so Istarted implementing a tape-listening situation, and it has sinceevolved from listening to different styles and the history of drumsinto topics such as how to play all of the styles necessary to play agig and function in a rhythm section. At the same time a freshmanis taking that class, he or she has a supplemental lesson with eithera teaching assistant, Harry Hawthorne, Steve Bagby, or me. In thatlesson the student is taught more foundational things, which thestudent is required to play after the first semester of study. Sobetween working in the class with me and studying privately withSteve, we cover all of the basics and some of the history of thedrumset—all in the freshman's first semester.

"I have found that, during freshmen's first semesters, they are

modulations—things that are, in a way, building blocks towardsbecoming a good soloist. We cover dynamics, phrasing, space,and so forth. And there's a lot of playing in this class. This gives methe chance to watch these players carefully so I can recommendthings for them to work on. I get to see them play every day.Another advantage to this is that the students have to come to classand play every time the class meets, so this psychs them up topractice. They know that they're going to have to play in front oftheir peers, so I have found that this motivates the students.

"During the next part of the semester," Steve continues, "westart playing over song form. We cover standard AABA forms,blues, rhythm changes, and then we get into odd forms. The juryrequirement at the end of that semester is based on soloing over anunusual song form, which I will pick out of a stack of charts. It's upto the students to be able to sing the tune in their heads while theyplay it. That way they'll be able to solo over a chart as well as beable to play behind a soloist in a musical way. That's a big part ofmy philosophy as far as teaching drumset. The students have tolearn to be as musical as possible. They shouldn't just concentrateon technique for technique's sake.

"When I first started in music, I was into music as music tobegin with. It just happened to turn out to be drums that I pickedup. So my approach to playing and teaching is to be as involved asmuch as possible with music completely. I have a lot of studentswho are into composition, arranging, and so forth, and usually thepeople who are the most involved with the total aspect of musicare the better players, by far."

Another area of percussion that the University of Miami percus-sion department is focusing on is electronics, about which FredWickstrom has definite opinions: "The use of electronics in thefield of drums and percussion over the past few years has reallygrown. Now, it's wise for everybody to be involved with electron-ics to some degree. I also feel very strongly that what you learn onacoustic instruments is going to carry over into electronic perform-ance. I think that I can recreate sampled sounds off of my pads, for

instance, in a much more realistic manner because I know how it'ssupposed to sound acoustically. In that way, I think that acousticand electronic percussion are really going to complement eachother, and that's something I want to get across to our students."

Fred Wickstrom's desire to bring electronics into the percussionprogram began about five years ago. Steve Rucker explains: "Atthat time, we started a course here in drum machine program-ming. Fred was really behind starting up a course in this area, andhe coerced the music school into buying us a LinnDrum machine.So I taught a course in LinnDrum programming. Programming aLinn, or any drum computer, is very simple, really. Almost any-body that is musical can program a drum machine. The thing thatthis programming course did was to force students to go out andwork on projects. They had to completely arrange a tune, and thenput together a drum machine program that fit the tune.

"A couple of years later we bought an Emulator SP-12, so thatwe could get into some sampling. Since the SP-12 is a prettyinvolved unit, we were able to start getting into MIDI and SMPTEtime code and so on. That course has now evolved from a lectureinto an ensemble, which we call the Electronic Percussion En-semble. In this ensemble, we use drum machines, a KAT mallet-keyboard MIDI controller, a keyboard synthesizer played by oneof the drummers, and a Simmons electronic kit. And also we havea percussionist who plays a Roland Octapad and uses it to triggera variety of sampled sounds.

"With this ensemble the students don't just come in and play.They learn about programming synths, drum machines, sampling,MIDI, and so forth. Then we combine this information and makemusic with it. It takes a lot of gear to maintain something like this.We want to stay as current as possible."

The audition requirements for the University of Miami involve afew different things. Says Fred Wickstrom, "Anyone interested inattending the University of Miami should contact Jo Faulmann,Director of Admissions, University of Miami School of Music, P.O.Box 248165, Coral Gables FL 33124. Music Admissions will then

send a packet of materials that will include instructions on whatwe want on a music audition, as well as more information on theschool. The audition requirements that they will find on there are,in a way, like the curriculum requirements in that the differentareas of percussion are requested. There is some snare drum, somedrumset, some timpani, and some mallets. We ask that they dem-onstrate ability in all areas but be strong in two of the four areas.For applicants who don't play mallets, we ask that they demon-strate some degree of piano proficiency.

"At one time," Fred recalls, "I had a student ask me, 'Why doyou have these demands on people coming into the university? Idon't have to know a thing about medicine before I enroll inmedical school.' Basically, the requirements that we have arefundamentals that an incoming student must know. Otherwise, thestudent will just be overwhelmed by the catching up that wouldbe necessary. All that would do is cause a student to drop out, andthat's not fair to the student. We want to have people here who areright for the program and who are going to last in the program.

"In the audition requirements there are instructions on how tosubmit a taped audition, which allows the student certain advan-tages. However, I strongly recommend that anyone who is audi-tioning for our school, or any other school for that matter, visit thecampus, talk to the teachers, and probably more importantly, talkto the students. Incoming students should know how they aregoing to be spending their time. We audition the students, but thestudents should audition us to make sure that the program is rightfor them before they think about obligating four years of their livesand countless dollars. Find out what it's all about. All of us hereare happy to talk to people and answer any questions they mighthave."

Incoming proficiency is an area of concern for many potentialapplicants. Berklee's reputation for quality might make a fewpeople wonder if they can qualify for entrance. But according toDave, the situation is not as elitist as some people think.

"When we review an application, we don't have specific cut-offs, as a lot of other colleges might have. We look at the wholepicture. That's because Berklee is very different from a traditionalconservatory. It's not the type of format where the only thing we'reout to do is prepare a student to become a percussionist in asymphony orchestra. So we're not looking at performance abili-ties quite as much as some other schools are.

"Generally speaking, the board of admissions is looking forstudents who have had a minimum of two to three years of formalinstruction on their instrument, using widely recognized booksand study materials. Drummers especially should be aware that akey item that the board of admissions looks at—besides instru-mental training—is music theory preparation. We expect a stu-dent to have a fundamental understanding of basic music theory,such as melodic notation in both clefs, key signatures, majorscales, intervals, chord construction, etc., and to be able to applythat knowledge in writing. When looking at the application from ahigh school student, the board will be looking for a music theoryclass in high school, and a good grade in that class—or equivalentinstruction on a private basis, or even self-study. It isn't real con-crete, of course; there is some subjectivity applied to the process.

"Occasionally we'll see a student who may have had a lot ofexperience—and might already be playing professionally—butwho hasn't really had a lot of formal instruction. The board cantake a variety of different directions in that case, including askingfor a tape of the student's playing. But there are no specificaudition requirements, generally speaking. That only occurs whenrequested by the board of admissions on an individual basis."

Berklee works on a rolling admissions basis, admitting newstudents each semester, year-round. Applications for admissionare also processed year-round. According to Dave, "Seniors inhigh school considering Berklee should apply as soon as theirsenior first quarter grades are available. As long as we have thosegrades, the board of admissions can review the files. 'The soonerthe better' is the general rule, especially for rhythm players, wherethe competition is numerically greater than for, say, trumpet orstring players. Some students submit applications a year or moreahead of time—such as high school graduates who want to workfor a year before beginning college. Once they are accepted, theyput down a tuition deposit, and that holds a place for them.

"Something that potential applicants should be aware of is thatthe board does look at overall academic background. This in-cludes high school or college transcripts, and SAT or ACT scoresfor students applying for a degree program. Berklee is a college,with some very structured classroom environments. A lot of stu-dents don't realize that. They think that at Berklee, all they have todo is be able to go in and play. Sometimes a transcript will showthat a student just didn't do very well overall in high school—possibly because that student was so involved in music. Theboard won't look upon that too favorably, because high schoolgrades are an indication of a student's ability to function in anacademic environment and to assimilate information successfully.There's more to studying at Berklee than wailing on your axe.We're not out to prepare students just to be performers. There area lot of other careers in the music field that can also be pursuedhere."

What can a drummer expect upon admission to Berklee's per-cussion studies program? Dean Anderson, Chairman of the per-cussion department, explains the initial procedures:

"When students first enter Berklee, they immediately auditionfor the percussion department. We then place them in our re-quired drumset lab program, at whatever level we feel is appropri-ate for them out of the four levels we have. That's a class with fourto eight drummers to one drumset teacher. The labs go from verybasic technique and reading up to more difficult chart-readingskills. This means that an incoming student must have studiedreading to some extent. We have a fairly low entrance require-ment as far as reading is concerned, because we are able to

address that problem immediately. But if a drummer doesn't atleast meet that low requirement, he or she isn't going to be herevery long. Reading is very important here, because the wholeensemble program functions on how well the students read.Everyone uses charts and leadsheets in the ensembles, no matterwhat the musical style."

Can a teacher tailor a curriculum to fit the individual student inorder to exploit strengths and build up weaknesses? How muchlatitude exists within a classroom situation?

"We try to let students go as far as they can go within a givencourse," replies Dean. "We have some safety nets for people whoare slow, including faculty tutors to assist students who are havingtrouble in a given class. We also have sort of a catch-up lab forslow learners—students who have actually failed a course andneed extra help. We give them as much opportunity as possible tolearn the essential material."

