Developing Good Drumming Dynamics

First let’s start by defining what dynamics is as it applies to music. Dynamics is basically the volume that a given note is played at. Dynamics are notated in music with a few different markings as shown below.

Common Dynamics

Even as a drummer, one should be able to exercise good dynamics. Anything you can play very loud, you should also be able to play very soft with the same amount of control,  and at the same tempo. Many drummers have the misconception that playing faster means playing louder, but this is not so. Playing latin or jazz, and studying the concepts that apply to those styles is a great study in dynamics.

There are a few easy ways that any drummer can achieve a sense of dynamics, and it comes down to technique. One thing that every drummer should incorporate into their playing is called a “rim shot”. To “rim shot” simply means to hit the head of the drum and the rim of the drum at the same time. This mostly applies to snare drum technique, but some drummers even use this on toms. This maneuver creates a much louder crack, and will cut much better than by just hitting the middle of the head. Another way to achieve good dynamics is to get control of your ghost notes. Ghost notes are very quiet notes in between backbeats that give a groove motion. Ghost notes can really open up a drummers playing, and make a groove happen. Below I have written out a couple of grooves that incorporate ghost notes that are great for developing this technique. The ghost notes are the ones in parentheses.

Ghost Note Grooves

These are just a few basic methods you can use to help develop an understanding of dynamics. I also suggest going on youtube and watching a few drumming legends demonstrate these concepts. Watch Steve Gadd play his famous paradiddle grooves, pretty much anything Dave Weckl does, and Tony Williams play swing. These guys have all developed an outstanding understanding of dynamics.

A Brief Description and Definition of Time Signatures

I was confused for so long about what a time signature was, and what information you were supposed to get out of it. It wasn’t until I went to music school that I fully understood it’s definition, and what it meant to me as a musician. You will see a time signature at the beginning of every piece of music, and most tunes (or at least most mainstream, contemporary tunes) will keep the same signature throughout the entire song (however it can change multiple times in one tune). Before you can fully understand it’s definition, I believe that you need to know some bare bones music basics. I have listed some terms below that you should be aware of before you learn about time signatures.

Staff- A set of five lines and four spaces that each represent different pitch. symbols are placed on the staff to convey musical information to the reader, including pitch, dynamic, rhythm, etc…

Staff

Barline- Vertical lines on a staff that divide music into sections called measures, or bars.

Measures Separated by Barlines

Measure- (Also known as a bar) A segment of time that consists of a given number of beats of a given duration. Every measure will be the same length until the time signature changes.

Every time signature consists of only two numbers (now there can be more than two characters in total, but only two numbers.) these numbers are known as the numerator (top number) and the denominator (the bottom number), and looks like a math fraction. Both of these numbers represent different pieces of information and, most importantly, collectively tell you the length of every measure of music until the time signature changes. It tells you this by giving you the number of beats, and the value of each beat in each bar. I have broken down both numbers below.

Top Number- Tells you the number of beats in every measure of music. This number is the easy one to understand, it’s the bottom number that gets a little confusing.

4

4

Bottom Number- The bottom number is typically defined as what type of note receives one beat of music. I think this is a bit confusing so I just see it as what note value you can put in each measure.

4

4

So in essence a time signature tells you nothing more than how many of what type of note you can put in each measure. This means that the top number can be whatever you want it to be, but the bottom number can only be one that represents a given note value. In time signatures note values are represented by their logical corresponding number, so a half note is represented by the number 2, a quarter note is the number 4, an eighth note is the number 8, a sixteenth note the number 16, and so on.

Now that we know the function of both numbers, let’s break down the most common time signature in all of music known as four-four (pictured below.) This is also known as “common time” because it is so widely used, and is represented by it’s own symbol on the staff (also pictured below.) They both mean the same thing.

Four Four/Common Time

So this time signature basically means that you have four quarter notes worth of space to work with in every measure. This doesn’t mean that you can only put four quarter notes in each measure, but just that you have the amount of space that four quarter notes takes up to work with. You can mix and match whatever note values and rests you want from bar to bar, but they need to add up to that amount of time.

The time signatures pictured below are known as six-eight and three-four, and this just meant that you have a total of six eighth notes, or three quarter notes worth of space to work with in every measure.

I hope this description of time signatures has helped you gain a deeper understanding of time signatures and their function. Please leave comments if you have any more questions, or would like any more clarification. Thanks for reading!

]]> http://boomdrum.com/terms/time-signatures/feed 0 http://boomdrum.com/terms/working-musician http://boomdrum.com/terms/working-musician#comments Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:28:39 +0000 NickAdams http://boomdrum.com/?p=22

So sometimes I have to remind myself that not everybody knows what a working musician is or does. I actually moved to LA to be one before I even knew what my actual job would be haha! Anyway, I’ll probably be using this term quite a bit, and if I’m gonna be throwing it around, I should explain the idea behind it. A working musician is basically a freelance artist (aka hired gun) who can be called and hired for pretty much anything music related that they know how to do, or specialize in. For example, I am a professional drummer and have a bunch of different bands/singer songwriters/artists that I play live (gig) with around LA on a fairly regular basis. I also get calls for session work (studio work/recording), and touring, and I teach private lessons. I do anything and everything drum related that people want to hire me for. I am my own boss, and must hustle to make my own connections and work (people don’t just call you out of the blue, as I used to think haha.) I will definitely be addressing this topic a lot more down the road, but this is the basic idea. Below, I have attached a picture from a tour I recently went on with an amazing band called “Julie the Band.” This one is from Canada and we are playing for 10,000 people! I’m pretty tiny in this pic but enjoy! Please feel free to leave comments or questions.