Cover Photo by Lynn Goldsmith

FEATURES

JON FARRISSAs the drummer for the popular Australian group INXS,Jon Farriss is more concerned with groove than flash,and he is a master at using electronics to enhance hissound.

by Teri Saccone

CHARLIEMORGAN

Well-known in the London studios for many years,Charlie Morgan became visible to the public as a resultof his recording and live work with Elton John. Hediscusses the demands of the studio and recallsmemorable sessions.

by Simon Goodwin

ALBERTBOUCHARD

His drumming with Blue Oyster Cult helped define theheavy metal style, but these days, Albert Bouchard is aslikely to be writing or producing as he is to be playingdrums. Here, he traces his career and offers numeroustips about hard rock drumming.

by Deborah Frost

INSIDE UFIPSince 1929, a small group of craftsmen have beenproducing cymbals in a small town in Italy. We visit thefactory for a look at the U.F.I.P. manufacturing processand to learn the history of Italian cymbal making.

Photo by Michael P. McLaughlin

by Jon Mclnnes

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28

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Photo by Jaeger Smith Kotos

COLUMNS VOLUME 12, NUMBER 10

EDUCATION

TEACHERS'FORUMBooks And Lessons:"Do I Really NeedThem?"

by Daniel J. Lauby38

THE JOBBINGDRUMMERMaking People Dance

by Simon Goodwin

MIDI CORNERPlaying DrumMachines WithDrumsticks

by Jim Fiore42

BASICSHeavy Metal PowerFills: Part 2

by Jim Pfeifer46

TRACKINGThe Academy Awards

by Emil Richards64

ROCK 'N' JAZZCLINICStyle & Analysis: OmarHakim

by Kelly Paletta68

JAZZ DRUMMERS'WORKSHOPSamba Variations

by Peter Erskine74

ROCK CHARTSAlan White: "Rhythmof Love"

by James Morton80

ELECTRONICINSIGHTSChoosing A Mic' ForAcoustic Drums

by Bob Lowig82

CORPS SCENEFrom The Drumset ToThe Drum Corps:Part 1

by Dennis Delucia86

CONCEPTSLimitations

by Roy Burns96

CLUB SCENEHow Much Do YouKnow?

by Rick Van Horn100

ELECTRONICREVIEWThe Alesis HR-16Drum Machine

by lim Fiore56

PRODUCTCLOSE-UPPiccolo Snare Drums

by Bob Saydlowski, Jr.70

NEW ANDNOTABLE

108

PROFILES

PORTRAITSBarbara Merjan

by Robyn Flans48

UP AND COMINGKurt Wortman

by Robert Santelli76

NEWS

UPDATE8

INDUSTRYHAPPENINGS

104

DEPARTMENTS

EDITOR'SOVERVIEW

4

READERS'PLATFORM

6

ASK A PRO12

IT'SQUESTIONABLE

14

DRUM MARKET94

40

EQUIPMENT

E D I T O R ' S O V E R V I E W

EssentialInput

Reader input is something I've commented on inthis column several times over the years. It's amatter of such great importance that it alwaysbears repeating.

The success of any special-interest publicationhinges on how thoroughly it serves its readership.Staying abreast of the needs and wants of readersis something magazine editors must deal with ona daily basis. Keeping up on trends in the drumworld and searching out players who are makingcontributions we feel you should know more aboutis a big part of the job.

The input you supply is given greater consid-eration than you might think. How a reader actu-ally feels about a magazine is very important tothe people who put it together month after month.Reader input keeps us attuned to new areas ofinterest, supplies us with specific column ideas,and alerts us to areas where we've tended to leantoo heavily, or perhaps not enough.

The point is simple: It's essential that we con-tinue to hear from you as often as you care towrite. Though time prevents us from respondingpersonally to everyone, rest assured that everyletter is read. Many of the ideas expressed in yourletters are given careful consideration at monthlyeditorial planning meetings.

What exactly do we want to know? Well, every-thing really! Are there any artists you'd like toread about who haven't been covered in MD? Isthere some particular facet of drumming you'd

like to see dealt with in greater depth? Are youlearning something from MD's interviews and col-umn departments—ideas that are helping youachieve your personal goals as a player? If so, tell uswhat seems to be working well. If not, where doyou feel things might be improved? Is there some-thing specific you'd like to see more of in MD? Orless of? Many feature stories have been assigned,and many new departments introduced, as a resultof readers who have expressed a sincere need formore in-depth information.

What about the look of MD? Here again, let usknow what you like or don't like. The manner inwhich the magazine is received from a graphicstandpoint is of great importance to us. And truth-fully, we'll never know what appeals to you andwhat doesn't unless you take the time to tell usabout it.

Open communication is the essential ingredi-ent necessary for us to continually deliver the typeof magazine you want and need. Modern Drum-mer was conceived and designed to help you inyour effort to be a better drummer. We try to dothat by making MD as informative, educational,and entertaining as we possibly can each month.We may not be all those things for every reader 12times each year, but if we fail more often than wesucceed, then we're simply missing the mark. Andyou're the only one who can supply us with theanswers. I look forward to hearing from you.

EDITOR/PUBLISHERRonald Spagnardi

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERIsabel Spagnardi

SENIOR EDITORRick Mattingly

MANAGING EDITORRick Van Horn

ASSOCIATE EDITORSWilliam F. MillerAdam Budofsky

EDITORIAL ASSISTANTSCynthia HuangAlyssa Klein

ART DIRECTORDavid H. Creamer

A Member Of:

ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGERTracy Kearney

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTJoan C. Stickel

ADVERTISING DIRECTORKevin W. Kearns

DEALER SERVICE MANAGERJosie Cuaycong

SALES PROMOTIONCrystal W. Van Horn

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: Modern 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.

R E A D E R S ' P L A T F O R MTAMA RESPONDSEditor's note: A Tama advertisement featur-ing Lars Ulrich ran in the March '88 issueof MD, and generated quite a bit of contro-versy. Several responses from readers wereprinted in the Readers' Platform departmentsof the June and July issues, and severalmore were forwarded directly to Tama.Many readers objected to the negativeimpression they felt the ad gave in regardto drummers in general. Some felt that MDdemonstrated poor judgment in allowingthe ad to run at all. Since we presentedthese opinions in Readers' Platform, wedeemed it fair that Tama be allowed topresent its own comments regarding thead.

The strong feelings, both positive andnegative, generated by our Lars Ulrich adin Modern Drummer deserve a responseby our company. We have been asked byLars Ulrich and his management to alsorepresent their views, as the strenuousdemands of Metallica's production andtouring schedule would delay their owncorrespondence.

Let's first clear Modern Drummer of cul-pability in any part of this advertisement.Due to complications in our productionschedule, this ad was forwarded directly tothe printer without time for review by theMD staff. As the originally scheduled adwas one of entirely different content, MDcannot be faulted for not instituting anyform of censorship.

We do thank all those who took the timeto write both MD and us about their reac-tions to this ad. Part of the positive re-sponse to the piece took the form of re-quests—which numbered in the thou-sands—for the poster reproduction of thisad. No other Tama poster repro to date hasdrawn this kind of interest. For those of youwhose reactions were less than favorable,we respect your opinions, and your input

has been seriously considered and noted.Our intention is not to change deeply heldviews, but to show that the creation of thisad was not done for capricious or cavalierreasons. It certainly was not to promote theuse of drugs or alcohol, or to portray alldrummers as coarse, unthinking individu-als. Our apologies to those who interpretedit in this fashion or felt that that was theend result.

This ad should be seen in light of theother ads Tama has presented. While wedon't deny having engendered controversywhen the subject warranted, a careful re-view of our many advertising contributionswill show advertising that was not onlyinformative and well within the bounds ofgood taste, but was also honest to the artistpresented. In previous cases, Tama's com-mitment to portray the artist and his or herown personality and views in a suitableenvironment with suitable prose has causedno problem for anyone. It may have even—dare we say it—bored some.

The Lars Ulrich ad was a product of thiscommitment to honest artist presentationcombined with the policies of Lars Ulrich'smanagement and his own views. The adcopy that is covered by Lars Ulrich's hand-writing was the original concept and writ-ing of that ad. Our material was rejectedby Lars and his management as not beingan honest representation of Metallica orLars Ulrich. We agreed with this and usedthe colorful (off-color to some) writing thatwas conceived and handwritten by LarsUlrich himself. We did no editing and nolaundering other than the word blackouts.To stir controversy was not our intention; ifthat were so, the ad's original copy wouldhave been far different.

A great amount of "metal" music is exu-berantly rebellious, loud, often deliberatelyalienating, and even "confrontational." Animportant part of the attraction of this mu-

sic is the fact that it presents characteristicsthat are less than inviting to many. To try totame or domesticate this or make it out tobe something else, especially when thatwould conflict with the view of the per-former, is not being fair or honest—to any-one! (For those who wrote that this ad wasan inaccurate portrayal, we invite you toinspect Metallica's 1987 Tour Book.)

We have seriously considered everyone'sopinion, and, as the opinions of the drumcommunity are very important to us, theseviews will not be without influence in fu-ture presentations. However, we do reservethe right to express ourselves, our artists'personalities, and our products in ways wefeel do them the most justice. We acknowl-edge that this may conflict with the tastesand convictions of some Modern Drum-mer readers, but we feel that the accuraterepresentation of the many, very differentfacets of the drum world is of paramountimportance.

After all, isn't the existence of all thesedifferences, varying shades of styles, opin-ions, and beliefs what makes the drum-ming world such an exciting thing to be apart of? Wouldn't it be dull if it were other-wise?

Joseph HibbsNational Sales And Marketing Manager

Tama DrumsBensalem PA

ON TAPE REBUTTALMy initial comment towards Ms. JanySabins' review of my video [On Tape, Au-gust '88 MD] was, "Why would such aquality, literate magazine as Modern Drum-mer allow an obviously unknowledgeableperson to do a review, and then print it?" Alot of people tend to believe the printedword; I think Modern Drummer could belosing its credibility if they continue this

U P D A T EGary HusbandEarly November '87 saw GaryHusband in America, makingplans to settle, when hereceived a call from Mark Kingof Level 42, inviting him tojoin the band. Gary said thathe couldn't, because he wasinvolved in a tour with AllanHoldsworth that would takehim up to Christmas. "Okay,"said Mark. "We can getsomebody to fill in for the restof the year. But after Januarythe first...?" "I'd love to!" saidGary.

With all the drummers whomight have been suitable forLevel 42—many of whomoffered their services when itwas known that Phil Gouldwas leaving—what promptedMark to make that trans-Atlantic call to Gary? "Well,"says Gary, "he told me that hehad seen some of my earlygigs in London with AllanHoldsworth's I.O.U. around1980, and that he'd beenfollowing the band and buyingall the albums ever since. Infact, I had been approached byLevel 42 about two yearsearlier, but on that occasionPhil didn't leave after all, sonothing came of it. Last year,Mark thought of me again,which is great. I actually thinkthat it was quite courageous ofMark to hire me over thephone, even more so to hiremy old friend Steve Topping,the guitarist, unheard on myrecommendation. It showstremendous faith in me. It'sflattering, and a great way tostart a working relationship."

Gary has a reputation as agreat spontaneous and creativeplayer, and yet he has replacedone of the great "groove"players. It's an obvious point,and one that Gary hasdiscussed before. "Yeah, thatwas something that I thoughtwas a little strange when I wasfirst approached; but afterlistening to the tapes of gigsthat I've done with Level, theband is actually a lot simplernow than it was. Phil isessentially a groove player, buthe would play around a lot aswell. He'd found this rapportwith Mark, which meant thatthey could "push and pull"with each other a lot. Bycomparison, I'm playing a hell

of a lot less than he did. Thedrum parts that Phil playedhave to be respected by meinsofar as making sure that thething is recognizable as thesame piece, but there has beenno pressure on me to recreatewhat Phil did. In fact, I'vebeen told that I can dowhatever I want. I think thatLevel 42 is lighter than Allan'sband. That is the heaviest thingthat I've done to date in termsof power and volume. Thatwas "go for it time"; there wasmore of a dynamic margin, butit's a different style."

The summer of '88 for Garyis being spent near Nice, insouthern France, recording anew album for release inSeptember. "Then will comeall the promotional work,"continues Gary, "which, in asense, will introduce the newband. Up until now it hasreally been a continuation ofthe old lineup, because we'vebeen doing establishedmaterial. But with a newalbum and new material, we'llbe taking on a new character.I'm very excited and pleasedabout the way things areturning out."

—Simon Goodwin

Benny LeeStaples

"What happened to all the fastbands?" queries the Wooden-tops' Benny Lee Staples. Andfrom his vantage point, flailingon his drumset at breakneckspeed, one can certainly seewhere the question is comingfrom. "I think it's just natural.We all get pretty nervousbefore we go on stage—that'sthe first thing," jokes the nativeNew Zealander. "We just did a

show in D.C. where it was thethird encore, and we werereally tired. I introduced thesong way too fast, but every-body just started playing atthat speed. I'm trying to signal,'Stop, stop!' But it was too late;they just kept going."

But speed is barely all thereis to Staples and the rest of the'Tops: As one of the moreindividual-sounding bands toemerge lately, they've takentoday's technology, yesterday'ssoul, and their own finesongwriting and created(especially live) what soundslike one big percussiveexplosion. Staples creditsJames Brown as a big influ-ence on not only the Wooden-tops' sound, but on much ofwhat's happening on theEnglish scene today. "JamesBrown was a drummerhimself," explains Staples,"and he always told thedrummers what to play. In theearly '70s he discovered that ifhe could have the horns andguitars do the same things asthe drum parts, he could getthe most incredible rhythms.His LP In The Jungle Groovehas got the track "FunkyDrummer" on it, and it's justthis incredible drumming. Thatis the beat that everybody hasbeen sampling or copyinglately; in London it's just reallyhuge. Now it seems that youcan't have a dance recordwithout a James Brown screamon it."