Once into the percussion program, is it possible to major on aspecific instrument without having to play other instruments aswell? Dean outlines the instrumental major program as it is de-signed in the percussion department:

"We have two principal instruments: drumset and vibraphone.While the main focus is always on a student's principal instru-ment, we do expect students to do some doubling. The perform-ance requirements for each principal instrument are very different,based on the program the student is seeking. Drumset principalsdirecting themselves toward performance must also study vibesand the mallet instruments a minimum of three semesters. Theyalso have to perform an improvisational solo on vibes. We don'texpect them to be Gary Burton, but they must at least be able toplay a head, do some comping, and get through a very minimalchart on vibes. Knowing chord scales and modes would be in-volved with that. The students will also have to perform at leastone tune on their doubling instrument during their senior recital.That can be with a group, or as a solo.

"The other doubling instruments that we expect a drumset prin-cipal to study for at least one semester are timpani and generalpercussion. That all comes from private instruction, rather thangroup classes. So by the time our students are into their fifthsemester—when the private lessons really kick in—they would begetting a lesson on drums, at whatever level was appropriate, andthen a second lesson on vibraphone or percussion. There arecertain performance requirements that they have to do for thefaculty at the end of every semester as a sort of final exam. In thatway, we get a constant review of how they're doing.

"Vibraphone principals study mallets all the way along—mostlyimprovisation. At some point they do have to study the 'legitimate'classical material; they must play Bach sonatas just like anyoneelse would. They have to study xylophone and bell techniques aswell, because those are affiliated with their principal instrument.They might need to double on a bell part someday—in a studio,for instance. The other doubling instruments they need to knoware drumset, timpani, and general percussion.

"We're at a point now where we're very close to creating a Latinpercussion principal instrument. One of our existing faculty mem-bers, Ed Uribe, is very good with that, and we also plan onbringing in another full-time Latin specialist.

"In the ensembles, in which all our students perform, theyalways perform on their principal instrument. They play in at leasttwo different ensembles every week—usually in different styles ofmusic. We try to give students a complete overall knowledge andunderstanding of all the percussion instruments, although we letthem focus almost all of their own attention on their principalinstrument."

Berklee's ensemble program is one of the college's outstandingfeatures, due to the number of ensembles and their diversity. Thereare jazz, pop, funk, studio, big band, Latin, and rock ensembles,with further variations even within those styles. For example, thereis a heavy metal ensemble, a jazz/rock ensemble, a recording or-chestra, a theater orchestra specializing in Broadway show music,and ensembles that play arrangements from specific big bands,like the Buddy Rich, Woody Herman, and Count Basie ensembles.Dean Anderson leads the percussion ensemble. All of the en-

sembles are created from groups of students at similar skills levels,and many are duplicated at different levels to give even morestudents an opportunity to gain experience in a variety of musicalstyles.

Berklee is, first and foremost, an academic institution, and there-fore must maintain certain standards. With that in mind, what isthe school's policy regarding students who simply do not demon-strate the abilities necessary to succeed on a professional level?

"Well," replies Dean, "I hate to be so blunt, but we fail thosestudents. It's our job, as educators, to educate. We do it the bestway that we can, but if an individual cannot adapt to our system oflearning, we have to say, 'Look, you've failed your private lessonfor three semesters, and you've never gotten past Drum Lab I. Thewriting's on the wall.' Students declare their major at the end oftheir second semester, and enter their third semester in whateverdegree program they're heading for. If they select Performance,and aren't cutting the mustard, we let them know that. We encour-age them to perhaps seek some other major. Berklee offers majorsin Arranging, Songwriting, Composition, Production and Engineer-ing, Music Synthesis, Film Scoring...a host of fields within musicother than pure performance.

"Performance majors are generally very dedicated, so a veryhigh percentage of them succeed through the program. But we dohave a high attrition rate due to other factors besides failure. Somepeople have to leave to go to work, others find that they'veachieved what they sought before the entire program is com-pleted."

How might Berklee compare to a "vocational" school like Per-cussion Institute of Technology in Los Angeles, or Drummers Col-lective in New York? What can percussion students find at Berkleethat they cannot find at these other specialized schools? Theanswer, according to Dean, is "Hands-on experience at playing allkinds of musical styles in all kinds of ensemble situations. Whenthey leave here, they're going to know what it's like to work with abandleader. They're going to know what's required to survive injust about any musical situation, because they've done it in agroup setting here. Besides that, most of the students who go herework outside of the school as well, playing together. So they get alot of experience in and out of school. Especially the performingmajors—they're ready for the world when they leave here."

Preparation for the "real world" is an important element of amusician's education. Yet many academic music institutions havebeen criticized for not including enough practical informationabout the music profession in their curriculae. Dean explainswhat the Berklee percussion department is doing to address thatproblem.

"It's done first and foremost in the one-on-one situation thatexists in the private lessons. Our teachers have been through that'real world' experience; they are all working professionals rightnow. They also address questions that are brought up in the labsituations, and those issues are talked about as a group. We alsohave actual courses that are taught here, such as Gary Burton'svery popular course on survival in the music business. Our facultymembers aren't academic people who have been isolated on thecampus for the past 25 years. Take a film-scoring teacher here, forexample. When he's not here teaching, he's writing film scores ordoing things for the local TV stations. Everybody here is sort of a'working model' while they are teaching here. That's why thisinstitution is very 'alive' musically."

Dean is an alumnus of both the University of Miami and theNew England Conservatory. This puts him in an excellent positionto evaluate how Berklee compares to a nationally ranked "musicdepartment within a big university" such as U. of M., and to a"traditional music conservatory" such as New England Conserva-tory.

"Obviously, Berklee is very different from any of those. Eitherone of those types of music programs has a very small amount ofofferings for a student. There are pros and cons with that. The prosinclude a lot of individual attention, no problems with practicetime, and greater access to facilities. I could practice 24 hours aday in the percussion room at U. of M. if I wanted to, because thenumber of students was so small. At that time there were eight to

12 students in the department. We have 450 here."The Conservatory environment offers similar advantages. There

are more students than in the U. of M. scenario, but the facilityaccommodates that—at least it did at New England. You wereknown immediately, because there were so few people.

"At Berklee, we have many students, and they must work veryhard to make a name for themselves. I used to see that as a disad-vantage, because a lot of students would get lost in the shuffle. Butif you really think about what reality is in the music business, that'sreality. The people who are really going to make it as players, filmscorers, music synthesis specialists, or whatever, are going tobecome known within those areas while they are here. You don'thave that situation to the same degree in a large university—atleast not in terms of initiating contacts and going out into the realmusic world.

"The variety of our curriculum is the real key difference be-tween here and anywhere else. We offer classes in every conceiv-able musical style, and also in electronic percussion, double bassdrumming, chart reading, studio drumming and programming,and polyrhythms, as well as mallet, timpani, general percussion,and concert snare drum techniques. Performance styles are cov-ered in all areas and in all contexts. You just can't find that in anyother institution. We have close to 700 performing ensembles on aregular basis. Over 800 student, faculty, and visiting artist perform-ances are presented each year. We have seven recording studioenvironments, a major performance center, two recital halls, andan outdoor amphitheater. The opportunity to be involved as aplayer, at an appropriately challenging skills level, exists here in away that does not exist anywhere else to my knowledge.

"In terms of faculty and other instruction, I think it's very impor-tant for students to be exposed to a variety of philosophies. Wehave 14 professors, associate professors, and instructors on staff inthe percussion department alone. Then there are all the otherinstructors that our students will be studying with in their otherclasses and ensembles. This is a tremendous amount of input justfrom the Berklee staff. And then we bring in visiting lecturers,

guest artists, and clinicians."A state university or college or a private conservatory often

doesn't have the opportunity—or the budget—to bring in lots ofclinicians to share their state-of-the-art knowledge and their thoughtsabout what's going on in the real world. A lot of our guest artistsare playing in or around the Boston area, which makes it easy tobring them in fairly frequently. We also have affiliations withvarious companies, including Yamaha, Pearl, Remo, Sonor, Zildjian,and Sabian. We're very happy to have all the support of thesecompanies and to have all these different products here. It's im-portant for the students to see what exists, so that they can com-pare and get an idea of what's going on. We're able to utilize theseassociations to further our clinic program. I think it's very specialfor the students. It's not that they need to be 'wowed' all thetime—they need to learn; that's why they're going to school. Butthere's a certain merit in learning from someone you have a lot ofrespect for—especially someone who can teach well in the clinicformat. The key word is inspiration. Anything that motivates astudent to pursue his or her ambitions is very important."

Do some students have a misconception regarding the contribu-tion a Berklee education will make toward their career? Do theyoften think that they'll automatically get a good gig simply be-cause they studied here?

"I hope they don't all feel that, but I imagine many do. Just theschool's name and history has added to that. A lot of great playershave come from Berklee—as they have from many other schools.It's good that students would be encouraged to come because ofthat, but once they are here, we need to really instill in them thefact that there is a lot to learn. Not just proficiency on an instru-ment, but also how to act, how to be successful in the businessworld, how to interact with other people...so many other impor-tant things.

"You have to work to get what you get in this business, and eventhose who do work very hard have no guarantees. That's a mes-sage that we have to give to our students once they're here. Wecan't offer any promises. Berklee is a starting point. We'll give as

Casio DZ-1MIDI Drum Translator

ber, and MIDI note on number. The solelimitation is that all translators that share agiven channel number must also use thesame program number. While this mayappear to be a drawback at first, in somerespects it's a blessing. Usually, most soundmodules will cut off old voices when pro-gram change commands are received. Thesonic result of this would be horribly trun-cated sounds if you ever tried to play anormal drum part.

Programming the DZ-1 is very easy. Thereis one large button labeled "Edit." By press-ing this, you go into edit mode. There arethree more buttons for "Channel," "Pro-gram," and "Note." Each translator has itsown button, as do each of the four presets("System Select" in Casio's terminology).Since each button also has an LED rightabove it, you always know exactly whatyou're editing at a glance. Once you selectthe proper translator, function, and preset,you can alter the value with the Up/Downbuttons. Specific values are reported on athree-digit LED display. You may also se-lect translators by striking the appropriatepad. This will cause the display to flash,and show the transmitted note-on velocitynumber. This is very handy in setting upthe individual sensitivity settings. (Eachtranslator's LED lights up when it's acti-vated by a pad signal, as well.)

In testing, the DZ-1 worked well; it trig-gered reliably and was consistent. The unitalso shows reasonable adjacent pad rejec-tion. (In other words, its ability to ignorefalse triggers from other pads was prettygood.) The DZ-1 proved to be easy to setup and program as well. Part of this easehas to do with the fact that the DZ-1 issuch a "bare bones" unit. There are noprovisions for items such as velocity re-sponse curves, gate time, layering func-tions, and the like. The question is, then,"Is the DZ-1 a good buy?" Well, that, ofcourse, depends on your needs. Comparedto the Roland PM-16, the DZ-1 offers halfof the channels and half of the features atless than half of the price. The major prob-lem in the way of expansion is that the DZ-1 does not include a MIDI IN, so there isno way to cascade two units for 16 inputs(short of purchasing a MIDI blender). TheDZ-1 does offer good value to those justgetting started in MIDI drumming, and tothose with more modest kit requirements.The suggested retail price is $229.00

refers to as "translators." Each translatorhas its own sensitivity adjustment slide pot.Translators #8 and #9 share the same inputjack and sensitivity pot, but are separatelyprogrammable otherwise. The fifthfootswitch jack mentioned above is usedto select which translator (#8 or #9) willtransmit when the eighth pad is played.This effect is commonly used to switch be-tween open and closed hi-hat. (Indeed,Casio goes so far as to label input #8 as"HH".) Don't let this fool you though, asthis feature can also be used to switch be-tween normal and bell cymbal hits, normalcrash and choke sounds, or between justabout anything you'd like.

Casio has labeled the remaining seventranslators with names like "Tom 1","Crash", "SD", and "BD". For the most part,these are just suggestions. The one excep-tion is the bass drum ("BD") translator. It isbest to put your bass trigger here, as thistranslator seems to have a slightly differentinternal design than the others. While Iwas able to successfully trigger with thekick pedal plugged elsewhere, I receivedpoor results when triggering "BD" with atom pad. That particular combination gaveerratic results and skipped over many hits.

Each translator can be programmed forits own MIDI channel, MIDI program num-

Sometimes it seems that Casio is the quin-tessential distiller of musical items. Theyhave a knack for taking an idea, paring itdown to its core, and then producing anew product. Casio just seems to be "rightthere" when it comes to music for themasses. (Just take a walk into any depart-ment store and look at all of the mini-keyboards lying in wait.) Some peoplemight even argue that a product line hasn'treached maturity until the "down-scaled"versions have arrived. And so it is, almostas if on cue, that the Casio DZ-1 MIDIdrum trigger unit has appeared.

Quite simply, the DZ-1 is a basicdrumpad-to-MIDI converter. It may lack afew of the more esoteric features that somecompeting units offer, but it does offer theone feature that Casio is noted for: It's in-expensive.

The DZ-1 is rather small, and is certainlylight in weight. It may be powered fromeither an external AC adapter or from bat-teries. Its connections include two MIDIOUT jacks, eight pad input jacks, four jacksfor preset selection via footswitches, and afifth footswitch jack for note switching. Theback panel also contains a small adjust-ment control for setting the unit's mastersensitivity. The unit actually has nine inputtrigger processing channels, which Casio

Mastering The FillIn the last article in this series (June '86), we lookedat various counting exercises related to playingdotted quarter-note figures, phrases of odd lengths,and constant and changing time feels. We alsostressed the importance of counting out loud, aswell as the proper use of the metronome. In thisarticle we'll look at the use of fills to set up thefigures that we have discussed. We'll begin with a

specific method to help you master short fills, and then consider afew alternative ideas designed to act as catalysts to stir your owncreativity.

In previous articles of this series, I stressed the importance of aleft-handed stroke on the snare drum placed on the beat immedi-ately preceding a figure. Doing so clearly states the time and betterenables the other members of the band to play their figure (on"an") more precisely. However, the proper use of fills is anotherexcellent way to set up a figure and also contribute to the musical-ity of the piece. The specific fills discussed in this article do notnecessarily end on the snare drum. However, they do end on thebeat immediately preceding the figure.

The choice of any particular fill will vary widely depending onthe individual player, figure, groove, tempo, volume, and so on.However, remember these points: The fill should always comple-ment the music and aid the band by setting up the figure. Be sureto choose a fill that fits the style of music. For instance, a swing fillwould not be appropriate for a funk chart. The fill and figure mustbe played precisely. Time will always remain the drummer's most

This fill begins on beat 4 of the first bar and ends on beat 1 of thesecond bar. The fill must end on beat 1 of the second bar in orderto set up the figure properly. The length of the fill has been prede-termined. However, a large degree of freedom is given to you asyou choose the precise fill to use. You must now focus your con-centration on improvising as well as counting, playing time, andreading the figure.

Before you try to improvise a fill, choose a specific and rela-tively simple fill. This will make the whole procedure much easierand also serve as a good foundation. The next figure shows anappropriate rhythm for a swing fill (a triplet) played on the snaredrum.

important function, and the fill should never interfere with thetime or the flow of the music.

Let's begin with a short fill. This figure shows how a fill wouldbe indicated on a drum chart:

Repeat the exercises from my previous articles, using this fill toset up each figure. Each fill must end on the set-off note, which isone beat before the figure. Keep your eyes moving, and alwayslook ahead in order to know when to fill properly. Begin slowly,and then gradually increase the tempo. Keep the time constantand count at all times.

When you feel comfortable with this method of filling, experi-ment with a fill of your own choice. Altering the prescribed fillwith the use of accents, embellishments, varied rhythms, anddifferent drums can lead to seemingly countless variations. Thefollowing fills represent only a small portion of the many possibili-ties.

There is ample room in front of the first figure to play whatever fillyou choose. The second figure, however, requires a more simplemethod. Using a fill for the second figure would sound too forcedand distracting. When you encounter this situation, simply useone or two strokes rather than a fill to set off the second figure. Thenext example shows only two strokes on the snare drum used toset off the second figure:

The following example shows how a longer fill would be indi-cated on a chart:

This fill is the appropriate length for the figure:

Repeat the exercises from previous articles in this series, improvis-ing some longer fills when the opportunities arise.

At this point in my teaching, I always try to re-emphasize objec-tives in order of their importance. Time, taste/musicality, and fig-ures will always remain more important than your fills. When youuse a fill, you must never become so preoccupied with the fill thatyou loose sight of your primary objectives. Often what is notplayed on a chart can be more important than what is played.Some charts are so cluttered with figures that playing everythingwould sound too busy. At fast tempi, or when sight reading even atmoderate tempi, attempting an intricate fill clearly becomes riskyand jeopardizes the time and the flow of the music. A good rule ofthumb is: When in doubt, leave it out. It is far better to omit a filland/or figure than to lose the time.

When two or more figures are written close together, you mayfind that playing a fill for each sounds too busy and cluttered. Thisexample shows two figures relatively close together:

by Gil Graham

A famous tennis coach tells the story abouthis early efforts to teach one of the mostcomplicated skills needed to play tennis:the serve. As the story begins, the instruc-tor, with youthful zeal, sets out to teach hisstudents—in a really thorough manner—how to serve. He makes notes on everyvital aspect of the serve, listing each pointin order of importance. He finally comesup with a list of more than 25 critical pointsinvolved in a successful serve.

The coach now begins to instruct a groupof students. When it comes time to teachthe serve, he tells everyone, "Really payattention. We are going to learn somethingthat is most difficult!"

The first person steps forward. The coach,carefully checking his notes, begins withhis carefully worked out verbal instructions:"Watch your back foot! Careful with theball toss! Get your racket back! Extend yourarm! Watch your grip! Careful with yourbalance! Hold the racket steady!"

Slowly the coach realizes that he has

Visual Learningparalyzed the student with an endlessstream of suggestions. The harder the stu-dent tries to follow the instructions, themore tense he becomes. The coach hasbeen guilty of over-teaching; it would takea computer to remember and sort out all ofhis instructions.

In frustration, the coach grabs the racketand says, "Just watch me, and do what Ido." The student watches carefully a fewtimes, then steps up and hits a pretty goodfirst serve. At this point, the coach realizesthat a picture is worth a thousand words...even a mental picture (especially a men-tal picture, I might add). This famous coachnow teaches visually; he no longer issues astream of verbal instructions. He under-stands the value of creating a "mental pic-ture."