The Woodentops have moreon their minds than merelyrecreating early Americanfunk, though, as the gushingpress response to their earlierrecords and to their latestalbum, Wooden Foot Cops OnThe Highway, has been quickto point out. And Staples'methods and style reflect theband's uniqueness. His arrayof electronic drums (where justabout any sound, including hisown sampled acoustic drums,is likely to pop up), theconspicuous lack of cymbals,and his standup style of dance-drumming all add up to quite adifferent sight and sound. "Forme, cymbals kind of hang overand cloud a lot of the frequen-cies that can be used for otherinstruments, and they can bereally cliche—roll off the tomsand hit 50 million cymbals,

what's the point? The standupthing started a few years ago. Ialways want to dance, and I'mtoo nervous to sit down,anyway. I do lose one foot, somy open hi-hat has to be on asample, and sometimesdifferent bass drum sounds willappear on different places inmy kit. So then I can do 16thsand more complicated bassdrum patterns."

Though Staples sees someproblems with the legalityquestions regarding sampling,he is also an unabashed fan.He cites Keith LeBlanc as hisfavorite drummer, crediting histechnique, but also his use oftechnology: "Keith's use oftechnology is seriouslyfuturistic. The beauty ofsampling is the future of it—how you can make sounds thathave never been used before.I'm really thinking of the1990's now."

—Adam Budofsky

Manni Von BohrThe unfortunate demise of theJeton record label in Germanyhas meant that the bandBishop (originally Hammer-head) has been "put on ice."Although saddened by thissetback, virtuoso Germandrummer Manni Von Bohr isthe sort of professional who isso much in demand that newdoors always open when onecloses. He has renewed aworking relationship withflautist Lenny MacDowell in aquartet that also includes twoAmerican musicians fromBaltimore—Jimmy Welkes onguitar and Blue Savage onbass. "Lenny is very famous inGermany," says Manni. "Wefirst performed with this lineupat The Frankfurt Music Fair inMarch. After that we did some"test gigs" around Germany tosee what the audience reactionwould be like, and it was veryencouraging. Lenny has hisown record label called BlueFlame, but he is trying to getone of the major companiesinterested. Either way, weintend to get a record out tosupport a tour, which is beingset up in September andOctober."

In the meantime, Manni isalso touring during May andJune as part of the original

lineup of Alex OrientalExperience, which includesFachblatt [German monthlymusic magazine] editor HorstStachelhaus on bass. A newrecord is planned with thisband as well. Other projectsManni is involved in include asolo venture by Wolfe Mann'sbacking singer, Jane Palmer,and his own solo record. "Thissolo record by a drummer isgoing to have a lot of drum-ming on it," laughs Manni. "Iwant to include drum battleswith other drummers, tuneswith percussion players, somebass and drum grooves, plussome ideas I have for combin-ing acoustic drums withelectronics."

With so much going on,doesn't Manni ever findconflicts within the schedulesof different bands? "No,because in Germany, it'saccepted that you have to playwith more than one band," heexplains. "There are, perhaps,ten bands who are big enoughthat the members make goodlivings playing exclusivelywith their particular band.These are normally the morecommercial bands. Bands thatare more American-oriented instyle, like Lenny MacDowellor Alex, have good followingsin the clubs, and that is wherethey make most of theirmoney. These clubs holdanywhere up to 1,200 people,but there aren't enough ofthem for one band to betouring constantly. Thereforeyou have to look towardstouring with different bands, sothat when you go back to aclub a couple of months later,it won't be with the sameband. From a recording pointof view, one of them might dovery well, maybe both, maybeneither; but you are stillworking constantly. But I enjoythe freshness of working withdifferent people, and thedifferent styles, like hard rockwith Bishop, through to funk/fusion with Lenny MacDow-ell."

—Simon Goodwin

Dan PredCheck out the Dan ReedNetwork; it's some prettyunique music. Drummer DanPred says of it, "We've alwayssummed the music up as a

head-on collision betweenrock and funk. It's guitaroriented, it's funky, and wehave sequenced bass linesrunning. It's 'frock.'"

This past year, the band hasbeen finishing their album,commuting from their homebase in Portland six hours toVancouver to work withproducer Bruce Fairbairn."There's a studio up there withthis giant loading bay, which isa big cement room. Theymiked up the drums in theregular studio and senteverything through speakersinto this loading bay, andmiked them again in there. Itgot a big ambient live drumsound that sounds great."

Half of the album wasrecorded with real drums andhalf was done with a drummachine. Pred prefers thetunes on which he played live."'Baby Don't Fade' is probablymy favorite track; I like thegroove. I also really like'Forgot To Make Her Mine.'Those are my two favoritesbecause they're rock 'n' roll,and that's what I like best.With machines, you reallyhave to swallow your pride,but I've had to do that before.We had an EP out previouslywhere the whole thing was adrum machine, which wasstrictly a budget thing but stillwas really hard to swallow. Adrum machine has an undeni-able attack mode, and thereare a couple of songs on thisalbum that we wanted to havethat feel on. I'm not saying thedrum machine drives themusic harder, but it has adifferent feel. You can't get anattitude about it or you'll driveyourself crazy. You just have towork with it. I did all theprogramming on it, though. Ihooked up a Roland Octapad,MIDIed it up, and had a littleremote drum pedal. I playedeverything on the pads into thedrum machine while I wasplaying live, so it's not too farout. A lot of times you get thesix-armed drummer thinggoing on."

Live, he simply duplicatesthe parts on an acoustic setup."I'm not triggering anything asof yet. It sounds a littledifferent to my ear, but I don'tknow if it does to the audi-ence. I used to be crazy intoelectronics and have tons of

stuff, but I got out of it. I didn'thave any fun playing elec-tronic pads. Then I got myacoustic drums back intoaction and I haven't gotteninto triggering. It's a budgetthing again now. After thealbum was done, we sat downwith our management todiscuss what we needed topull off the album live, likedifferent sequencers andkeyboards, and a drum triggerjust didn't fit into the budgetyet. Along with the sequencer,the SP-12 is running and doingthings like handclaps, tambou-rines, and shakers, and I justturn everything up loud in mymonitor and play with it," saysDan, whose remainder of theyear has been spent on theroad.

"It doesn't seem like a tourto me, though, because all mynotions of a tour were a busand giant rooms, but this isriding in a little van andplaying a bunch of little clubslike we always have," helaughs.

—Robyn Flans

NEWS...Steve Smith can be heard onDweezil Zappa's new record,My Guitar Wants To Kill YourMama, out this past summer,as well as on albums by KitWalker and Joaquin Liavano.Earlier in the year, Stevetoured with the Jazz Explosion,which included Stanley Clarkeon bass, Allan Holdsworth onguitar, Airto on percussion,Randy Brecker on trumpet,and Bernard Wright onkeyboards, as well as touringin Eastern Europe for a monthwith the Randy BreckerQuintet. His most recent VitalInformation album, Fiafiaga—Celebration, was released thislast summer, and currently theband is on tour. DCI's SteveSmith, Volume 2 video hasrecently been released...Stewart Copeland is workingwith Stanley Clarke in aproject called Animal Logic...Paul Leim on Tom Kimmel'sLP...Jim Blair on the Commodores'new album and on the roadwith Howard Hewitt...Michael Blair is associateproducer and bandleader onGavin Friday's new album. Hecan also be heard on Dagmar

Krause's album and has beendoing some gigging with ElvisCostello...Barry Keane has been busywith album projects for thelikes of Gordon Lightfoot,Anne Murray, Rita McNeil,Roger Whittaker, JoanKennedy, J.K. Gulley, andPatrick Perez. His recent TVwork has included Danger Bayand Sesame Street. Currentlyhe is on tour with GordonLightfoot...Walfredo Reyes, Jr. recently inthe studio with JacksonBrowne...Vinnie Colaiuta can be heardon recent records by TomScott, Lee Ritenour, PeaboBryson, Kenny Loggins, BrendaRussell, David Sanborn, theRippingtons, Eric Marienthal,Djavan, Nik Kershaw, JohnPatitucci, Allan Holdsworth,Brandon Fields, and a GRPSuper Live record, recorded inJapan with Lee Ritenour, TomScott, and Dianne Schuur...This month Butch Miles is atthe Gibson Jazz Party inDenver, Colorado, theMinneapolis Jazz Party, and ona tour of Europe with PeanutsHucko All-Stars...John Molo on tour with BruceHornsby...Rick Marotta on Lyle Lovett'supcoming release and WaylonJennings' newest album.Marotta has also been in thestudio producing a groupcalled Burning Street and canbe seen in an acting role in theupcoming film Nightmare OnElm Street IV...Craig Krampf in the studiowith Debbi Lee...Joe Franco recently played onFiona's third record, and he isnow in the studio with DeeSnyder...Billy Goodness on tour withRicky Van Shelton...J.R. Robinson on recentrecordings by Steve Winwood,Robbie Nevile, RandyNewman, Deniece Williams,The Pointer Sisters, NatalieCole, The Crusaders, LionelRitchie, Peter Cetera, andHolly Knight...Richard Bailey touring withBilly Ocean...Billy Thomas recently re-corded with Emmylou Harris,and is touring with the HotBand...Keith Cronin touring withthe Pat Travers band.

A S K A P R O

ANTON FIGQ. You are my absolute favorite drummer;I have always admired your playing. Onething that I have noticed is the way youplay your ride cymbal. You don't seem tohit it the way most normal drummers do.What area of the cymbal are you hitting,and with what part of the stick? Also, whattype of ride cymbal, sticks, and mic's doyou use? Finally, I'd like to ask if Paul Shaf-fer and the World's Most Dangerous Bandis ever going to make a recording.

J. Peter ElkinsHarlingen TX

A. First of all, thanks! I'm not sure wheremost "normal" drummers hit their ridecymbal (and naturally, it would depend onwhat type of music was being played), butin a forceful rock situation I usually play itsomewhere around the base of the bell.This area could extend a few inches ineither direction. I usually hit the cymbal ata point on the stick three or four inchesback from the tip. I use Vic Firth's RockCrusher model drumstick.

On the Letterman show I use a Zildjian KCustom ride, because the sound is pin-pointed and does not spread. But often, onrecordings and other live dates, I use aZildjian K ride that is heavy and dark. I usethe Zildjian ZMC-1 miking system on theshow. It incorporates individual mic's thatclip onto each cymbal stand just below thebell of the cymbal. Each mic' goes into amixer where I can control sensitivity andpanning, and then give the engineer a ste-reo left and right output mix. The systemworks great, especially when overheadmic's are also used to pick up the livelinessof the toms.

To answer your last question, I believePaul will do an album sometime in thenear future, and that the WMDB may bepartially involved. Keep bashing!

CARMINE APPICEQ. As a student of your publications andtechniques for the past six years, I wouldlike to personally thank you for this invalu-able collection of information. My ques-tion is in regards to the position of the feeton double bass drum pedals. As a progres-sive hard rock player, for a number of yearsI have relied on a "toes-on-pedal" positionas opposed to a flat-footed position. How-ever, I have recently been informed that"toe players" are likely to be sacrificingsome degree of control due to this method.Could you point out any advantages ordisadvantages of either position regardingstrength, control, etc.?

Peter JefferyToronto, Ontario, Canada

A. Basically, it's true that you do lose alittle control on the pedals when you playwith the heel up. But you gain so muchpower that it really makes up for it. Theadvantage there is the volume you canachieve, and also the actual sound of thebass drum, which generally gets a littlemore "crack." Control is then a matter oflearning how to operate your foot at differ-ent positions on the pedal—up toward thefront, more toward the middle, or evenfurther toward the back—in order to dofaster things like double or triple strokes.

PAUL WERTICOQ. I saw you with Pat Metheny at RoyThompson Hall recently and was struck byyour drumming and the sound of yourcymbals. Specifically, I'm interested in whatyou were using for ride cymbals.

John CrownPeterborough, Ontario, Canada

A. Thanks for listening, and I'm glad youenjoyed the concert. I remember that show,partly because Toronto is the home town ofone of the group's vocalists, and partlybecause I was so ill with the flu that daythat I almost got struck by a car on the wayto soundcheck. I was too weak to run outof its way! Yet, because of the tremendousdemands of playing Pat's music, I had to

"rise to the occasion" during the show. Iremember not only being fairly pleased withmy performance that night, but also beingamazed at how great music can draw onpowers that we sometimes forget we have!

To answer your question regarding myride cymbals: My left ride is a Paiste For-mula 602 22" thin Flatride with two rivetsmounted next to each other. One rivet is aPaiste and the other is a Zildjian. I foundthat this combination works best on thatparticular cymbal. I also mounted the riv-ets on the lightest part of the cymbal so thatthey would stay out of the way. This wasaccomplished by putting the cymbal on acymbal stand that was tilted quite a bit,with the cymbal almost vertical. I then spunthe cymbal around a number of times,making a mark where the cymbal stopped.The heaviest part of a cymbal will alwaysstop at the bottom, so I just put the rivets180 degrees from that spot.