We've all had the experience of listeningto a great drummer on records and saying,"What is that he just played?" or "I wish Icould just see what is really being played!"One of the great things about the era of thejazz club was that you were close to theband. You could watch the world's greatestdrummers up close. You could make yourown "mental pictures" of the evening tolearn from later, fixing certain movementsfirmly in your mind. You could then rerunthe evening over and over again, remem-bering and reinforcing the images andmental pictures.

There are fewer clubs today, althoughthey do still exist. But today we also havevideos. You can watch and learn from manyof the world's best drummers in the com-fort and privacy of your own home. Thevideo is the "next best thing to being there."The current crop of instructional videos isprobably the most educational so far. Theeducational accomplishments in the videofield have been very helpful to studentswho live far from a major city. At leastthese students can see the best in action,and learn something as well.

Another benefit of the VCR is that youcan tape concert performances and watchthem again and again. This gives you an-other opportunity to study the world's bestplayers. It gives you the opportunity to makethose mental pictures that are so importantfor improvement.

A good mental picture is an importantlearning tool. You can also make your ownmental pictures of yourself. If you have abig concert or audition coming up, try topicture yourself in the situation. Imaginethat you are doing well in the situation. Seeyourself as calm, collected, and preparedfor success. See yourself performing well.Then see people complimenting you on agood job. This mental picture will help youperform with more confidence. A word ofwarning: A good mental picture will nottake the place of practicing or preparation.There is no substitute for doing your home-work. Think of developing positive mentalpictures as just one part of your home-work.

One of my students brought an album tohis lesson. He wanted to know what thedrummer was playing on a blues shuffle.The shuffle pattern the drummer was play-ing was relatively simple but very effective.I showed the student the pattern, and hesaid, "Is that all? It sounded like muchmore!" It sounded like more because of thetotal musical effect. The drum part was notcomplicated, but it was appropriate. "See-ing it" made it much more understandableto the student.

This is why it is important to get out and"see" good drummers. Records are a greathelp and great to practice with. However,seeing and hearing at the same time isreally the best of both worlds. If you cansee and hear, the images stay with youmuch longer. By remembering and rerun-ning these images and pictures, you rein-force them again and again. In this way,they can become a source of inspirationfor years to come and that you can drawup at any time.

I was fortunate enough to see some ofthe late greats play in person: Gene Krupa,Jo Jones, Buddy Rich, Zutty Singleton, PhillyJoe Jones, George Wettling, and many oth-ers. I still carry my mental pictures of thesegreat drummers next to my heart. Becauseof this, these great drummers are alwayswith me.

Make some of your own mental pictures,and make sure they are positive ones. Afterall, they are your pictures. What you see isoften what you get!

by Roy Burns

Studio SoundsThose awesome drum sounds. You knowthe ones: those high-tech, high-pricedsounds that get the crowd rushing for thedance floor before the rest of the bandplays a note. The ones that make you throwyour hands in the air when you find outthey were created on the Fairlight, or thelatest $5,000 sampling drum machine, orworse yet, on the latest digital, FM, sam-pling, truncating mega-memory electronicdrumset to the tune of $6,000 to $8,000.

Sure, the big boys can get those soundsbecause they command those big salaries.Since I can't get that big bank loan and Idon't have $10,000 laying around thehouse, I might as well forget it and juststick to my trusty old acoustic set, right?Wrong! The secret of success is knowingwhat does what, and for how much, andhow to get the most out of any one piece ofgear that you can add to "your system."

My adventures started when I bought myfirst drum machine about three years ago. Istarted with a very basic machine: a KorgDDM-110. Two months later I moved up toa Sequential Circuits Drum Traks. Fortu-

nately, the band I was in at that time pro-ceeded to get heavily into sequencing, andI gained an amazing amount of "on thejob" experience. If you can't find the an-swer in the manual, or from a friend, book,or magazine, don't hesitate to call themanufacturer. The people at SequentialCircuits were extremely helpful.

My first lesson? Those beautiful, won-derful-sounding acoustic drums I hadcouldn't compete with the high-qualitysounds of the drum machine, which wasgoing through the board (and back to mevia monitor).

Luckily, the band had Christmas breakcoming up, as we were on the road at thetime. So I scrimped and saved up a downpayment, and got a six-month loan of$1,000 from my local bank. With this Ibought a Peavey 701R seven-channel mixer,a small rack, and a Peavey CS 400 ampli-fier. The bass player donated a 15" speakercabinet to which I added a small horn witha passive crossover. I borrowed some mi-crophones, and voila! I now had both theacoustic drums and the drum machine sub-

mixed by me and going to the main boardon one line (Submix A), and the drum ma-chine going to its own monitor system onthe other (Submix B) with plenty of power.(Be sure to have enough power to givedrum machines or electronic drums theneeded "presence" on stage.)

That kept me very busy for a while, notto mention very excited by the sound I wasachieving. At that time, the only change Imade was to trade in the Drum Traks for aSequential Circuits 420 TOM. The reason-ing behind this was that I was able to addextra sound cartridges and expand thememory of the 420 TOM to 10,000 notes(quite a bit for that price range at that time).

Everything was fine until I discoveredthe Yamaha SPX-90 Digital ProgrammableReverb. Whoa! Did this unit really doeverything to the drums I was hearing? Yes!

Well, needless to say, I started wheelingand dealing. My loan had been paid off fora while, so I put $200 down at a localmusic store and made payments. Eureka!This baby was mine. Today there is theAlesis Midiverb and several other effects

by Jon Bergeron

On A Budgetunits that are even less ex-pensive and do a very nicejob.

While I had the SPX-90home learning and tweaking,learning and tweaking, I hada brainstorm. I deduced (re-member, I'm "only a drum-mer") that if a drum machinecan "talk" (via MIDI) to a key-board, and a keyboard can"talk" with the SPX-90, theremust be a way for the drummachine to "talk" with theSPX-90.

In about 20 minutes I foundthe right MIDI mode, and pro-grammed 1 5 "empty" songs(numbered 31 through 45) onmy drum machine. Each ofthese consists of one emptypattern that simply loops. TheSPX-90 has been programmedto read these and call up itsown reverb programs 31-45,respectively. Ta-dah! No morereaching down in the dark onstage trying to call up the cor-rect reverb program. My drummachine is now also my"MIDI controller."

Since I wanted a nice, big,fat bass drum (acoustic ordrum machine) with no ef-fects, but I did want effects oneverything else, I was facingtwo problems. One, theacoustic bass drum channelwas weak without the extragain from the effects loop ofthe board. Two, my drummachine does not have indi-vidual instrument outputs—only left and right stereo outs. The solu-tion: The bass drum and hi-hat on the drummachine are panned to the left output. Thisgoes to channel 6 on my mixing boardwith no effects. That channel, along withchannel 1 (the acoustic bass drum), is thenpanned to Submix A for the main board.

Everything else on the drum machine(for which I want effects) is panned to theright output, which goes to channel 7 onthe board. This is panned to Submix B,along with the acoustic snare and tom mic's.With all my effects panned to Sub B, andwith Sub A set a little bit hotter, the result isa nice, fat mix of both "effected" and "unef-fected" sounds. Mind you, I'm able to dothis because we run our own P.A. in mono.

I have since been able to go further, dueto the interest of the band I'm in now. Theyhad a Simmons SDS1 pad when I joined,

and later took money out of the band prof-its to pick up a used SDSV setup. I now runthe SDS1 pad (with an eight-chip expander)to channel 3, and the SDSV to channel 4.I'm only using the snare pad from the SDSVin order to keep the actual drumset com-pact. I'm now in the process of buildingsome inexpensive triggers so I can triggerthe Simmons toms off of my acoustic tomsand avoid adding more pads to the kit. Yousee, most of the stages I play on are verysmall, but I'm still afflicted with "GGS"(Creed for Greater Sounds).

Now, I do admit, I have invested somemoney over the past couple of years: ap-proximately $3,500. But I was able to do itpiece by piece, and each item was care-fully considered in terms of the greatestpotential to answer my needs. I now havea powerful, fully processed acoustic sound,

digital drums and percussion via my drummachine, and analog electronic drums. AndI get it all for roughly the same price asone top-of-the-line drum machine. Whenyou only make $300 a week on your gig (ifyou're lucky), that's tough to beat.

by Anthony J. Cirone

Portraits In Rhythm:Etude #15

Snare drum rhythms in 6/8 time are usually associated with marches.Marching music generally has an emphasis in either duple or triplefeeling, and it is much easier to write the triple feel in 6/8 timethan by using triplets. Etude #15, however, has very little to dowith marching music. The opening measures suggest a rhythm thatis actually very uncharacteristic of normal 6/8 music. The rhythmsare very syncopated and produce a contemporary-sounding exer-cise. Another interesting feature of this exercise is that it uses thethree types of snare drum rolls: the tied roll, the untied roll, andthe crush roll. More will be said about this later.

Because of the nature of the rhythms, very little phrasing ispossible. Take the first two measures, for example: In normal 6/8music, each measure might be played as one phrase. Notice thatthe second measure begins with a tied note. This effectively re-moves the possibility of phrasing both measures equally. Whatshould happen here is that the first two measures will be played asequal notes.

Since this character of tied notes is consistent throughout thepiece, every time these measures are played, they should haveequal phrasing. Musical elements such as accents, flams and drags,crush rolls, tied notes, dynamics, etc. all affect the performance ofphrases. They affect phrasing to the extent they determine wherethe emphasis will be in the measure. The easiest music to addphrasing to is continuous rhythms without the use of any orna-mentations.

Observations

1. The opening theme is played as equal notes; avoid the ten-dency to rush. The placement of the second note in the secondmeasure is the most crucial. Since the first note in the secondmeasure is tied to another 8th note, there is quite a bit of silence,which produces this tendency to rush.

2. In measure three, notice that the roll is followed by a drag.Remember, a roll cannot be tied into a flam, drag, or four-strokeruff. There must be a break after the roll to set up for the drag.Some composers inadvertently tie rolls into these rudiments, but infact this is not practical. Do not end the roll with a single stroke;this will add another rhythm to the measure. Think of adding a restjust before the drag.

Incorrect

Correct

3. The last two measures of line three use untied rolls. In snaredrum writing, it is unclear whether a composer actually intends forthe roll to be untied, or if it is simply an error in notation. In mostof the classical orchestral literature, the player cannot depend onthe notation of tied and untied rolls. For the most part, the com-posers did not tie rolls even to another roll, but the musicalconsideration in most cases would be to tie the rolls together orinto a single note.

Although this problem still exists in contemporary snare drumwriting, it is to a much lesser degree. In books such as Portraits InRhythm, where both tied and untied rolls are used, the composersusually have thought this out and indicated their preference. Inthis particular case, because the roll is not tied into the following16th note, the note after the roll is more exaggerated—and this isthe intention. When a roll is tied into a single note, it is easy forthat note to sound as part of the roll; it will then lose its rhythmicaleffect.

4. Line four begins with a series of single notes and crush rolls.The normal notation for a crush roll is to place a dot above the rollas indicated. In effect, all rolls that must be played very quicklyand are not tied will be played as crush rolls. The crush roll isexecuted by pressing both sticks on the drum head simultane-ously. This produces a very short roll sound that can be playedquickly. A crush roll has no definite length, therefore it doesn'tmatter what the value of the note might be. So, in effect, a dot overa quarter note or 8th note will be played as the same crush roll.

Interpretations

1. The last measure of line one has a short crescendo anddescrescendo roll. To effectively make the first roll sound frompiano to fortissimo in such a short span of time, open up the roll asit gets louder. Start the roll as a closed multiple bounce, andquickly broaden the strokes to a rudimentary roll. The crescendo iseasier to produce with an open roll. Conversely, for the secondroll, which goes from fortissimo to piano, start the roll as an openroll, and increase the bounces as it becomes softer.

2. The third line begins a series of dotted-16th notes. All thenotes in the first two measures are of the same length. This is atypical example in snare drum writing when it is advisable to playall the notes with the same hand. Remember, in orchestral snaredrum writing, the sound and control is of prime importance. Usingone hand for similar notes or patterns allows the player the mostcontrol and consistent sound on the drum.

3. The diminuendo going into line seven ends with a dynamicof four pianos. The passage already begins very softly with twopianos, so this is telling the player to get as soft as possible—almost imperceptible.

4. The last measures of lines three and nine contain 8th-noterolls. Do not play these rolls as crush rolls, as we did with thedotted rolls in line four, but play them as untied rolls. It shouldsound a bit longer than the crush roll, and should be played in analternating manner.

Larghetto = 52

contemporary things. I learn a lot from them.""My favorite thing about North Texas," adds drumset teacher

Henry Okstel, "is the students. The majority of them are there forone reason: They want to learn. They're very eager to practice,and they have a lot of energy. Even if you've been teaching allday, that last student demands as much enthusiasm from you asthe first one."

The practice room situation is one that all the students praise.There are enough rooms for each student to have his or her ownroom, complete with a key. Unlike most schools, where studentsmust sign up for two-hour slots, students at UNT can practicewhenever they want, since the practice buildings are open at least18 hours a day. "You don't have to set your stuff up each time,practice for a little bit, and then tear it down for the next guy,"explains Jeff Falcone. "You can just walk in and start playing,because your drums are set up and ready for you."

The practice room setting is also ideal for the informal ex-change of information between students. "There's such a concen-tration of the best players in the country that you can't help butlearn from what's going on in the practice room across the hall.You're sitting there practicing, and you hear some guy in the nextroom who sounds like Steve Gadd, so you go in to see what he'sdoing. He shows you, and then you show him what you've beendoing," says Brad Wagner, the One O'clock drummer in 1976and currently the Assistant Principal Percussionist with the Okla-homa Symphony. "It's surprising to learn how much you don'tknow. For example, I, like most students who show up at UNT,thought I was going to walk right into the One O'clock!"

"The One O'clock Lab Band." There—it was just mentionedagain. It is one of the most identifiable and well-known aspects ofthe school. What exactly is it?

North Texas' jazz studies program consists of nine lab bands,seven reading bands, and several dozen small groups. Each labband is named for the hour that it meets; however, they are not allequal. The most famous, as well as the most prestigious, is "TheOne," followed by the Two O'clock, Three O'clock, etc.. Thefirst two bands have only one drumset player each, while the re-maining seven bands rotate two drummers each between a Mon-day/Wednesday and Tuesday/Thursday schedule. Each readingband also has one drummer, making a total of 23 drumset players.(Each of the lab bands also has one percussionist.)

The three-stage auditioning process starts from scratch eachsemester. The three-judge panel consists of Ed Soph, Ron Fink,and Henry Okstel, along with input from the band directors them-selves. The 80-plus drummers who are interested are given a five-minute sightreading audition. Those who can't read don't make aband, and soon the number of drummers is down to 50 or 60.They are auditioned again, this time a combination of sightread-ing and unaccompanied solos in different styles. Once again,many drummers are sent back to the practice room for morework.

The remaining 33 drummers then audition with an actual labband. The panel hears 11 drummers a day for three days. Ed Sophcontinues, "Then we get together and pow-wow to decide on theplacements, which are by no means ironclad. Someone may havea great audition, but when he gets in the band, things just don'tclick with the rhythm section, so adjustments are made. Butgenerally it's a very democratic situation." And while many drum-mers dream of playing in the One O'clock Lab Band, Ed states,"It's an honor in a way, but the best player gets the best band—just like the real world. The competition is quite fierce."

Henry Okstel adds, "Ideally, the person in the One O'clockwould be the best drummer. He or she would play with a realgood feel, know all the styles, and could read anything veryquickly. Those would be the main aspects."

There are plenty of playing opportunities in Denton, both onand off campus. As mentioned already, the university offers nu-merous ensembles for the students to perform in—23 drummersin the lab band program, three traditional percussion ensembles,several ethnic percussion ensembles, and too many small en-sembles and groups to count.

"This is definitely a performance school," states Randy Drake.

He speaks from experience: Prior to join-ing the teaching staff four years ago, Randywas a student at UNT, including a semes-ter in 1983 spent as the drummer in theOne O'clock. "You can play a lot here inDenton, both in and out of school. Stu-dents get together and just jam. And that'sreal important. Everyone plays as much asthey can."

"The best thing for me," says drummerEarl Harvin, "outside of the actual acade-mia of the school—which is very good—isjust the environment. Being around so manyother drummers and percussionists allowsyou to bounce ideas off of a lot of people.There are people here who are just totallyopposite of where I'm coming from, whichgives you a different perspective. That's thegreatest thing about the school. North Texasmay not be for everybody, especially those

people who get here with no direction orgoals, but it was the perfect thing for me."

One of the most popular ensembles fordrummers of all styles is the marching drumline. This past fall, Dan Wojciechowskimasqueraded as a wild rock drummer(complete with long-haired wig and sun-glasses!) playing "Wipeout" on a drumseton the field. Another famous alumni of theUNT drum line is Gregg Bissonette. Duringa recent visit to his alma mater, Gregg satin with the drum line to "have his chopschecked." Bob Schietroma elaborates, "Thedrummers find that there's a high level ofmuscle development, which can be verypractical. It's very corps-style patterned, butwe don't turn them into machines so thatthey can't be strong individually. We'renot trying to hamper their playing or con-form their style to one that's not going to

be conducive to playing a drumset."Besides playing in Denton, there are also

countless opportunities to play in the Dal-las-Fort Worth metroplex and surroundingareas. From regional orchestras, to privateparties, to entertaining in various night-clubs—there are enough performances foreveryone.

Dan Wojciechowski remembers every-one asking him what lab band he was inwhen he first arrived. "I couldn't under-stand until I was in the One O'clock andstarted getting a lot of calls. There werecertain gigs I did in Dallas that I could haveplayed when I was in another lab band,but I just didn't get the opportunity."

There are also times when groups arelooking for just the right drummer, and callthe school for advice. Upon a recommen-dation, freshman Tiffany Smith recentlyjoined the rock group Climax, who wasspecifically looking for a qualified femaledrummer. Bob Schietroma advises his stu-dents to take all available gigs. "You neverknow who you might be playing with. Theguitar player may be a producer at a majorstudio. I subbed for someone at the Petro-leum Club, and the piano player on thatgig turned out to be one of the major studiowriters in Dallas. Now he uses me on allhis jingles. You should always play in yourmost professional and proficient way,whether it's a wedding or a studio session,because you never know who you are play-ing with or playing for."