My right ride cymbal is a Paiste 22"Sound Creation Dark Flatride. It soundsgreat the way it is! Remember, though, thata number of factors are important in get-ting a good cymbal sound. The type ofsticks you use (with Pat I use Pro-Markhickory 808s), where you hold the stickand how tightly you hold it, whether youplay into the cymbal or off of it, and whereyou play on the cymbal (on Flatrides I liketo move the stick around a lot to pull outdifferent overtones) are a few criticalpoints to consider.

The only time I use a flat-footed techniqueis on a ballad where the bass drum is beingplayed softly.

I should point out that, quite often, theshoes you choose to wear can make a greatdeal of difference to your technique. I usedto play in Nike high-top sneakers, but I'verecently changed to Snakers, which aresneakers made of snakeskin and that havea little bit lower heel than the Nikes. Whenyou're playing heel-up and have a shoewith a heel on it, you sometimes can't getyour foot down when you need to. You'llcome down hard and hit the pedal plate orthe floor with your heel. That's why I playmostly in flat-footed shoes. I did play inheels for a while, believe it or not, duringthe Rod Stewart days. In the five years Iplayed with Rod, I used only one pair ofshoes to play in, because I had gotten soused to them that they were the only shoesI could play in. But then I switched to theNikes, and they worked really well.

Seat height is another important elementof bass drum technique. I think that mostpower drummers tend to sit low, becauseyou get more power that way; your body isbeing supported by the back, and your legsare free to lift up higher and come downheavier. When you sit high, you tend torely on your legs to support your body andmaintain balance.

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I T ' S Q U E S T I O N A B L EQ. I recently bought a hi-hat stand from a friend of mine. It has nomanufacturer's name on it, except on a plate at the bottom of theshaft just above the foot pedal. This plate says "Taiwan" and hasthe capital letters "C.Y.S." in cursive script. The hi-hat has double-braced legs and a memory lock.

I also purchased a bass drum pedal with an identical footboard.It has no name whatsoever, but I do know that it, too, was made inTaiwan. It has a single spring, a nylon strap, and a split footboard.

My question is: Who manufactured these pieces? I think thatTama did, but I'm not sure. They work very well for me.

E.P.Alamosa CO

A. If the hi-hat and bass drum pedal were manufactured in Taiwan,they were not made by Tama. That company maintains its entiremanufacturing operation in Japan. There are several companies inTaiwan who manufacture generic copies of popular name-branddesigns under license for distributors in the U.S. It is likely thatyour items were made by one of these "jobbers."

Q. I own a Yamaha Recording Series drumkit. Because of theaddition of more cymbals and drums, floor space is becoming aproblem. Will Yamaha be producing a drum rack in the nearfuture?

E.S.Hollywood CA

A. Yamaha introduced its new System Drum Rack at the WinterNAMM show in January of this year. It is a complete systemcombining tubular bars with various clamps, connectors, andmounting hardware. Contact your Yamaha dealer for further infor-mation, or write the company directly at P.O. Box 6600, BuenaPark, California 90622.

Q. I was wondering if you could tell me about the history andvalue of two cymbals I found while clearing out the warehouse ofthe store I work for. The cymbals in question are a Zilco 14" thincrash, and a K Zildjian & Cie. of Constantinople 14" medium-weight hi-hat. Their condition could be described as "faded," yetthe quality is very good with the exception of limited, minute"nicks" on the edges of both cymbals.

M.O.Erie PA

Q. I have a question in regards to a 32-year-old Zildjian ride Ihave. My father handed it down to me, and I want to keep it andperhaps hand it down to my son. On the other hand, I'm currentlyplaying in a band that does no miking of the drums, and I havefound no other ride that even comes close to the dynamic soundof this one. So my question is, can (or will) the Zildjian companycopy the exact sound of this cymbal at an affordable cost?

B.T.BellaireOH

A. We put both questions to Zildjian's Lennie DiMuzio, who gaveus the following information: "In response to the first question, theZilco cymbal was made sometime during the early 1970s, makingit anywhere from 18 to 20 years old. The K Zildjian hi-hat cymbalis estimated to be approximately 40 years old. The value of the K ismuch more than the Zilco, since the Zilco was produced as a"second-line" cymbal by the Avedis Zildjian Company at thattime. It was approximately 25% to 30% cheaper than an AvedisZildjian cymbal, so I would not place too much value on it now.The 14" K Zildjian, if it is in good condition and not dented on theedges or cracked, would be estimated at a value somewhere in thevicinity of $175.00.

"To answer the second question: It would be impossible toduplicate the sound of an old cymbal that has mellowed out andstood the test of time. No doubt this cymbal is an antique; itshould be kept, protected, and used sparingly. Perhaps someday itcould be sold at a good profit.

"As a final comment, remember that old instruments do have a

certain value, but that value is in the eye of the buyer, not neces-sarily the seller. As in the case of all types of antiques, the condi-tion of the item, and the demand versus the availability, are veryimportant factors in determining its value. You would have topersonally advertise these cymbals in all the percussion maga-zines and journals to see if anyone is interested."

Q. My present snare drum has seen better days, and I'm planningon replacing it. I have all Ludwig equipment now. My question is:Which snare drum did John Bonham, of Led Zeppelin, use most?That's the type I want.

A.V.Monmouth IL

A. According to information provided by Ludwig's Artist RelationsDepartment, John Bonham used a standard Ludwig 5x14 Supra-phonic metal snare drum. That drum is still in production andquite popular today, so you should have no trouble in obtainingone.

Q. I have wanted to know for a long time what the differencebetween a "rack tom" and a "concert tom" is. Could you pleaseeducate me?

N.G.Courtenay, British Columbia, Canada

A. The term "rack tom" refers to tom-toms mounted on or abovethe bass drum (or drums) on a drumset. In this sense, the termrefers more to the position of the drum than to the type of drum,although the vast majority of rack toms seen today are double-headed drums. The term "concert tom" refers specifically to single-headed tom-toms designed with no bottom-head lugs. These drumsare generally used in classical or symphonic situations when tom-toms are called for, because they are more easily tuned to specificpitches than are double-headed drums. In this case, the term refersmore to the type of drum than to any particular position in which itis used. Confusion arises quite often, however, when "concerttoms" are included as part of a drumset. In this situation, they aremost often among the smaller toms on the kit, and are mounted asrack toms. Occasionally, however, floor toms will also be single-headed.

Q. There are songs that my band does in which I would like toplay double bass as well a playing the hi-hat both open andclosed. Is there a device available that would allow me to "lockdown" the hi-hat (with my left foot) for double-bass passages andrelease it again (again using my left foot) for passages in which Iwant to control the hi-hat?

T.B.Allenstown NH

A. Drum Workshop offers the DW505 Drop-Lock Clutch for thepurpose you describe. It is designed to allow the top hi-hat cymbalto drop free of the hi-hat rod when a lever on the clutch is struckwith the hand or stick. The cymbal then sits directly atop thebottom cymbal, allowing the hi-hat to be played in a loose "closed"fashion. Stepping on the pedal brings the clutch down onto thecymbal again, where it re-engages and lifts the cymbal back up fornormal playing. The device is available from any Drum Workshopdealer, or you may contact Drum Workshop at 2697 Lavery Court,Unit 16, NewburyPark, California 91320.

Q. I know that the Premier Drum Company was recently boughtout by Yamaha. Will I still be able to purchase Premier compo-nents for my Premier kit?

T.M.Lafayette IN

A. According to Premier spokesman Caryjacari, component partsfor Premier drums will continue to be available as they have beenin the past. The two parties in the Yamaha/Premier merger haveboth stated unequivocally that Premier will continue as an inde-pendent operation, and that production will continue as usual.

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Photo by Jaeger KotosInnocently and completely unexpectedly, Jon Farrissposes the question, "Are you really sure that drummerswant to read about me?" It was a definite "first" withinmy realm of experience as a music journalist. Yet, asstrange as the question was, it was also slightly refresh-ing. It is with that question—and with the process of an-swering it—that we begin our story.

Aside from the obvious fact that Farriss is a drummer,the choice to illuminate his career on these pages hassomething to do with his ten-year-plus participation inthe Australian band INXS. With the 1987 release ofKick, and the eight months it has spent lingering solidlyamong the top-five albums on the charts, INXS havecatapulted themselves into the major leagues of rock 'n'roll.

Most relevant to this story, however, is Jon's drum-ming experience. The beginnings of INXS go back to thelate '70s, when Jon (still a teenager at the time), his twoolder brothers, Tim (guitar) and Andrew (keyboard), KirkPengilly (sax, guitar), Carry Gary Beers (bass), and front-man Michael Hutchence came together as a unifiedgroup.

From a drumming standpoint, Jon's evolution over sixalbums and eleven years is prominent and vital. Today,he emerges as an eminently skilled player, devising se-ductive rhythms for INXS's diverse rock stylizations. Hemay not be a "drummer's drummer," but that isn't a goalof his. Instead, his playing serves the music. A fact thatany fan can support is that Jon's drumming has become

the key asset that draws listeners into the music andkeeps them there.

Kick courses with pulsating rhythms on every cut, andit's probably Jon's best recorded drumming and percus-sion work to date. Farriss agrees with that assessment."I've always strived to have a dance feel and solidgrooving. Yet everyone in the band was trying to avoidfalling into the category of being just another funk group,because not too long ago, all these bands were gettinginto that. We still wanted to keep that rock 'n' roll feelthat we had developed live, so that was a priority.

"So with this album," he continues, "Andrew—hewas the one who started writing the songs for it—de-cided to write in a style that happens to be very harmo-nious to my drumming style. We seem to think similarlymusically. So Kick was the manifestation of Andrew'ssongwriting and my drumming style. This album wasdefinitely a climax. I was really happy with the results."

Jon says that a lot of what he plays is conceptualizedfrom the melodies his brother Andrew has written. Healso adds that, because he and Andrew do think simi-larly, it is an advantage. "'Need You Tonight' was prettymuch straightforward, pretty simple to put together asfar as rhythms go. Then a song like 'Wildlife' has a lot ofdrums on it. Andrew had used a rhythm box on that, andit needed something more interesting than 'Need You'did as far as the rhythm section was concerned. It's a lotmore built-up, and there's a lot more going on."

The first single off Kick—the aforementioned "NeedYou Tonight"—has one of the sultriest dance feels of anysingle in recent memory. Farriss achieved the feeling ofmovement on that cut by merging his playing and pro-gramming skills. Says Jon: "'Need You Tonight' is partmachine and part live drums. What I did was to playkick and snare, four on the floor. And we had about fivesnare sounds making up that one snare. There werethree or four bass drum sounds put together as well. Weinvented the sounds, then put the rhythm down on thecomputer. Andrew had the idea for the rhythm alreadywritten down when he originally brought the song in, soI just basically followed that general idea. Later, I put allthe top things on it like the percussion stuff—cowbellsand shaker—to make it sound human. So the balls ofthat are pretty consistent, and the top stuff—the percus-sion—is all loose and jangly.

"I triggered my kit for 'Calling All Nations,' just doingsnare and tom on it. Everything I do recording-wise isplayed along to a computer. No overdubbing—I justplay to the computer. With a computer, you can make itsound the way you want it to. With a click, it's just thisbig thing clanking in your head—this electronic pulsethat drives me crazy after a while. It's like, 'I can't playthis anymore! I'm turning into a vegetable!' But thecomputer is like having someone playing along withme. I just go for a pattern that's real comfortable to workwith."

Does he enjoy programming, live and in the studio?"Yeah, I love it," he answers, "and I do it at the liveshows as much as I can. I mean, I play with this YamahaRX5 all the time. I've got headphones here with mysetup, and I can basically create whatever I want. It's anaid to me. If I want a percussion player standing to myleft side, then I've got one.

"Live, we like to change things around a bit," he adds,"so if I think, 'I reckon this song needs a bit of a push onit,' then I'll put something like a conga on it—verysubtle things that I work into the set."

Jon utilized the RX5 in the studio, as well. "I used touse a LinnDrum, but I changed to an RX5 because theLinn didn't have MIDI. I can make this talk with every-thing else because it's MIDI compatible. I also use twoAkai S900s."

Among the assorted tools of the trade in his live setup,Farriss has a load of disks with sounds. "I use quite a fewof them during a show," he comments. "I use four on thetop Akai, and three on the bottom one. I have a vastlibrary of sounds that I've developed in the studios overthe past few years. I was able to solo-out my kick, snare,tom, and some of the electronic pads, and just throwthem on the computer. Sometimes when we're doing asoundcheck, my drum tech or the engineer might say,'Your snare sounds great,' and I'll say, 'Fine. Feed me theline back and I'll record it.' I'll keep it on a disk to referto. So it's a fairly productive little thing, especially fordrums. For keyboards, it's a whole different thing, really.But something that's live in timbre, like a snare hit,bang, you can record it and have it there.

"Electronics are amazingly helpful. It's not like thisbig, bad, evil sort of thing. A lot of older drummers sayto me, 'You don't need this stuff to play.' Fine, but don'tget me confused with someone who doesn't know howto play and relies on electronics to compensate. Drum-mers who use computers are a dime a dozen these days,and that's fine. It's the medium we're in and there'snothing you can do about it. But don't get hung upabout it. You can still love the breadth and the dynamicsof drumming; that's an art that will never die. At thesame time, it's a shame that some of the finer points ofdrumming have been lost on computers.

"I used to like dancing a lot, so I'd go to nightclubsand I'd be listening to two or three hours of consistent,perfect, quantized rhythms. You easily get sick of listen-ing to that because it all sounds the same, over and overand over. On the other hand, they put some Beatles onone night and it sounded so loose that I almost couldn'tcope with that either, you know?