With so many music schools across thecountry, why would a student choose NorthTexas? "If you're a musician," answersSchietroma, "you go where you can playwith the best musicians in a learning situ-ation. That's what exists at North Texas.We have outstanding keyboard players, bassplayers...the list is endless. These musi-cians come from all over, and they reallyshare a lot of their talent with one another.You need those people to play with be-cause you can't grow in a practice room.

"A lot of people come here thinking thisis the answer, and in a way it is. But theyhave to have made the commitment thatthey're going to be total musicians. Some-times I suggest to students to go to a tradeschool if drumset is the only thing theywant to do. North Texas is a school ofmusic; drumset is an extension of the per-cussion program, and jazz is an extensionof the music program. Our orchestra andband programs, as well as our total percus-sion program, are quite strong, and theyhave grown out of our total music commit-ment. We didn't put all of our eggs into thejazz basket. It's just another thing that wedo well."

Ed Soph has his reasons for recommend-ing the UNT music school. "First of all, it'scheaper to live here than in New York orLos Angeles, and the standard of living ishigher. Secondly, the quality of instruction,to my mind, is better. There are so manyopportunities to play. The emphasis is onmusical concerns rather than the appear-ances of being a musician. Take that for

what it's worth. The curriculum here is hard,and if you don't make it, you're out; it'sthat simple. And it prepares you for whatit's really like when you get out there tomake a living in this business. You have anadvantage, not necessarily because youmade it at North Texas, but because youmade it yourself, period. You have the self-discipline and inner structure to accom-plish what your goals are. That's the wholething right there."

"Musicians come to North Texas to get afull education in terms of playing with smallcombos and big bands, and studying im-provisation—along with getting a degree,which they can use in the future," saysHenry Okstel. "The trade schools are basi-cally drum lessons, and they don't havethe resources found at North Texas."

Several of the students in the musicschool had considered other schools be-fore they decided on coming to Denton.What were some of the factors involved?"A friend had invited me over to his house,and he played the recording of Lab '75."recalls Randy Drake, who grew up inGoffstown, New Hampshire. "When I heardthe record, I knew I had to come here. Ithought about Berklee because it was a lotcloser, but when I heard the music fromhere, I decided on North Texas."

Dan Wojciechowski picked North Texas"because of the One O'clock Lab Bandexclusively. I had also taken lessons fromGregg Bissonette when we were both inMichigan, and he told me about the school,too. When I first got here, I spent a lot oftime listening to other people to see howthey do it. It's a combination of the waythey do it and the way you think you shouldbe playing it, plus listening to all the chartsfrom the people that had been in lab bandsbefore you."

Previous drummers at the school includethe already-mentioned Ed Soph and GreggBissonette. Other alumni have gone on toplay with Maynard Ferguson and WoodyHerman, each band featuring three differ-ent North Texas players at one time oranother. "It's like any other business," Edexplains. "The people who go to the Har-vard Business School go out and get gigstogether, the same way the people who goto North Texas go out and get gigs to-gether. It's generational, too. The people Iwent to school with—the Lou Marinis andJoe Randazzos, people like that—formed anetwork. Then you see a new generation ofdrummers like Gregg Bissonette, who's ina network of people like Dean Parks, PatCoil, and Steve Houghton. It shows theviability of the program."

North Texas emphasizes a total approachto percussion, an idea Bob Schietromastrongly defends. "These days, you're tak-ing your chances putting all your eggs inone basket. If you talk with a Vinnie Co-laiuta or Steve Smith, who went to anotherfamous school, they would say how theynever considered playing mallet instrumentsat that time. Now everyone has mini-stu-dios in their homes, complete with synthe-

sizers. And do you know what skills theyare using? They're using the melodic andharmonic skills that they were passing upthen. The point is, a lot of people don'twant to do this stuff now, but at some timein their lives, they're going to need thoseother skills."

He continues, "I don't believe you canteach without playing, but, because youare a player, you are not necessarily ateacher. You have to do both, and thisplace challenges you to do that. I like towork with the students here and I love toplay. It's like a system of checks and bal-ances. If I just taught, I would lose touchwith the reality of what's happening pro-fessionally. I could read about it and watchit, but it's not the same as playing. Whenstudents talk to me about studio work, Ican tell them how to play over a drummachine or with a click track; I've done it."

Does playing really make one a betterteacher? "I'm not sure," responds RandyDrake, "because I've never just taught. I'malways playing and teaching at the sametime. I try to tell my students about what todo when you're playing in a rhythm sec-tion, what not to do, how to play behind asoloist—things that come from a player'saspect. Technique is important, but so arethe musical concepts. I'm sure I could be abetter teacher, because there's always roomfor improvement."

"It would take a whole book to explainmy teaching philosophy," chuckles HenryOkstel. "Simply, I would want a student tohave the basics of his or her craft together,which would be reading, technique, andcoordination, plus a high level of profi-ciency in all styles. It's important to bewell-prepared and well-rounded. Studentsshould also be aware of what is going on inthe music business and be able to adaptquickly. They have to be able to play thejob and be extremely musical."

"I try to teach them to think for them-selves," Ed Soph states. "To play any in-strument well or to be involved in any artform—be it drum corps, playing timpani ina symphony, or playing drumset in a jazzband—the best players are those who havethe most imagination, who know how tothink, and who know how to recognizetheir own problems and solve them. Thetools that we use here, in the way of per-sonal materials and books that are part ofthe curriculum, are the tools for getting aperson to think for himself and to discoverthings on his own. There's not going to beanybody out there to say that you're rush-ing or you're dragging or to try this or trythat. My main purpose is to get students tothink openly and use their imaginations."

The atmosphere at North Texas is con-ducive to imagination and new ideas. Be-sides the curriculum and playing opportu-nities, there is a steady stream of clinicianswho perform on the percussion recitalevery Friday at noon. Almost any majorpercussion artist performing in (or some-times even just passing through) theDallas-Fort Worth area makes his or her

way up to Denton. Recent clinicians in-clude drumset players Tom Brechtlein andSteve Smith, steel drummer Andy Narell,Latin percussionist Frankie Malabe, vibistJerry Tachoir, marimbist Leigh Howard Ste-vens, and Phil Faini (who conducted anAfrican workshop). This exposure to alltypes of percussion is appreciated by stu-dents and teachers alike.

The students themselves offer their per-spectives on the importance of a well-rounded education: "You don't want to bejust a drummer," explains Jeff Falcone. "Adrummer is a pretty limited thing; you wantto be a well-rounded musician. Every typeof percussion genre goes on here. You'vegot Latin, jazz, rock, fusion, funk, gamelan,orchestral, African; it's all here. Conse-quently, you're exposed to all that stuff,and you're able to get involved and play."Brad Wagner gives the school credit for hisconfidence. "I feel like I can walk in andread almost anything, as any graduate ofthis school can do. Reading is the realemphasis—technique and style being takenfor granted, of course—and is a great prepa-ration for any professional situation."

Dan Wojciechowski reflects on his fiveyears at North Texas: "It's a great place.Now I understand why people told me tocheck it out! We're a little condensed com-munity of incredible musicians who all gettogether and play. When I've visited otheruniversities, they didn't seem to have thisatmosphere. The percussion departmentchallenges you in all areas. But what I likemost are the opportunities that are here."

The University of North Texas does in-deed offer opportunities to all its students,as well as a thorough background and edu-cation in music. In fact, to a lot of musi-cians all over the world, North Texas ishome. With so much competition out inthe "real world," it's nice to be preparedand have the confidence that it takes to bethe best.

Referring possibly to both the school aswell as the drummers themselves, Ed Sophsums it all up by saying, "The best alwayssucceed."

by Rick Van Horn

Out Of The DarkIt's been quite a while since I presentedone of my "do-it-yourself" columns withsuggestions on how to build something tomake your life as a performing drummer alittle easier. However, I experienced a situ-ation with my band recently that forced meto take some action in the old home-work-shop department. It occurred to me thatthe problem I was dealing with might notbe an isolated one, and that the solution Iwas working on—along with variations onit—might be helpful to other club players.So here is the story of my problem, andsome of the ideas I came up with to solveit.

I've written many times about how im-portant I believe the visual element is to aband's entertainment potential. I've encour-aged drummers to employ showmanship,shiny equipment, and any other devicepossible to maximize their visual appeal.But your band could be the best-costumed,best-choreographed, and most enthusiasticact this side of Michael Jackson; it doesn'tmake a bit of difference if the audiencecan't see you. And that is exactly the situ-ation my band was faced with.

We were booked into a club we hadnever played before, and that was farenough away from my home to prevent mychecking it out in advance. However, I didcall ahead to ask about the stage size, theposition of the stage in the room, the num-ber of outlets available, etc. I also asked ifthere was any lighting on the stage, andwas told that there was.

Well, there were some lights over thestage: ceiling lights—not stage lights. Andthose were only two of the eight fixturesover the entire stage/dance floor area—alloperated on the same dimmer. As a conse-quence, whatever happened to the dancefloor lights also happened to the "stagelights." Now, I'll be the first one to admitthat most people prefer a darkened dancefloor. It makes things a bit more intimate,and helps people feel a bit less conspicu-ous. So I agree with turning down the lightsover the floor. However, in this particularsituation, the management chose to turnthem off completely! This put the band—you guessed it—in total darkness.