"But you can't get the same feel out of a computeralone as you can playing live. I'm not saying it's impos-sible, but the difference is very noticeable. I must admit,I love computers and I've used Fairlights and other com-puters over drums on certain songs."

And conversely, on certain songs, no computer isused at all. "Say we do a ballad like 'Never Tear UsApart.' I'm playing just my right cymbal and my snare,and I may do an occasional roll on the cymbal. On theother hand, with some songs, like 'Wildlife,' 'Don'tChange,' 'Listen Like Thieves,' or 'Kiss The Dirt (FallingDown The Mountain),' I use everything in my setup.

"At the moment I'm triggering an 5900 sampler for mybass drum," he says, "because I'm having trouble withmy knee and I want to make sure I'm not causing moredamage by over-usage. Eventually, I want to go back toan acoustic bass drum sound, or maybe even blend theacoustic and the electronic. Given the choice, I muchprefer the acoustic because I can't get the dynamics outof the triggered sound that I can from the acoustic."

In his acoustic set, he uses a selection of six differentsnare drums, contingent upon the song and the desiredsound. As his drum tech, Anthony Aquilato, explains,"He doesn't use any triggered or sampled snare sounds.He prefers to use live snares and switches his snare de-pending on the song." Among the selection? Says An-thony: "A Ludwig Black Beauty, a Ludwig hammered-bronze, a Slingerland chrome-plated brass, and a Pearlwood snare."

The kit also contains three Remo RotoToms—10", 12",14"—and four Pearl electronic pads (no longer manu-factured), three located above the RotoToms, and one tothe left of his hi-hats. There's also a 16 x 16 floor tomand a 22 x 16 bass drum. All acoustic drums are fromthe Pearl GLX Series, and the acoustic rack is all Pearlhardware. The electronic rack was designed and con-structed by Vince Cutman of Marc Industries.

Anthony says that Jon chooses coated white Remo

(located directly above the hi-hats), a 16" medium thinAA crash, an 18" AA medium crash, 22" and 20" HHChinas, and a 22" HH heavy ride.

At a live show, Jon shrugs off the constraints of con-ventional expectations. He tends to dance while heplays (depending upon the song), often standing up be-hind his kit when it allows. "It's an outlet for me, andsometimes I'll just be grooving around, being a littlesilly," he remarks. "I guess it's a lot more colorful thanthe usual, but I see drumming, dancing, and just movingaround as all part of a medium for self-expression. Thatdoesn't mean I turn into Michael Jackson up there, but Ilike to groove. On some songs I like to be able to get upand have fun. It's a real buzz.

"I do a lot of nonsense things that are more theatricalthan anything else," he continues. "It's a more calisthenicapproach to drumming rather than the conservative,nose-down, don't-look-up-at-people sort of thing. I flipsticks and sometimes pretend I'm hitting something whenI'm not. [laughs] Don't ask me why, I've just alwaysdone it. I guess it may sound stupid, but it's just part ofmy sense of humor, and I don't even realize I'm doing it.The other guys will look at me and say, 'What are youdoing?' It's really just part of dancing. It's a party andthat's the essential vibe. We're all having fun up there.

"I love the group, and I love the dance stuff and theheavier stuff and the slower stuff. I also love it when it'sa bit of a challenge—like when it's difficult to do but itsounds easy. Sometimes it's really hard, I reckon. Othertimes, it's so easy it's unbelievable. It also depends onhow I feel. I mean, sometimes I'll really like playing adance song that's real cool and slinky, yet sometimes it

Photo by Jaeger Kotos

Ambassador heads for the RotoToms, Pinstripes for thetop of the floor toms, and clear Ambassadors for the bot-toms. All the snare drums have coated Ambassadors onthe tops and clear Ambassador snares on the bottoms,and there's an Evans Hydraulic head on the bass drum.

Sticks are Pro-Mark Hickory wood-bead 2B customs,and he uses a Danmar wood beater with a small plasticpad attached to the bass drum head, which lends aricher sound to the drum. Mic's are all Shure SM-57s.

All his cymbals are Sabian, and the setup includes(left to right) 14" AA regular hi-hats, two 12" AA splashes

isn't as much fun to play as it is to listen to. Sometimes,when you're recording something, it feels weird whenyou're playing it, but when you listen to it back on tape,it sounds good."

Early this summer, in the midst of their North Ameri-can tour (which began a year ago), Jon was grapplingwith something a bit more sobering than what he's beenused to. He was afflicted with an acute arthritic condi-tion, which manifested itself in his knee. Walking with acane, he was dealing with the pain of the arthritis, theproblem of not being as mobile and physical as henormally is, and the fear that his condition might be aconsistent problem. "There's a lot of inflammation, andthe whole matter becomes quite complex when you'replaying gigs practically every day," he commented. Hewas receiving treatment occassionally and was on medi-cation, but his outlook was pretty optimistic, despite theinconvenience.

Under normal physical conditions, Farriss relies on aseries of warm-up stretches based on the martial-art dis-cipline of Tai Chi. Jon explains: "I started with Tai Chi

Photo by Kevin Pierce about eight or nine years ago. Tai Chi is a slow form ofmartial arts—of Kung Fu, really. It develops your breath,your balance, and your strength. I did it really relig-iously for about two years. As the years went on, Istarted to use most of the exercises for warm-ups, pick-ing out the bits that I liked and that were helpful to myplaying.

"It was good for my balance in drumming because inTai Chi, everything is round and flowing. And since it'sdone very slowly, it's almost like you're hypnotized; yousort of meditate while doing it. That flowing, circularmotion naturally comes out in drumming. I never gotinto the defense side of Tai Chi; I pursued it for itstherapeutic values.

"Actually," he adds, "I go through cycles of what I doas warm-up exercises. During the past two years, I'vebeen working out right before I play: skipping rope witha five Ib. weight on it for about 20 minutes; working outwith free weights and a curling bar; doing some Tai Chistretching. Basically, the most important thing is stretch-ing, but unfortunately, I haven't been able to do thatrecently on this tour."

So how did Farriss get involved with music to beginwith? At three, Jon became entranced by the concept ofdrums—the sound, feel, and shape. "From the moment Ifirst saw a drum," he says with a grin, "I instantly zonedin on them. Since then, that's been my predominantvehicle in terms of artistic outlet. It was something thatwas so natural to me, I was immediately pulled in by it.

"I had been given a drum for Christmas by my father,

and that was incredible for me. It was sort of a tambou-rine drum without the jingles on it, and he attached it toa stool. I can never forget the assimilation I had with thatinstrument; it was so intrinsic to my whole nature. I be-lieve a little bit in an internal psyche that communicateswithin, and maybe when I was young I did have a vibefor what I would be doing as an adult. Who knows?

"I felt there was this internal guide with drums, eventhough I also felt very unknowledgeable and naive to-wards what I was doing," he continues. "Even though Iwas plundering in the dark, lacking the technical experi-ence, it still didn't matter. That was, in a way, the bril-liance of how naive I was. I was just going ahead withtempo, conceiving that before anything else."

Even though his father was not a professional musi-cian, Jon credits him as being his source of inspiration asa youngster. "My Dad used to play in a marching bandwhen he was a kid growing up in England. I think hewas sort of a frustrated drummer. He would pick up adrum and show me how to play things. He was the onewho taught me how to play paradiddles and that kind ofstuff. So I was basically comprehending all of that whenI was really young."

What about his first kit? "I guess I was about six," herecalls. "It was a really simple kit, and it had very quaint,very jazzy features. I've never seen anything like it since.There was a pole coming out of the middle of the bassdrum—classic. I had rigged that first drum that I hadonto it and there was also a snare that was the samecolor as the bass drum. I didn't know what I was doing—riding with my right hand, playing the bass drum withmy left foot, [laughs] For about four years, I was justjamming like that. I didn't have any hi-hats, I didn't havea tom-tom, I was just playing the beat."

He says he really dug the Beatles "a helluva lot. And Iplayed along to a lot of their music." So Ringo Starr hadan indelible influence? An impassioned "yes" is Jon'sanswer. "People obviously follow his drumming becauseit's really simple. But it's classic pop drumming at itsbest. The idea with him is not what you hear but whatyou don't hear. I think that taught me form; the drum-ming I was hearing had a definite shape, and I couldunderstand that form as a child. It wasn't some complexfunk-jazz beat that would be hard to grasp.

"So yes," he adds, "it was a pop drummer who I couldmost identify with. That music had a lot of melody, andit went through a great range of styles. It was a big partof my life, as it was for Andrew and Tim."

Growing up in a middle-class suburb or Sydney, theFarriss household fostered a conducive atmosphere forthe children to pursue their individual musical paths."We were in the best possible situation. There was apiano in the house, plenty of records, and I was allowedto play drums in the house! Which is about as unusualas allowing two dogs to mate in the living room, youknow? My parents knew we could handle the responsi-bility of not playing at 3:00 A.M., and it was cool to getin a quick ten minutes before going off to school, whichwas something I used to like to do. We also had bandpractice at my house twice a week. It was great. I guessit's pretty wild how everything just fell into place."

Jon was always adamant about his resistance to takingformal music lessons, and by his own admission, theprocess of self-discovery was part of the mystique ofdrumming that was so enticing to him. "Not being taughtwas really alluring. I was into playing for the love of it,and I felt there was a connection. But when I was about12,1 thought I might go and have some drum lessons. Ihad ten lessons, and it was the worst thing that ever hap-pened to me from a musical standpoint. The guy wastelling me that I was holding the sticks wrong and that Iwas doing all this other stuff wrong. He would tell me to

Photo by Lissa Wales

do a beat and read itwhile I was doing it,but I was doing all thatkind of stuff years be-fore. Now I was doingit again because it wasa lesson. I became re-ally disturbed about it,and that was the endof that."

Farriss developed hisskill with percussionthe same way helearned to play drums:Harboring an interest,he simply taught him-self. On Kick, he plays bongos and timbales, as well ashis usual assortment of tambourine, shakers, woodblocks,etc. "It came about in such a simple way, really. It wasjust a matter of listening to a piece of music that hadsome percussion on it and asking, 'What is that?' Beingnaive and curious is basically what it came down to.

"You see, when you realize what it is they are playingand how they are doing it, you can then adapt that todoing something you want to do in your band. Congaand bongo playing, for example: They are things thattake a fair bit of experience, and I certainly don't professthat I'm a great conga player. It takes practice and timeto get the dynamic range on that skin. It's not a matter ofjumping on it straight away and mastering it, like shak-ers, tambourines, or cowbells. With things like bongosand congas, it takes some understanding of form to playthem. There are some very developed conga playerswho can do some amazing things. I'm able to pullthrough with congas and do the job. It might take mesome time, and I might have to tape my hands up, butI'm the one playing it because I know what I want tohear. That's easier than trying to explain what I want tosome guy who's been brought in.

"Nevertheless, I've always been able to adapt to aninstrument and just ad-lib from there and make it work.I'll sit there, feel it through, and slowly develop a form. Itmight take me an hour to get comfortable, and then I'llbe ready to go in and record it. The most important thingis that I'll know from the start what I want to hear, andhow I want the instrument to work with the song.

"If it's a situation in the studio where we don't havethat much time, and we want to knock it down all atonce," he elaborates, "or if we want a certain player'sparticular feel on it, then we might hire someone else.But that's usually happened when we've tried to avoidconfusion, which can happen sometimes when I go into try something—the nonsense that goes down whenpeople keep running in with their opinions.

"But it really depends on the situation. I mean, I did alot of my own percussion on Kick because I'm morefamiliar with [producer] Chris Thomas now, and I justsaid to him, 'Look, I want to do my own percussion.' OnListen I did a bit of it, but he brought in Ray Cooper forsome of it. On The Swing I did all my own percussion,as I did on all the albums prior to that. But on Listen,Chris was still teething, feeling his way through with theband. And I must admit, with six members it must bedifficult to balance all that out. Anyway, it's quite amaz-ing what you can do by teaching yourself. Of course,there's also a great deal that you can't do, but I thinktime and work eventually fixes that."

Does Jon think that the supportive environment heexperienced at home is the reason behind his earlyattainment of a prosperous career? Jon indicates that itactually goes deeper than that. "I don't know," he re-sponds. "There was always this intense persistence. Tim,

Jon Farriss has a slightly different ap-proach to rock drumming. His mainconcern is to groove, and Jon's ability todo just that has attributed to the hugesuccess of INXS. Jon's uniqueness comesfrom the way he embellishes the beatshe plays. Every now and then, he en-hances a beat by dropping in a cymbalcrash or an unexpected flurry on the

toms, for example. This spontaneity adds a sense ofexcitement and surprise to Jon's playing. The followingexamples show some of the different grooves that Jonplays in INXS, and if you listen to these tunes, you willhear how he adds to these beats.This first example is from the song "The One Thing,"

from the Shabooh Shoobah album (Atco 7 90072-1). This beat is playedduring the bridge section of the tune.

This is the beat to "Black And White," again from the Shabooh Shoobahalbum.

"Jan's Song," from Shabooh Shoobah , has a reggae-rock feel, and this isthe beat Jon plays during the solo section.

This beat, which has a half-time feel to it, is played in the closing sectionof "Old World New World," from Shabooh Shoobah .

The following example is the hit "What You Need," from the Listen LikeThieves album (Atlantic 7 81277-1). The first measure is the verse pattern,and the second measure is the chorus pattern.

Here is a hard-driving beat that Jon plays on the song "Red Red Sun," fromListen Like Thieves.

This last example is "New Sensation," from Kick (Atlantic 7 81796-1). Thefirst measure is the verse pattern, and the second measure is the choruspattern.

One of the great things about writing forModern Drummer is that you are often ableto get behind-the-scenes insights into theworkings of the music business. Seeing El-ton John recording the backing track for"Rope Around A Fool" for his 1988 album,Reg Strikes Back, is a case in point. Outsid-ers are not generally encouraged at ses-sions like this, for obvious reasons: Whenmaterial is being created, artists like to beable to take their time and get it right with-out feeling the need to put on a show foranybody. However, my presence was hap-pily tolerated, because I was there as theguest of Elton's drummer, Charlie Morgan.

I had half expected to find Charlie alonein the studio, reading from a chart andplaying along to a click track, so it's goodto find the whole rhythm section, includ-ing Elton playing piano and doing guidevocals, in there together. There is a "click"from a drum machine, with percussionsounds that Charlie is experimenting withto give the points of emphasis he wants,but otherwise all you have is five musi-cians playing together. The number, a livelyfunky shuffle, is being "routined." They aretaping it, coming out and listening, makingslight modifications, going again, and lis-tening again. There isn't a lot of discussion,just the occasional word here and there.Producer Chris Thomas asks Charlie tochange his Premier Piccolo snare drum forsomething a bit deeper, so Charlie changesto a Project One. After the next run-through,Thomas says, "Would you go back to thebiscuit-tin drum, please?" Charlie sings andmimes a piece of phrasing to DaveyJohnstone, the guitarist; Davey nods hishead and smiles approvingly. They don'tpractice it, but they do it in the next take,and it seems to meet with tacet approval.Eventually, Elton John sits in the controlroom and sings along to the same takethree or four times, then he says, "That'sabout it. We'll come back in the morningand do it when we're fresh, but that's theway we'll play it." As it turns out, theydon't, because (as Charlie subsequently tellsme) Chris Thomas later decides that thetake that Elton has been singing along to isthe one to be used on the album.

Charlie Morgan had been one of the"happening" young studio drummers inLondon for about six years when he wasasked to play on a few album tracks forElton John, which led to his becoming afixture in the band. Some of his recordingcredits appear in the discussion. A small

sample of others, which helps demonstratehis versatility, is Gary Moore (Run ForCover,), Linda Thompson, and Tina Turner("Thunderdome" from the soundtrack toMad Max 2). Charlie is tall with a well-modulated voice—the type of Englishmanyou could imagine being cast as JamesBond. His expressions while he plays rangefrom boyish enthusiasm to hawk-like in-tensity. He jokes that part of his success isdue to "being nice," but he is the sort ofperson who is able to generate a feeling ofgood humor and pleasantness—a valuablequality, particularly in the studio—so thereis probably more than a grain of truth there.SG: I've been watching you record a back-ing track with the whole rhythm sectionplaying together. Is this the way it is usuallydone?CM: With Elton it is, yes; but the trend forthe last couple of years has been to layereverything, sequencing a lot of the stuff,and often putting drums on later. I've donea lot of work playing along to a completetrack, overdubbing the drums. So doing itthis way is quite refreshing.SC: Do other people tend to record firstwith a full drum machine part, or just aclick?CM: Usually it's a drum machine guide.Nik Kershaw, for instance, would put downa drum machine guide, play along to it,and build up what he called a "synth pad"—a basic pad on which to work. Then he'dbring in the musicians, and we'd overdubon top. It worked admirably for Nik's styleand for what he wanted, but I don't think itwould work for Elton. He's the sort of per-son who bounces off the people aroundhim, and for that reason we do a backingtrack, rather than one overdub on top ofanother. But, of course, if anything needsrepairing after that, it can be done.SG: You had the "click" in the form of thedrum machine pattern.CM: Chris Thomas likes to do that; in factmost people do. We're working on 32-trackdigital, so if the first half of one take isgreat, and the second half of another isgreat, the two halves can be digitally splicedtogether. You don't physically splice it, butyou set up the points and transfer them toanother 32-track tape machine, making acomposite take out of the two. So for thatreason it's really up to me to keep it in timewith the click. I don't mind doing that. I gotused to it when I was doing jingles. It doesmean that you can capture what's best frommore than one performance. If we were

doing it live, maybe the audience wouldn'tnotice if it wasn't quite so good at thebeginning. The ambience of the momentcan capture an audience. But if they aregoing to buy a record, they're going tolisten to it time and time again, and if it'snot perfect all the way through, they won'tbe satisfied.

Elton is one of the greatest live perform-ers around today. The concerts we did inAustralia with The Melbourne SymphonyOrchestra proved the point. He is one ofthese people who bounces off an audienceand the rest of the band. We had a wonder-ful time on the world tour, but particularlyin Australia with an 88-piece orchestra. Hegot a particular buzz off the whole thing,and performed better than ever. So the bestway to record Elton is in a semi-live envi-ronment, in which he has the rapport withthe other players.SG: Today I saw the band learning a newnumber, but there seemed to be very littlein the way of discussion and analysis; youall just clicked together. Does this alwayshappen?CM: Normally it does, now. When westarted with this lineup, it wasn't quite socomfortable. When I first worked with El-ton, I'd never met Davey Johnstone [guitar]and Fred Mandel [keyboards] before. I justwalked into the studio, and there they were.I was originally booked with another bassplayer, a guy called Paul Westwood, whoI'd worked with before. David Paton workedwith another drummer on that album, be-cause Elton was using about five differentrhythm sections on it. Things clicked quitequickly because I had developed the knackof working with different people and bend-ing with their idiosyncracies. But what yousaw today was the culmination of two al-bums, 170 concerts, and heaven knowshow much in the way of rehearsals in thetwo-and-a-half years since I first met Elton.There is almost a state of ESP between usnow, and it doesn't take many runs througha song to reach the point where everythingis clicking.SG: Learning a new number and recordingit for an album within the space of two orthree hours must put you under a lot ofpressure to deliver. Do you ever listen tosomething much later and wish that youhad done it differently?CM: It has been known. There have beentimes when I thought that everyone elseplayed brilliantly, and I played really badly.But over the past few years, I've developed

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the ability to work out what I'm going toplay on a number within the first five runs-through, and then stick to it unless I'm toldotherwise. If the producer says that I've gotcompletely the wrong idea, I have to goback to the drawing board and start again.In the session field it is a case of trying toplay an almost identical track each time,until you get the one with the right feel.Occasionally you do come up with a dif-ferent fill or something like that, but thenit's up to the producer to decide which oneis the take.SG: I noticed you doing different things:Sometimes you were doing some buzzedgrace notes on the snare drum, sometimesnot; sometimes you were busy on the hi-hat, sometimes just playing between thebeats. You were creating and experiment-ing, and the other people were leaving youto get on with it.CM: I think that Chris and Elton rely on myjudgment to a large extent in regards towhat sounds right and what doesn't. Welisten to everything we do, and I can think,"No, that's too busy; maybe I should sim-plify it to allow more breathing space."Today I think we had problems keeping itin the groove at first, because I was toobusy. So I honed down what I was doing sothat it wouldn't get in the way of whatElton was doing. It's not a Charlie Morgansolo album, it's an Elton John album, andit's important to remember that. What I domight be clever, but it might not ideallycomplement the track. On the other hand,I might leave something out, and ChrisThomas might say, "I liked what you weredoing before," so I'll put it in again the nexttime 'round. They keep all the takes, sothat they can go back and point out whatthey want. But if I leave something out,and the producer doesn't mention it, I as-sume that he feels we're better off withoutit. So while I'm honing down my part, I'mtrying to be aware of what they might ormight not want. It can be difficult if you are

working with a producer for the first time.You just have to be confident and launchinto it.SC: There must be a lot of pressure if youare creating a drum part for a song by amajor artist that is going to be listened toby millions of people for years.CM: If you think too hard about the pres-sure, you don't play your best. I just haveto rationalize and say, "Okay, if I don't getit right this time, we'll do another take." Ido what feels right to me and just go for it.That is, after all, what they've booked mefor; and if not, I'll soon find out. I think thatthat's the session attitude that comes withexperience. When I started doing sessions,I was absolutely petrified—almost rigid withfear—that I would play a wrong note andeveryone else would look at me. I've be-come considerably more thick-skinned overthe years as far as that aspect is concerned.But at the same time, I've tried hard not tolose the freshness and enthusiasm. You canbecome the sort of session musician who'sseen it all and done it all, and it is reflectedin your playing. It can get like an officejob, and the resulting attitude is what hasgiven the "session musician" a bad namein some circles. It's an image that theyounger players are trying to dispel. Therole of a session player has changed overthe years. Once they were required to goin, play the part as written, go away, andsend an invoice. But I've found in recentyears that people book you for your ownexpertise or your individual style, and ex-pect you to put your own stamp on themusic. It's much more creative, but you'renot writing the song for them. It's a ques-tion of adding that particular sparkle to it inthe way that they want.

I've found that a problem you do have tocope with is keeping the same fresh atti-tude. It's possible to become jaded andmentally tired, because you get draggedthrough a lot of things. But I'm pleased tosay that a very large proportion of what I

do is very satisfying and rewarding.SG: If you're playing a lot of rock musicthat depends on a heavy 2 and 4, doesn'tthis become repetitive and restrict creativethought?CM: Yes, it can, but there are ways of ap-proaching it. There was a sketch by PeterSellers in which he was playing the head ofa school for pop musicians. He was askedwhether he was looking for signs of musi-cal talent. "Oh yes," he said. "Any sign ofthat and they're out." [laughs] There is sometruth in that, but just because they wantyou to go "whoomp, crack, whoomp,crack" for a lot of the time, it doesn't meanthat your creativity goes out of the window.You can have that backbeat, but there arethe embellishments as well that give a par-ticular part its own identity. Also, you don'thave to have the backbeat through every-thing. I find myself replacing drum ma-chine tracks on which they've put a back-beat all the way through, because they can'tthink of anything else to do. I can perhapsleave it out altogether for two bars, andthen when I bring it in again it has muchmore impact because of the element ofsurprise. What you leave out is as impor-tant as what you put in. I try to keep theoriginal flavor of a song, but stop its beingrepetitive. If that is all they want, they couldstay with a drum machine part. There areways of jiggling around with a drum ma-chine so that it almost feels like a realdrummer. But a drummer can vary things.SG: I can't remember whether it differs fromthe original record, but the live version of"Take Me To The Pilot" was magnificentbecause of the unexpected backbeats thatappeared in it.CM: That was a truly magic part, and onewhich I hardly changed at all from theoriginal. It was actually my namesake BarryMorgan who had the original idea for thatpart. I loved it so much; there was no way Icould change it. With Elton's music, we'vemade very few changes in the basic feel ofthings, particularly the early stuff. Every-thing that was played was right. There areexceptions: For the concert version of "BurnDown The Mission," I was asked to nailthe backbeat to the floor. It wasn't like thaton the original, but I was asked to playmore of an '80s part in order to keep it tightwith so many musicians on stage. Thereare other classics, like "Don't Let The SunGo Down On Me," in which I do the origi-nal drum fills. They are Nigel Olsson's fills,but everyone expects them to be there.

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SG: You mention keeping it tight with theorchestra. Different drummers have differ-ent stories about playing along with sym-phony orchestras; what's yours?CM: Actually, everything else since thenhas been a bit of an anticlimax. It was thebiggest buzz of my entire life, as far asplaying was concerned. Just before theconcert, which was broadcast live acrossAustralia, Phil Collins was interviewed. Hesaid, "I don't envy Charlie Morgan's job,having to keep the orchestra in time." Thefunny thing is that with The MelbourneSymphony Orchestra, they were so con-cerned about playing in time and makingthe whole thing tight that there were noproblems at all. I know from experiencethat there's a tendency for orchestras tokeep ploughing on regardless. Most of thetime it's dragging, but they'll carry on intheir own rhythm and leave the rock musi-cians to sort themselves out—because, ofcourse, when there are 35 string playersand one drummer, you're outnumbered.SC: Surely a sympathetic conductor is thekey to it all?CM: Yes, a sympathetic conductor ;'s im-portant, particularly for what we were doingin Australia, but you must also have anorchestra who are willing to listen to theband. The great thing about this orchestrais that they had a very young average age.Most of them had grown up with Elton'smusic and respected him for who he is,and they were overjoyed to be playing withhim. So they were eager to please. They'dcome up to me in the bar afterwards andsay, "Did we play in time tonight?" I don'twant to damn orchestral players, but inEngland you very rarely get them even frat-ernizing with you, let alone asking youropinion. It's very much "us and them," butin Australia, everyone became friends.SG: During the performance, you werewearing headphones. What did you havecoming through?CM: I had a general mix, but heavy onElton's piano and voice, light on thedrums—because I could hear them acous-tically—and a mix of the orchestra so that Icould compensate if there were any prob-lems. I never needed to, though, for rea-sons we've been into, and also because atleast half the orchestra had cans as well sothat they could hear me.SG: Were you following the conductor, orwas he following you and Elton?CM: James Newton Howard, the conduc-tor, was listening very much to Elton, and

to a certain extent, to me. But there wereoccasions when I needed to follow him.For that reason he had to be visible to me.My kit was off to one side of the stage. Iwas facing Elton across the stage, and if Ilooked about 45 degrees to my right, therewas James with his baton. I could followhim, and he could turn 'round to checkthat everything was okay with me. Therewas a lot of eye contact going on. Onevery nice thing was that when I lookedover and above James, there was one en-tire bank of the orchestra. Within a fewdates I was looking up there and smiling,and I'd get 10 or more faces smiling backat me.SG: How did you feel when it was all over?CM: Terrible, [smiles] Coming off tour andnot having thousands of people applaud-ing you every night is a bit of a psychologi-cal blow. It certainly takes time to readjust.Even after getting over the jetlag, I foundmyself almost having an anxiety attack at8:00 every evening. It was still that magictime, the gig time. I found myself pacingaround, unable to relax. It isn't a real situ-ation on the road, but you find bands whotour continually because they becomehooked on it.SG: A lot of bands seem to do an annualalbum and tour routine.CM: An album is a rarified atmosphere, in

a way, if you are doing it as part of a bandand not as a session player. You are withthe same group of people, shut away in astudio.SG: Isn't there an element of this with EltonJohn? You are part of the band.CM: Yes. In some ways it's a new experi-ence for me, because I cut loose from bandsquite early on. Any band I was in was onlyas good as the person who turned up thelatest, drank the most, or took the mostdrugs. I wasn't prepared to be dragged downby people who behaved like that; I knewthat they were destined for failure anyway.As soon as I got an opportunity to breakinto sessions, I stayed there. From an earlyage I've been a great believer in turning upon time with the right attitude, the rightequipment, and doing the right job.SG: Are you signed to Elton while you arenot actually working with him?CM: Yes, although the current album is thefirst thing we've done since coming off theworld tour. In the meantime, I've been freeto do any other sessions that have comealong. Elton has kept the band on a retainer,which is unusual these days. With mostbands, the musicians are either membersof the band who are receiving royalties, orthey are ancilliary players who are broughtin to do a job and who disappear into the

"MAYBE ELECTRONICS HAVETAKEN WORK AWAY FROM PEOPLE;

BUT MAYBE IN SOME CASES THEWORK WASN'T THERE IN THE FIRSTPLACE, AND ELECTRONICS IS BEING

USED AS A SCAPEGOAT."