There is a physio/psychological phenom-enon known well by theatrical lighting de-signers and directors. Simply put, it is thatpeople will not pay attention to what theycannot see. (I was a lighting designer forseveral years, and more than once had adirector tell me, "I can't hear the actors.Turn up the lights!") So I was not surprisedwhen the reaction we got from our audi-ence on the first night of this new gig was

something less than enthusiastic. We mightas well have been a jukebox.

I very rarely am insulted by the condi-tions of a club gig; I've been around a longtime and have lost most of my illusions.But I didn't spend 25 years perfecting mycraft as a drummer and entertainer to playin the dark all night! My background as alighting designer also came to the fore,demanding that I take some action to rec-tify this situation!

Now, let's take a moment to evaluate thesituation. I estimate that 50% of today'sclub bands—especially those playingsizeable rock clubs—travel with their ownlighting. And most clubs that regularly fea-ture entertainment—especially hotellounges or other fairly classy rooms—havesome sort of stage lighting built in. It's re-ally quite rare to find a situation such asI've described above. On the other hand, ifyour band plays local taverns, small origi-nal-music clubs, and/or the occasional pri-vate function in a banquet room or rentalhall, you might be faced with the prospectof little or no lighting dedicated to the stagearea (if there is a stage at all) surprisinglyoften. So it pays to be prepared.

I realized that I was not going to be ableto produce a major theatrical setup; I justneeded to provide my band with some ba-sic illumination. And it had to be self-sup-porting; there was no way to hang, stand,tie, or otherwise secure any lights to anypart of the room itself. I didn't have a lot oftime, either, since I needed the lights thenext night. So off I went into my workshop,rummaging for materials with which tosolve my problem. I knew I needed lights,cables to power them, a way to mountthem, and some means of controlling them.I happened to have a couple of small PARlights (small theatrical lights using com-mon photoflood lamps and no glass lenses)left over from my days on the road. Thesecame with their own "yokes" (U-shapedflat steel bars designed to hold the lighteither from above or below). All I had to dowas figure out how and where to place thelights so that they could shine on my bandwithout "spilling" light all over the rest ofthe room. I also had to think in terms ofsafety, because I knew the lights should beup high somewhere, and I didn't want themfalling onto anyone.

I figured that the only high, stable sur-faces that I could always count on beingwherever my band was playing was thetop of our P.A. cabinets. We use a pair ofmedium-sized enclosures that are coveredin a thick fibre material somewhat like car-pet padding. I decided that if I could place

one light atop each of the cabinets (whichare elevated on tripod stands) and shine itdown at the band, that would do the job.

In order to secure each light to the top ofa P.A. cabinet, I needed to provide it with astable base of its own. I cut two 12" squaresof 3/8" plywood, and drilled a 1/8" hole inthe center of each. I countersunk the holeon one side of each base board, so that aflat-head bolt (78" x 1 1/4") could fit into thehole with its head flush with the bottom ofthe board. I then put a light, with the holein the center of the yoke over the bolt, ontoeach of the base boards, and used a wingnut to secure the light to the base. Voila—anice, free-standing lighting instrument,which could be pointed in any directionand angled up or down quite effectively.

But how to affix it to the P.A. cabinet in asecure, but nonpermanent, manner? Vel-cro to the rescue. I glued and stapled sev-eral strips of Velcro (the male side) to thebottom of each base board. When placeddown firmly on the top of the P.A. cabinet,the Velcro gripped the fabric covering quitetightly. The light stayed solidly in place,even when the P.A. cabinet was (experi-mentally) jostled and bumped.

So now I had my lights, but how was I tocontrol them? It wasn't hard to figure that Iwould need to run one or more extensioncords from the lights themselves to what-ever control switch I planned to use. I choseto use medium-gauge lamp cord onto whichI fitted my own male and female connec-tors, rather than buying ready-made, heavy-duty extension cords. My homemade cordswere more than adequate to carry the 1 50-watt load to each lamp, yet were still fairlyflexible and easy to carry in 20-foot lengths.

For the control switch, I had my choiceof a simple off/on switch or a dimmer. Ihappened to have a pair of standard, house-hold wall switches available, so I used them.I have had experience with householddimmers, and while they are nice from anartistic point of view, they can cause noisein your electrical lines. I simply installedthe two switches into an electrical utility(or "quad") box, using a common powerline in, and two separate power lines out.In this way, I could control a separate elec-trical line independently with each switch.(It didn't make much difference with onlytwo lights, but I might want to expand at alater date.) I made sure that each "powerline" controlled by one of the switchesended in a multiple female plug.

The end result of all this work is nothingfancy: two floodlights perched on top ofour two P.A. boxes and pointed back downat us. They go on or off—no artsy dimming

or changing colors. But they do provide uswith our own illumination at a very smallcost, and the system can be expanded forgreater flexibility in the future.

If you don't have your own lighting in-struments to start with, there are severaloptions open to you, depending on yourbudget and/or how handy you are withtools and electricity. You can, of course,purchase ready-made theatrical lights, yokesand all. A couple of small PAR lights arenot terribly expensive, and could be pickedup at a theatrical supply outlet, some elec-trical supply stores, and a few other loca-tions. Check your local Yellow Pages. Or,you can pick up some outdoor/patio flood-lights in almost any building or home im-provement store. Get the type with a basemade to be screwed onto the side of abuilding, and with a ratchet to control theangle at which the lamp points. Some ofthese come with a clip-on "collar" to helpprevent the spread of the light. If you don'tget that, you'll need to figure some way ofpartially enclosing the lamp so that youcan contain and direct the light only whereyou want it to go.

I've had success with creating pseudo-PAR lights by mounting a simple ceramicsocket base in the bottom of a two-poundcoffee can, and then getting some flat steelbar stock and bending it into a yoke. Thistakes a few extra bolts, nuts, and washers,and a little visualization, but it isn't par-ticularly difficult. What you need to dohere is be creative. It's very possible tobuild a substantial number of perfectly func-tional lighting instruments for a fraction ofthe cost of store-bought theatrical lights.Things you need to keep in mind, however,are insulation (making sure all the electri-cal components are prevented from com-ing in contact with external parts that willbe handled), heat (making sure that there isspace around the lamp for heat to dissipateso that there is no fire hazard), and mount-ing security (making sure that whatevermeans you use to place your instrument issafe and solid).

You may find that you need your ownlights less than 5% of the time. But as far asI'm concerned, the prospect of performingin the dark is unacceptable, no matter howinfrequently it might occur.

much as we can to the individual students,and then it's up to them to make somethingof it."

Berklee students are in an excellent posi-tion to help each other. There is an incredi-bly concentrated musical community withinthe school on which to draw in order toform groups, and a very active musicalscene in the Boston area in which thosegroups can play. So students can use theirattendance at Berklee as a springboard fromwhich to gain exposure and experience. Inaddition, audition notices for spots in nameacts or groups do occasionally come in.

And the faculty can, and does, recom-mend students for gigs whenever possible.As Dean explains, "The faculty here enjoysa large respect in the music world. As aresult, we are constantly asked for recom-mendations, and we give them. If we canprovide our students with an opportunity,we jump on it and help them as much aspossible. We get a lot of pleasure out ofthat. I have former students playing all overthe world, from hotels in Atlantic City orLas Vegas to a symphony in Caracas, Vene-zuela. It's always nice to hear from themabout what they're doing. That's one of thebiggest rewards we get as teachers.

"As far as getting a music education on apost-high school level goes, I really believethat Berklee is different from any other typeof learning center. It's an exciting place tobe for students and faculty alike. If it wasn'texciting, I wouldn't be here. My life ismusic; I'm a performer who also happensto be chairman of the percussion depart-ment at Berklee College. The curriculum isdeveloped by a faculty that is young, pro-fessional, and actively working in the mu-sic world all the time. That faculty rangesfrom internationally recognized stars topeople who play with local pop groups.Our program is alive and active and al-ways changing, just as the music world is.And it's not just playing; that's the majoradvantage that we have over so many otherinstitutions. So many careers can be at-tained at Berklee; a student has a chance to

really see what those opportunities are.There's no other place that really has allthat."

AKG—The Micro Mic series wason display.

ALESIS—The HR-16 drum machine.

AMBERSTAR—New practice padscalled Slammers, and new sticks

called Z-Rods.

AQUARIAN—Roy Burnswith the company's new bassdrum head, which features areinforced hole to prevent the

head from ripping.

There are several explanations being of-fered as to why this summer's NAMM showwas basically uneventful. One reason mighthave been the location. In past years, when-

ever the summer show has been held else-where than Chicago, attendance has beendown. As a result, many manufacturers de-cided to cut back on their displays. There

MIKE BALTER—The entire Balterfamily was on hand to promote

Mike's popular sticks and mallets.

BEYERDYNAMIC—The PercussionMic Croup was featured on display.

CALATO—Ed Thigpen stayedbusy demonstrating his signa-

ture model of brushes.

CAMBER—The Camber III cymbalsare made from a heavier brass, andthey have a new bell shape and a

more hammered look.

CANASONIC—New Power Playheads, co-designed by Steve Gadd.