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Blue Oyster Cult, in its platinum prime,was the rarest of animals: a smart heavymetal band. And Albert Bouchard washardly the typical hard rock drummer.Founder of the band in 1967, he wrote itsmost interesting material, often collaborat-ing with visionary lyricists R. Meltzer andPatti Smith. Connoisseurs of the AlmightyDrum Solo still rank Bouchard's perform-ances among the legendary.

After 15 years, Bouchard left the Cultand began recording Imaginos, the solo al-bum he'd been planning even before B.O.C.was formed (one of Imaginos's songs actu-ally provided the band's name). Imaginos'sstrange brew originally included the Doors'Robbie Krieger, the Dream Syndicate's KarlPrecoda, Billy Idol drummer Thommy Price,Aldo Nova, Kenny Aaronson, Tommy Mor-rongiello (lan Hunter), Tommy Mandel(Bryan Adams, Peter Wolf), and HelenWheels. Bouchard also invited the Cult'sJoe Bouchard, Allen Lanier, and BuckDharma to join him in the studio, a factthat contributed to an ironic turn of events:After a six-year gestation, Columbia Rec-ords plans to release the tracks they cut asthe next Blue Oyster Cult record.

Bouchard returned to B.O.C. for a briefWest Coast tour, but has been more in-volved with new projects—including teach-ing drums. In addition to numerous sessiondates, recent collaborations spotlight notonly his power drumming but also his drumprogramming and talents as guitarist, writer,arranger, and producer. He's written withMark Barkan (author of Top-40 classics like"Pretty Flamingos"), Richie ("Tossin' andTurnin'") Adams, Gene ("Feel Like MakingLove") McDaniels, and singer Robert Cor-don. He produced a well-received inde-pendent album, Bambo, for David Roter,with whom he co-wrote "Joan Crawford"and "Unknown Tongue" for the Cult. He'sbeen busy out of the studio, too—perform-ing with artists as diverse as Peter Noone,the Spencer Davis Group, ex-PlasmaticRichie Stotts, the Mamas & the Papas, andhis own group, Bouchard.

A once undefeated high-school wrestler,Bouchard began running not long after leav-ing the Cult, and has competed success-fully in numerous road races, includingthree New York City Marathons. Besidestaking home the third-place trophy in arecent Sri Chinmoy Marathon, he's proud-est of beating David Lee Roth in the '87New York City race.DF: Your mother told you that you'd nevermake it as a drummer because you didn'thave any rhythm. What happened?AB: I had a very strong desire. I playedpiano for four or five years and playedorgan in church. But when I was 11, Iheard "Walk, Don't Run" by the Ventures,and it had this boss drum solo. Then therewas a string of drum-oriented hits out; nextI heard "Flamingo Express" by the RoyalTones and "Let There Be Drums" by SandyNelson. I immediately became totally im-mersed and started talking all kinds of fool-ishness—like I was going to become a pro-

fessional musician. My mother got veryupset, and her first reaction to discourageme was to say, "You can't play the drums.You're terrible; you have no rhythm."DF: Where did you live?AB: Clayton, New York, right where the St.Lawrence River meets Lake Ontario. It waspretty much a cultural wasteland—no of-fense to anybody who lives there. I neverheard of Chuck Berry until some groupcame over from Canada and played "JohnnyB. Goode." There was only one radio sta-tion. It was mostly country & western. Blackartists just did not get played.DF: Your parents were farmers?AB: Not really. My mother was a trans-posed city person who grew up in Boston,moved to Chicago, and was J. EdgarHoover's secretary. My father was fromClayton. He was in the Merchant Marine. Idon't know if they met in Chicago or ifthey met in Boston. All my father says is, "Ichased her 'til she caught me." Then myfather had a job with the Voice of Americaand I traveled all over the world before Iwas seven years old.

When we came back, he was an inven-tor for Stromberg-Carlson, and then he tooka job at the television station in Water-town, about 20 miles inland from Clayton.Anyway, my parents weren't really farm-ers, but we owned a farm. I'm the oldest ofseven—six boys and a girl—and to keep usout of trouble, my father had a tractor andall the necessary things to grow corn, to-matoes, string beans, and peas that we'dsell on a stand.

By the time I was getting into playingdrums, I was hungry to relate to my peersand not be on a farm out in the middle ofthe woods. Me and my brother Joe, and mycousin and his cousin, and a second cousinto my cousin—everyone was related some-how—all got together and had a little five-piece band. We called ourselves the RegalTones, in honor of the Royal Tones.DF: What was your first drumset?AB: At first, I borrowed one from the drum-mer in the high-school dance band andaugmented it with stuff from school. Fi-nally, I bought a used set with a 26" bassdrum, with single-tension double heads,and a dual-tension wood Slingerland Ra-dio King snare drum that was made in about1939 and would be worth a fortune now. Ihad a little tiny hi-hat, where the cymbalswere about 5", and a ride cymbal I laterused for a frisbee, it was so bad, about aneighth of an inch thick, 13" wide. I paid forit on time, five dollars or something eachweek. Shortly thereafter, my father went tosee relatives in Boston, and he stopped inQuincy at the Zildjian factory. He cameback with a cymbal I still have and haveused all my career. It sort of has an E-flatovertone, so it doesn't always work withall keys. I love cymbals. I have a lot ofthem, and I try to take care of them. Thatone has a little tiny crack in it, but I still useit. I was 12 when I got it. I never took it onthe road, but I've used it on just aboutevery recording. Eventually I got a hi-hat

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and two tom-toms. One was a Ludwig andthe other was a Kent, I think.

My drumset was all different colors—abrown snare, a black bass, a yellow tom-tom, and a blue tom-tom, so I got thisgolden-sparkle plastic, and I sanded it andglued it on the shells myself. That was myfirst real drumset. Oh, and I got rid of the26" bass drum because you couldn't seeme behind it, and it was huge and hard tocontrol. There's a whole trick to control-ling the sound of a bass drum. At the time, Ididn't realize there was such a thing, andeven if there was, I'd have to practice toget it down. So I got myself a 20" bassdrum, and I used that set all during highschool and college.DF: What kind of formal training did youhave?AB: I was in every band I could possiblyget in. In grammar school, I was in the littleorchestral band, which I'm sure soundedreally horrible. In high school, we had thisamazing teacher. His name was AnthonyGurvin. Then, we had Frank Sacci, who'dplayed with Stan Kenton, Gerry Mulligan—a lot of heavies. When he took over theband, I was the dance band drummer,which was very fortunate. Now I had a guywho was totally into that. He's the onewho started me playing with heavier sticks.I'd always played with the lightest stickspossible, a thin snare drum, and a verydelicate style. He'd say, "C'mon, hit thosethings! Swing!"DF: How did you meet Donald "BuckDharma" Roeser?AB: I got a college scholarship to ClarksonInstitute of Technology in Potsdam. Thewhole freshman class had to go to thisphys. ed. lecture. I saw him going in and Isaid, "Wow, man, you're the first guy I'veseen who's as short as me!" Later wejammed, and that was that. Our first gig

was freshman year, at a fraternity party.This was 1965. The band was called theDisciples. We played "My Girl" and tunesby Paul Revere & the Raiders, Lee Dorsey,Stones, Beach Boys, Beatles. The next year,after we went down to Greenwich Villageon weekends, we turned into the Travesty,a Blues Project copy band. By the end ofthe semester, we were getting money gigsand only one member of the band was stilla student.DF: How did the Soft White Underbellyevolve?AB: Buck Dharma and I had already triedto get a band together in New York Cityand couldn't find jobs or musicians. I wentto Chicago, joined a band that broke up ina couple of weeks, and lived in a band padwhere everybody was coming by and drop-ping acid. It was 1967, a crazy time every-where. Donald was living at home and hada construction job on Long Island, puttingup aerials on Catholic schools or some-thing. He wrote me saying, "Do you re-member that terrible magazine, Craw-daddy? I met one of the writers, who sayshe's going to make me a star." We madetwo records for Elektra, the first as the SoftWhite Underbelly. The second was retitledthe Stalk Forest Group. We'd played a gigat the Fillmore when Eric Bloom first joinedas lead singer—opening for Jethro Tull andthe Jeff Beck Group with Rod Stewart—that was so embarrassing we had to changeour name.DF: You had a lot of funny experiences inthe early days. What happened when youbacked up Chuck Berry?AB: We were booked to open for ChuckBerry and back up Chuck Berry, who wasopening for B.B. King at Generation, a clubon 8th Street. We were supposed to do itfor five days, but got canned the secondnight. There was no rehearsal—the stan-

dard thing. Chuck Berry was the best singerI'd ever played with at that point. He'dgive us visual hand signals—play quiet, playlouder. The leg coming down meant "here'sthe ending." He introduced a song thatnight that, two or three years later, went onto become a big, big smash. The first time Iheard it, I was playing it. It was like, whatis this? It was "My Ding-A-Ling." Afterwards,Paul Butterfield's band came down, and AlKooper, Elvin Bishop, and Jimi Hendrix.The promoter said, "Can these guys jam onyour stuff?" We said, "Ohhhhh, do what-ever! Sure, these guys are GODS."

We came back the next afternoon to getready for the show and our brand newamps were blown, my hi-hat was broken,all this stuff was ruined. Elvin Bishop blewthe amp; Hendrix would never do that. Hecame down and jammed with us a fewmonths later—once on guitar, another timeon bass—and he was always very respect-ful and very honest, the nicest cat you canimagine. So we asked the promoter formoney to fix our stuff. He's like, "I lost myshirt last night, forget it." We rushedaround—it was Saturday and all the musicstores closed early—and got new amps, anew hi-hat, and played another good gig.At the end, Blood, Sweat & Tears came enmasse and said, "Oh, can we use yourequipment?" We said, "Sorry, we're takingit with us tonight." The promoter said, "Ifyou don't let these guys play on your equip-ment, you're fired." So we let 'em use ourstuff, stayed 'til the end of the jam to makesure nothing was destroyed, and the pro-moter said, "Now take your stuff and getout of here. I never want to see you again."The next night Chuck Berry had anotherband. Then Generation closed. Jimi Hen-drix bought it and made it into ElectricLadyland.DF: Probably not too many people knowthat Blue Oyster Cult was Jackson Browne'sfirst back-up band.AB: He was a folkie acoustic act who got agig at Stony Brook College. We'd workedwith a friend of his. He came out and stayedat our band house on the Island for threedays and we rehearsed. I still have wildpsychedelic versions of some of his tunes.He just kept shaking his head and saying,"This is not going to work."DF: What was it like when you first startedrecording?AB: The recording process is always a bitstrange with any group, even if they're vet-erans. You rehearse, and you get used tohearing things without earphones. Then yougo into the studio and put earphones on,and you feel isolated. I don't know what itis—lack of communication? That's discon-certing. It's just something you have to ig-nore after a while, the headphone thing.The first record we made for Elektra wasvery strange because we did some weirdmiking techniques. I had a 3 1/2" piccolosnare that was miked by a shotgun mic'about 20 feet above it pointing down. Thebass drum was mounted horizontally, withan upside down cocktail-drum pedal. It was

a 26" bass, because I really missed myoriginal drum. So I got another 26" with aninverted pedal. I was crazy. I thought itwould sound good. As it turned out, it re-ally sounded horrible. It was hard to playand the beater didn't hit the sweet spot ofthe bass drum.DF: When did you start jumping over thedrums and playing guitar on stage?AB: We had this routine where we did atriple drum solo—Eric and Donald wouldcome back and play the drums and I'd goout and sing "Fingertips, Part II" and jumparound for a while. It was quite a routineactually, but after you've done it 150 times,it's enough. You're on your third timearound the States, you've done it, everyone'sseen it. One of the guys said, "Hey, youcan play the guitar. Why don't we do fiveguitars? It's never been done." We realizedthat people like to see unusual things, likea bunch of people really hamming it up forthe crowd.DF: Who influenced you in terms of play-ing?AB: Well, the Ventures' Howie Johnson in-fluenced me very much. After that, the guyin the Blues Project sort of influenced me—but that was briefly. Then I started gettinginto some of the blues cats, like FrancisClay, who played on "The Thrill Is Gone"for B.B. I met him when he was playingwith Muddy Waters—terrific drummer, greatposture. He played loud and simple. Whena fill came, he just put it in. He was a veryfatherly kind of guy, too. I dug him a lot; itwas a personal thing as well.

Then on our first tour after we were signedto Columbia, we were the middle groupbetween Mahavishnu, with Billy Cobham,and the Byrds. I had heard the acousticMahavishnu, and I thought he was goingout there with this acoustic music. I thought,"Oh great, we'll come out there, flatten'em with the heavy metal, and the Byrds'lldo the hits." I didn't bother to catch theopening act the first two or three shows,which was good for me, because that madethose two or three shows pretty good. ThenI made the mistake of watching, and Icouldn't follow Cobham. Nobody had everheard that before; it was too much. I wouldactually get sick before I went on. It's agood thing they didn't have vocals anddidn't play in 4/4 time, 'cause they reallywould have killed the audience.

I became a Cobham freak. The next twoor three albums, I started playing doublebass. Then I started overplaying all the time.Some people still like some of those re-cordings. Especially Tyranny And Muta-tion—there's crazy, crazy stuff. The quadremix is pretty wild. After that, I startedsettling into Bonham, who's still a very biginfluence. Live, he blew me away. The big-gest influence, I have to say, is Peter Gab-riel. Not Phil Collins, but the stuff PhilCollins did on Peter Gabriel's third album.Even now, when I hear it I salivate. Thenext one Gabriel put out was okay, but I'mnot a big fan of putting drum machines onrecords. I think drum machines can be a

useful learning tool or an interesting toy ona track, but they really do not project theprimitive physical feeling you get from areal drummer.DF: Yet you use machines all the time.AB: Writing, I seldom play live drums. It'susually a drum machine. I'll find some-thing that suits the tune and let it go. If youhave a drummer programming it, he's goingto know what to do. A lot of people pro-gram drum machines who don't know any-thing about logical sounding drum parts.It's an illusion with a drum machine, so toreally work well with it, you have to makethe illusion seem real. I suppose they'llfind other ways to start using drum ma-chines—to generate sounds or augmentyour sounds. Maybe they'll find a way toimitate the dynamic of a real drummer. Thedrumming on that Michael Jackson album,Thriller, for instance—that mega album, themost popular album in the universe—didnot really knock me out. It sounds thin andtinny. Wimpy. But people weren't buyingthe album for the drumming.DF: Do you feel that with teaching, you'reentering into a new phase of your career?

AB: With teaching, I feel that maybe I'mgiving a little bit back to the music. Insteadof just taking, I'm giving back. And I reallyfeel like I'm helping other drummers getbetter. And I see the results; for instance,one of my students came back and saidhe'd just practiced for the first time with hisband since he started taking lessons fromme. I'd just helped him understand thethings he'd been doing and showed himhow to improve his form to get a bettersound. When he went back to his band,everybody commented on how much bet-ter his drumming was. He said that thesessions he had with me had a lot to dowith it. And I think so, because I showedhim concrete things to help him get a bet-ter sound, and he started using them. Butthe most important thing is practice. If youpractice this stuff, you'll get it. If you don'tpractice it, you won't. One of the hardestthings for my students to get together is tohave a place and a time to practice.DF: A lot of people think rock 'n' roll is justbashing away. They don't seem to realize ittakes the kind of discipline you would ap-

Exotic pleasures sometimes hide in strange places. Recently I visited the ItalianCymbal Manufacturers Association in Pistoia, Italy. (In Italian, the company's name isUnione Fabbricanti Italiani Piatti Musicali, hence the acronym "UFIP.") I was touringthe factory with the president of the company, Luigi Tronci, when an unexpected visitfrom one of his salesmen forced him to leave me alone. "Why don't you wait in here,"he said, opening the door to a room full of various UFIP cymbals: hi-hats, rides, swish-sizzles, crashes, and China-type cymbals, plus other percussion instruments such aschimes, bells, crotales, and other bronze objects too numerous to mention.

I picked up a drumstick and wandered around, touching this, tapping that, when Icame upon a 47" gong. As I picked up the mallet, images of oriental palaces came tomind.

No matter where I touched it, a different sound with a different tone emerged.When I hit it hard, the sound crashed, lowering to a vibrant hum throughout theroom. When I hit it rhythmically, the sounds mixed together in a cocktail of vibratingsounds.

I was so lost in my fascinating encounter with the gong that I didn't even noticeTronci standing behind me. "Do you like it? It's a symphonic gong made of a singlepiece of fused bronze, hand hammered till it reaches the form and soundcharacteristics required of a truly symphonic instrument."

"What's the cost?" I asked, thinking I'd like one to put in my bedroom."This is our largest. It sells for $1,650.00."I reluctantly hung up the mallet. It was time to get back to our story.

For this isn't a story about gongs; rather, it's the story of a small,historic artisan cymbal factory as it struggles to run a race againstthe mass production and slick marketing techniques of the giantcymbal-producing manufacturers.

Following Tronci from the office building to the factory,little did I realize that I was about to witness an operationcombining centuries-old craftsmanship with moderntechnology. The result is the production of qualitypercussion instruments geared for both thecontemporary drummer and the classicalpercussionist.

The atmosphere in the factory wasunexpectedly calm as nine cymbalsmiths werecasting and pouring the bubbly hot liquid intorotating cymbal molds. Tronci smiled like acook about to tell you how the dish carryinghis name is prepared. "We make our ownfusion called B20." He pointed to four 260-pound slabs of copper against the wall."The copper comes from Chile. B20 ismade of 80% copper and 20% tin, whichcomes from Vietnam. The metals aremelted together in gas ovens. The semi-professional, economical cymbals wemake are made with B8, which is 92%copper and 80% tin."

He led me around the room, explainingthe five phases of the UFIP cymbalproduction.

A cymbalsmith pouring theliquid hot metal into arotating cymbal mold.

by Jon Mclnnes

Phase I

When the metal is liquid hot, it is pulledfrom the ovens with heavy ladels andpoured into the cymbal molds rotating at1,000 spins per minute. Tronci explainedthat the rotating molds are a unique methodof cymbal making called the "rotocastingmethod."

"Rotocasting was invented 10 years agoby the firm Zanchi, ex-partners in UFIP,"he said. "It took 14 years of study to perfectthe system. Before, the cymbals were sim-ply poured into standing iron molds orstamped out from uniform rolls of copper.

"Rotocasting permits us to work withpurer, more compact, and harder metals,"Tronci continued. "The metal impurities arepushed to the exterior of the plate by cen-trifugal force. We believe the system ofrotocasting not only gives the cymbals amore decisive sound but makes them muchmore resistent as well."

Phase II

The cymbals are taken from the moldsand put into an oven where they are "re-cooked" at 600 degrees until cherry red.Then they are pulled out and submerged intanks of cold, running water. Tronci saidthis thermic treatment tempers the cym-bals, permitting them to be worked further.While tempering is necessary to make mostmetals harder, with bronze metals—in par-ticular B20—it serves to make the metalsofter and pliable.

Phase III

The tempered cymbals are then takenfrom the casting room to the turret latheshop. We closed the door on the furnaceroom and watched as the cymbals werefixed on the lathes. With hand-held chis-els, the craftsmen shaved the rough crust

off the cymbals. Slowlythe lucid bronze colorsemerged from the dullmetal plates.

Phase IV

We left the hum of thelathe room to enter an-other room where a mansat on a chair before ahammer press. Here theshaved cymbals are ham-mered into shape with anelectric hammer at a pres-sure of 125 pounds persquare inch. Each cym-bal receives hundreds ofhits (depending on thesize of the cymbal). Troncisaid not only does thehammering give the finalshape to the cymbal, italso serves to give thecymbal a compact mo-lecular structure neces-sary for the creation of topsonorous qualities.

Phase V

After getting the day-lights beaten out of them,the cymbals are passedback to the turret latheshop. Tronci said that atthis point the cymbals arealmost ready to beplayed. But one more shaving is needed onthe lathe. After being hammered, the cym-bal is rigid and carries a rather crude sound.The second spin on the lathe is machineregulated and serves to give the cymbal afinal peeling. Little, if any, of the metal isremoved. The final shaving makes the cym-

bal softer and more har-monic. It removes ob-vious hammer marks,and it also ensures thateach cymbal has thesame weight and thick-ness as the one beforeit.

Tronci wanted me totake note of the secondshaving. "A commoncriticism is that hand-crafted cymbals haveweight differences. Butthe second automaticshaving on the lathebrings all the cymbalsdown to the sameweight."

The cymbals are thenstacked on pallets andleft to age like bottlesof racked wine. Troncisaid that in a few weekseach cymbal would begiven a final examina-tion, stamped with thecompany logo, andshipped out.

We went back to the offices, and I com-plimented Tronci on UFIP's smooth, effi-cient, and seemingly natural operation.Tronci waved off the compliment and ex-plained that cymbal making in Pistoia goesback to the time of the Etruscans. For them,making cymbals wasn't just a job, but away of life.

It wasn't by accident that cymbal mak-ing developed in this small town, 40 mileseast of Florence. Long before Christ, theEtruscans were casting and working metalsin this area. Iron and bronze shops wereoperating in Pistoia right through the darkages. If you lived in the area and wantedsomething in metal, you went to Pistoia. Inthe 18th century, Pistoia was famous for itschurch bells and bronze factories. Churchorgans, famous throughout Europe, werebuilt in Pistoia by the family Agati Tronci—direct ancestors of the current president ofUFIP.

UFIP was born in 1929 through the un-ion of the artisan families Tronci, Biasei,and Zanchi. These families owned themetal-casting shops that produced Turkish-type cymbals and other percussion instru-ments. Rather than compete with eachother, they decided to unite and create asingle company. They began by producingimitation Turkish cymbals, the kind thatwere originally produced in Istanbul by theArmenian family Zildjian. Even UFIP has totake off its hat to the man who originallyput drummers and cymbals together in thewestern world.

Shaving the cymbals by hand on the lathe.

A cymbal being hammered on the hammer press. Hammeringgives final shape to the cymbal and creates a compact

molecular structure for better sonority.

At the turn of the century, AvedisZildjian believed the musical expressionscreated through cymbals could catch onin the USA. He separated himself fromhis family, left Istanbul, and began mak-ing cymbals in America. With the birthof jazz, cymbals became popular over-night. Then came bebop in the 1940s.With bebop the cymbal was given therole of keeping time. From that momenton, the cymbal had a leading role inmodern music.

In Italy, before World War II, eventhough UFIP had been making cymbalsfor years, the cymbal was an underratedinstrument. At the time, the cymbals weresmall, 10-14 inches in diameter, andwere used almost exclusively in march-ing bands. But immediately after the war,people wanted to forget the misery andstart enjoying the present. Americanmusic was popular. The request for cym-bals was hot and heavy. Large orders,even from countries as far away as theUSA, were backlogged, waiting to befilled.

The golden years of UFIP came in the1950s when the Italian handcrafted prod-ucts were appreciated for their style andquality. But the good times didn't lastforever. The cymbal craftsmen soon hadto begin competing with mass produc-tion. Low prices achieved through light-ning-quick distribution techniques and am-bitious marketing campaigns of the big cym-bal producers soon pushed UFIP into acorner. Today, UFIP is fighting its way outof that corner. While the company isn'tcontending for the heavyweight title, it isstill struggling to be ranked amongst thebest in the cymbal-making category.

Today, UFIP remains a small companywith 12 employees. It turns out about 250cymbals a day with a total yearly sales of$1 million. The company doesn't want togrow to compete. Their motto is: "Quantitycompromises quality." And quality is theace up their sleeve.

"We're the number-one cymbal makerin Italy," Tronci said. "But Italy only has100,000 drummers compared to millionsof drummers in the USA. We're the sec-ond-biggest-selling cymbal in France andHolland, and third in Germany.

"But we're in the little league whencompared to the big industries like Pearl inJapan, Paiste in Europe, and Zildjian in theUSA. Still, we're optimistic about our fu-ture. Sure, the big industries will win withtheir low prices in the beginning. But there'sa growing movement today to return toquality. People will pay more to have thebest. Now that's the right kind of attitude tohave, and it's the right idea when it comesto cymbals, too."

Tronci picked up an anonymous cymbalfrom one of the leading cymbal makers,balanced it on his index finger, and tappedit a couple times with a drumstick he hadon his desk. Then he picked up a UFIPcymbal and played it the same way. "Hearthe difference?" he smiled. "The best cym-

bal is the one with the highest range ofnotes. Guess which one it is! Every drum-mer should make this comparison test.Handmade cymbals have more notes thanindustrial cymbals. That's what we're tryingto achieve. If a drummer appreciates thisand wants the best, he's going to have tocheck us out.

"Unfortunately, economic realities makeit almost impossible for an artisan com-pany like ours to remain faithful to theancient art of cymbal making. The top bandsin the world should be using UFIP cym-bals. That would help our position on themarket for sure. But they prefer the famousnames and the sponsorships that only largeindustrial cymbal makers can afford to of-fer."