C-DUCER—The DrumWizard—itmikes, itmixes, ittriggers, andit's MIDI.

CENTER-STAGE—Kashiancymbalsand StagePercussionbudget-priceddrumsets.

COUNTRY-MAN—TheIsomax drummikingsystem.

by Rick Mattingly

were few artist endorsers brought in thisyear, and there was not as much emphasison new products. Several leading manufac-turers did not have displays at all, includ-

D&F—Max-Stickswere

ondis-

play.

ing Hoshino (Tama), Roland, Paiste, andKorg.

Some people felt, however, that it wasn'tthe Atlanta location that was a problem,

DO— Therecentlyreleased

Dave Wecklaudio-tape

package wasfeatured

among DCI'snumerous

drum videos.

DDRUM—The ddrum 2

offers anumber of

improve-ments over

theoriginalmodel.

DYNA-CORD—

SonnyEmory was

spottedchecking

out theDynacord

drums.

EVANS—Bob Beals announced thatEvans bass drum heads now feature

the new CAD/CAM hoops.

DRUM WORKSHOP—DW's popular drums,hardware, and pedals

were on display.

VIC FIRTH—Marc Thomas, TracyFirth, Kelly Firth, and Vic Firth dem-onstrating Vic's new line of yo-yos.Firth also introduced Peter Erskine

and Alex Acuna model sticks.

GRETSCH—The Gretsch BlackhawkII drumset was new this year, and a

Slingerland kit was on displaynearby.

GON BOPS—Congas andtimbales were featured.

HEARTWOOD—Patty andFred Stay with their newline of maple drumsticks.

HAL LEONARD—Newbooks by Bill Bruford and

Peter Erskine werefeatured in the drum

book display.

but rather the fact that the winter NAMMshow in Anaheim seems to be the moreimportant show now. Also, many manufac-turers have been complaining about thecost involved in attending two NAMM

shows each year (in addition to the Frank-furt Music Fair, the British Music Fair, etc.),and the need to come up with a new prod-uct for each show. More and more, compa-nies are debuting new products only in

Anaheim, and would like to see the sum-mer show eliminated. On the other hand,some manufacturers complain that theAnaheim show is turning into a big "hang,"with the L.A. music community turning up

HOLZ—Reinforcement ringsfor holes cut into drumheads.

KAMAN—This exhibit featured CB-700 drums, Compo drumheads,

Gibraltar hardware, and a Gibraltarfree-floating snare drum.

HUMES & BERG—Cases forevery size and shape of drum.

IMPACT—A new line of timpanimallets was displayed.

KAT—The DrumKAT MIDI con-troller was introduced.

DEAN MARKLEY—A wideselection of sticks was

displayed for easy access.

ISLAND—IMA budget-priceddrumsets.

LANG PERCUSSION—This was Morristang's first trip to a NAMM show, and

he featured his MIDI Vibe.

LP—The Jam Block is a syntheticwoodblock that is indestructible—good for loud-volume situations.

MAXTONE—Budget-priced drums.

LUDWIG—Elaine Kendall, Jim Cata-lano, and Bill Ludwig III with Ludwig'snew percussion and drumset catalogs.

to see and be seen, but without a lot of realbusiness being conducted.

Finally, some contend that this summer'sshow merely reflected the current state ofthe industry, which seems to have gone intosomewhat of a holding pattern. Recent years

have seen a flurry of activity in such areasas cymbals, cosmetics, and, of course, elec-tronics. But the dust has settled for the mostpart, particularly in the area of electronics,which has taken its place alongside acous-tic instruments. A few years ago, a certain

electronic drum company from England wasvowing to blow acoustic drums off the map,while acoustic companies were contend-ing that electronics were merely a fad. Thisyear, the most telling evidence of peacefulcoexistence between the two factions was

MAY EA—An Electro-VoiceN-Dym Series 408 has been

added to the May-EA linebecause of its excellent

low-end response.

MEINL—China cymbals in theRaker line were new at this show.

1

PEARL—A Gregg Bissonette drumset was the centerpiece of the Pearl exhibit,which also featured a full complement of concert and marching percussion.

POLYBEAT—Multicolored syntheticdrumsticks.

PREMIER—Rod Morgen-

stein posedwith the hugebucket-loader

that was thecenterpiece of

the Premierexhibit.

MUSICRAFTS—Jupiter budget-pricedmarching drums.

MUSI-CORP—

Adambudget-priceddrums.

PRO-MARK—A new snaredrum kit was

featured,which

includes asnare drum,stand, prac-

tice pad,sticks,

and a case.

PURECUS-SION—ThePureCussionDrums wereon display.

PAULREAL—Wuhancymbals.

REMO—Aline of drum-sticks, calledMastertouch,has beenadded, aswell as anew piccolosnare drum,and drumsetswith newMastertouchhardware.

the acoustic snare drum in the Simmonsbooth that was being used to trigger a newSimmons device.

Other than that, there were no particulartrends at this show. Dealers we spoke toreported that their biggest selling items at

the moment are cymbals and snare drums,and that a lot of their customers are re-lieved that there are not amazing new prod-ucts coming out every six months. Some ofthe manufacturers we spoke to echoed thesame sentiment, and felt that the lack of

activity at this summer's show means thatthe industry is merely taking a breather andgiving everyone, including themselves, achance to catch up with all of the changesthat have occurred over the past few years.

SUNLITE INDUSTRIAL CORP.-Thunder budget-priced drums.

ROGERS—Roy Burns is back withRogers as a consultant/clinician.

SILVER FOX—Al LeMert withhis popular sticks, mallets, and

marching items.

SUPERSHINE—Don Milowith Supershine cymbal

polish. The company alsomakes a Super Tambourine.

ROSS—Budget-priced keyboardpercussion instruments.

SIMMONS—The Trixer is a newreinforcement unit for acoustic

drums. Simmons also featured thePortakit and the SDX.

SABIAN—Larrie Londin checkingout the new HH Classic Ride cym-

bals, which are available in 20"and 22" sizes.

TECHTONICS—The Beatmastertriggers feature longer cables foradded flexibility with triggering.

SAVAGE—These sticks

are availablein Snakeskinand Marble

finishes.

SLOBEAT—DC-WOO drums are amongthe items distributed by Slobeat. TROPICAL—Juggs drumsets and

Meinl congas were displayed.

SONOR—A new cast bronzepiccolo snare drum has beenadded to the Sonor line. Thecompany also introduced theProtec series hardware, which ismade of light-weight aluminumfor easier portability.

VATER—Afteryears of

making sticksfor other com-

panies, Vateris now makingtheir own line

of sticks.

YAMAHA—The Power V drumkit is aimed at the entry-level player with asmall budget. The percussion exhibit featured the YV 3400 Vibraphone,

which has a touch-sensitive motor control.

X-L SPECIALTY PERCUSSION—Luke Jacobson with a prototype ofthe Black Max bass drum pedal.

ZILDJIAN—Lennie DiMuzio withZildjian's new Piggyback cymbals.The company also introduced a 22"

K Custom cymbal.

ADVERTISER'SINDEX

AKG AcousticsAquarian AccessoriesAtlanta Pro PercussionBamo, Inc.Sam BarnardBerklee College of MusicCalato/Regal TipCBS RecordsCorder Drum CompanyCT AudioDC1000 PercussionDCI Music VideoD & F ProductsddrumDrummers CollectiveDrum/Keyboard ShopDrum WorkshopDrumworks Studio ProductionsDynacordEvans ProductsExplorer's PercussionFibes DrumsticksFit To Be PublishingCon Bops of Calif.Grant's Drum CityGretsch DrumsGrove School of MusicHot Licks ProductionsImpact IndustriesImperialIstanbul CymbalsJemm CompanyKATKirk Scott's Drum CityLatin PercussionLexiconVictor Litz Music CenterLudwig IndustriesL.T. Lug LockFrank May Music Ent.McMahon Drum StudioMD Back IssuesMD Equipment AnnualMD LibraryMusic Connection ProductsMusician's InstituteNoble & CooleyPaistePearl InternationalPercussion ParadisePrecision Drum Co.Premier Percussion USAProfessional Video Corp.Pro MarkPurecussionPaul Real SalesRemoResurrection DrumsRIMSR.O.C. DrumsRogers DrumsRolls Music CenterSabian"Set The Pace" Pedal Practice PadsShure Bros.Simmons Electronics USASlobeat PercussionSonor PercussionTamaThoroughbred MusicThunderstickValley Drum ShopVeneman MusicVic Firth, Inc.Waddel's Cymbal WarehouseGlenn Weber Drum StudioThe Woodwind & The BrasswindXL Specialty Percussion ProductsYamahaZildjian

696595724167978866

10871

77,9656

10986

90,10491,125

12481

71,74,124688970

12168

Inside Back Cover9373

113106

7141,78

5471

1107

79Inside Front Cover/1,60

74115528749481485

10038/39

16/17,9979

1065,53115151383

12352,78

765111

10157,59,61

12484

90,92101119

44/4575

10610210258

1276879

Insert Card6,9,111

128, Outside Back Cover

next month inDECEMBER'S

MD...

CHADWACKERMAN

ALLANSCHWARTZBERG

LIONELHAMPTON

Peter Erskine

Craig Krampf

Gary Chaffee

and much more...don't miss it!

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