Tronci is obviously frustrated with thebuying preferences of today's drummers.But even if the world should cave in to-morrow, UFIP will remain a popular choiceamongst classical percussionists. Perhaps amajor rock group never emerged from It-aly. But this Mediterranean country remainsthe capital of lyrical music: Percussion in-struments for international symphonic or-chestras is UFIP's main source of bread andbutter.

"UFIP has forged custom-made instru-ments at the request of composers. Puccinihad us make a series of bronze bells ofvarious notes for his opera Turandot. As aresult, we're the only ones making thosebells today. Want to play Turandott Youhave to pay us a visit to play it right."

Tronci said that the company is trying tocover the entire arc of a percussion marketin continual expansion. "In the past ten

years we have enlarged our sector of per-cussion instruments. We're making tubularbells, bell trees, marching cymbals, Tibetanbells, winding chimes, sixtrees and bur-man gongs, tarn pangs, ogororos, tam tarns,falt bells, Burma bells, and crotales."

What will be the future of UFIP? Willthey fold, as 70% of the small, artisan com-panies in Italy have recently been forced todo? Can a small percussion production shopsurvive the corporate realities of today'smarket?

Tronci sighed. "We're fighting to sellhandmade cymbals for about the price ofindustrially produced cymbals. We're evenproducing an economical line of cymbalscalled Kashian for the semi-professional andbeginning drummers. Just check out ourprice list. We're not that much more ex-pensive, but you get so much more for themoney.

"I think there's room for everyone in thismarket. At least there should be room forlow-priced mass-produced cymbals, and forthe higher priced, quality cymbals. Theo-retically, everyone should be able to havea piece of the cake.

"But I think this all depends now on theprofessional drummers. It's so importantwhat they use when they play. Do theyrecognize the quality and difference ofhandmade cymbals? If they do, then theyshould show it by using them on stage.Professional drummers have the responsi-bility of teaching the younger drummersthe difference in sound between machine-made cymbals and those made by mastercraftsmen. Our destiny is in theirhands."

Luigi Tronci - president of UFIP

T E A C H E R S ' F O R U Mby Daniel J. Lauby

Books And Lessons:"Do I Really Need Them?"

There are many drummers today who feelthey would not benefit from formal lessonsfrom a qualified, local teacher. Most of themhave been playing for several years on theirown and feel reasonably confident abouttheir playing. Some feel that they wouldlike to study with someone, but are afraidthat the lessons would be "all book" andno "practical" study. Since most of thesedrummers are older and have had littlereading experience, books worry them andthey feel lessons would be a waste of timeand money. So some questions arise: "Do Ineed to learn to read?" "Is counting reallyso important?" "Do I need formal lessons,or can I just pick it up and 'groove'?" Thesequestions are asked by many drummers; ifyou are one, consider the following beforeyou make any decisions.

It is hard to express just how important itis for you to learn to read music. Let mebegin by saying, you need it\ If you are oneof those drummers who asks, "Do I need tolearn to read music?" you should also askyourself, "Did I need to go to school?"Okay, so maybe your scholastic perform-ance wasn't so hot, or you never had adate, or maybe you were often mugged foryour milk money. But try to imagine notbeing able to read this article—or anythingelse, for that matter. School taught you toread and write, to analyze and understandthe language you speak so that you couldfunction successfully in society. That is theobvious, practical side of learning to readand write. But school gave you somethingelse, something much more valuable andeven more practical. School gave you astronger mind!

When you learned to analyze your lan-guage through reading and writing, youalso developed a greater capacity to think,reason, and create. With a strong mind,you can now change the course of yourlife. Learning to read music works in thesame way for you as a drummer as schoolworked for you as a student. There is noceiling to the success potential of the drum-mer who can read. But for the musicallyilliterate musician, that potential is dimin-ished. Perhaps you are saying to yourself,"Learning to read written language is im-portant because we need that skill in life,but drummers rarely read music on thejob." This is true. However, remember thatyour primary job as a drumset player is tokeep time. If rhythms are wrong, if the tunedoesn't feel right, or if the time rushes ordrags, the responsibility falls on the drum-mer. The ability to read prevents mistakesin these areas. How? Because if you can

read, you can count! Drummers communi-cate to listeners primarily through the powerof rhythm. Therefore, it is extremely impor-tant for every drummer to know how tocount.

We learn how to count music by readingmusic. On the practical side, this is themost important reason there is for learningto read music. Reading teaches counting,and every drummer's career depends,sooner or later, on his or her ability tocount. The Haskell Harr Drum Methodsare among the most widely used founda-tional books. They are designed to teachdrummers to read and play the basicrhythms and rudiments. (Without excep-tion, every drummer should have the basicrudiments together.) But this is not the pri-mary goal of these books. On page 12, Mr.Harr writes, "It is very important to have amethod of counting time, to develop andmaintain a perfect sense of rhythm." Harrdid not say that reading develops perfecttime, nor did he say you must become anexcellent reader. Harr said that countingdevelops perfect time. The book then pro-vides basic exercises toward developing theart of counting. Counting is the primarygoal of Harr's text. It is no accident thatstudents who are trained by Haskell Harr'sDrum Method always seem to have anexceptional sense of rhythm, provided theyhave counted aloud and tapped their footas instructed.

Through counting, the mind becomesstrong; it becomes like an absorbent spongesoaking up all kinds of ideas and rhythmsfrom your own thoughts and from the mu-sicians around you. You will become some-what psychic in that you will be able topre-hear stops and breaks, perfect fills andsolos, chord changes, and perfect cymbalchanges from hi-hat to ride cymbal—all inadvance. You won't need to hear tunesover and over again to learn them; oncewill be enough if you can count. You willbecome more creative, always discoveringnew sounds and ideas for the world tohear. Your basic time will become rocksolid. Click tracks will become your friendsand you won't fear them anymore. Count-ing through reading will enable you to puta name on every idea that pops into yourmind. You'll be able to retain and quicklyrecall your ideas, because you will haveput them into a counting system. Also,through counting you will be able to com-municate your ideas to the rest of the band.If these are skills you have been lookingfor, you'll find them—not by playing tomore records or jamming with more bands,

but through mastering counting andstrengthening your creative mind.

Physically speaking, just how does count-ing work all of these miracles? Well, it is ananatomical fact that the speech center inyour brain can have authority over motornerves. In other words, whatever you saywith your mouth and reinforce with your"will" must inevitably happen in your play-ing. But you have to involve speech. Youhave to speak your intended idea with feel-ing before you play it. In other words, countor sing your intended idea with authority,using the same feel and tones as it willsound when you play it. This type of count-ing will develop a powerful mind, totally incommand of your limbs.

Do you need formal lessons, or can youjust pick this up on your own? If at allpossible, take lessons. It is never too late tostart. Seek out a competent, dedicated in-structor and do it right. A good teacher willhave a balanced program of reading, tap-ing, improvisation, working with clicks, etc.Even if you are an advanced player, lessonswill be worthwhile. Keep in mind that, evenif you take lessons, you are still—to a de-gree—self-taught, because drumset is animprovisatory instrument. This means thatdrummers make their parts up as they go. Ateacher can guide you and expose you tonew ideas, but on the job, you will stillplay whatever pops into your mind at anyparticular moment. Your soul comesthrough, not the teacher's. Because we makeit up as we go, it is important to get someguidance. Learn to read, learn to count,learn to listen, learn to create and express.Do not avoid lessons because you are afraidof books or because you think you don'tneed to read. Take the lessons. Master count-ing and you will master your mind; masteryour mind and you master your playing.

When you're playing drumset and read-ing from a book or a chart, remember thatyou should not necessarily play preciselywhat is written. Music is not that restrictive.You should play to the interpretation of themusic that will be in your mind throughcounting with feeling. If you are readingmusic in a band, don't stay glued to thepage. Use your ears. Your ears should al-ways supersede your eyes, because musicis an aural art. If it sounds good, do it.Since the drumset is improvisatory, remainflexible and don't feel tied down or re-stricted by the written music. In fact, thewritten music should make you secure; it'sa foundation that allows you the freedomto build and create within the writtenpage.

T H E J O B B I N G D R U M M E Rby Simon Goodwin

Making People DanceThere can be nothing more demoralizingthan sitting on stage and looking out over alarge expanse of empty dance floor, whenyour band has been booked to play fordancing. Assuming that there is an audi-ence there, they are supposed to be danc-ing, and their failure to do so seems toreflect unfavorably on your function. Thepeople who book you for the gig obviouslyexpect people to dance, so the chances arethat they won't be too pleased with you.

That's the situation on the face of it, butwe all know that it isn't necessarily as simpleas that. Obviously the music has to bedanceable, but it must also be the righttype of music for the particular audience.Different age groups, ethnic groups, or othergroupings of people with specific attitudescan love one form of music and hate an-other. (Remember the scene in The BluesBrothers when the band is booked into acountry and western club? In this case, "TheBrothers" were able to adapt, which is whatevery gigging band should be prepared todo. But it is possible to take this so far. Afterall, we only see Elwood, Jake, and Co. doone country number. How did they copewith the rest of the evening?)

It may be that the audience doesn't placethe same importance on dancing as doesthe club manager. (Managers like people toget hot and thirsty, so that they can in-crease their takings.) The social atmospherein a room in which music is being playedis an important factor for bringing peoplein—before they even think about dancing.Often that atmosphere is all that people arelooking for. They might really appreciatethe music, but may just not be in the habitof dancing in order to show that apprecia-tion. If you are receiving more than justpolite applause, you know that they likewhat you are doing.

All of the above goes to show that it canbe factors beyond your control that arekeeping the dance floor uninhabited. But itis no good taking the attitude that you areplaying perfectly good music and that ifthe audience don't want to dance to it,then they are just tasteless or ignorant. Inorder to sell their product, musicians mustbe prepared to analyze the needs of theircustomers. Obviously the rhythm is an all-important factor. When a strong, motivat-

ing rhythm is played at a comfortabletempo, the basic requirement for dancingis satisfied. Some people are so determinedto dance that you could set a drum ma-chine going and keep them at it for hours.(Producers of disco records have made alot of money by doing little more than that!)On the other hand, a lot of dancers aremuch more demanding. They want tunesthat they know and like before they willventure onto the floor.

It's always difficult to know exactly whata particular group of people will know andlike (unless it's a Top-40 crowd), but expe-rience will make you aware of a few safebets. Most bands have some "get 'em onthe floor" numbers up their sleeves. Re-member these are not necessarily songsthat the band likes (often the reverse istrue), but instead are numbers that an audi-ence is likely to respond to. To underscorethe point that some people only respond tofamiliar tunes: It is often noticeable thatpeople will get up to dance when theyrecognize a certain melody line or "hook,"while the same song's introduction can becompletely ignored. I have even seenpeople waiting on the dance floor whenone number is finished, listening to theintro for the next one before dancing againwhen the melody starts. Also, if you seguefrom a familiar number to an unfamiliarone—even though it may have an identicalfeel—people will often leave the floor.

When playing familiar numbers, it isworthwhile to check that your tempos arethe same as those of the well-known re-corded versions (unless these tempos haveproven to be less danceable than others).Otherwise, the audience is likely to dislikeyour performance of a particular number—often without even realizing why. Num-bers with changes in tempo should usuallybe avoided, or these changes should be"ironed out" to give a steady rhythmic flow.(However, there are exceptions. One of myband's "get 'em on the floor" tunes is "NewYork New York"—slow section and all. Itseldom misses!)

Before leaving the subject of tempos, wemust remember the "strict-tempo" custom-ers who require every song within a par-ticular style to be at a particular tempo,regardless of any musical or "establishedrecorded version" considerations. (There are"official" tempi for the various dances.) Ifyou are likely to have to play for this typeof audience, it is well worth having a met-ronome and a list of settings to turn to forsupport. The problem arises when you geta few fanatical strict-tempo dancers mixedin with a casual dancing crowd: The for-

mer demand things at their special compe-tition tempi, while the latter find them im-possible to dance to. So either way, theband is wrong!

Now we come to that all-important ques-tion: When it comes to making peopledance, what do we, as drummers, need tocontribute? The first consideration has tobe establishing the right tempo, whetheryou count in or pick it up from someoneelse. It is necessary to be aware of thedancers' needs at all times. If a tempo seemsto be uncomfortable for them, you mighttry adjusting it. If this is likely to upset otherband members, it is certainly somethingthat should be discussed before the num-ber is performed again.

Whatever the type of music you are play-ing, give the dancers a clear "beat" to fol-low. This generally means playing at a vol-ume that is clearly audible (but not over-bearing), and avoiding overplaying thatmight confuse the dancers' perception ofwhere the time is. Remember that musi-cians, because of their experience and train-ing, can feel a rhythm that is only hinted ator highly embellished; "normal people"usually need to have it dictated to them.Sometimes it may prove necessary to adapta perfectly acceptable (in musical terms)drum part, just to suit the type of peopleyou are playing for. For instance, I used toenjoy playing the "one-drop" style of reg-gae drumming, and would incorporate it inthe reggae-style hit tunes we played. Thatwas until someone suggested that the pre-dominantly white, middle-aged audienceswe were playing for weren't able to relateto that rhythmic feel. I fell back on thetrusty old backbeat, and the response tothe numbers was instantly better.

Yes, it is disappointing when you have tobe less adventurous in your playing for thesake of a dancing audience, but it goeswith the territory. Throughout the ages,composers and musicians have needed tocome to terms with the idea that they areproducing music to dance to, rather thanjust to be listened to, and have had to workwithin the constraints involved. However,when you think about it, the positive sideto all this is very strong: Many more bandsare employed playing for people to dancethan for people to just sit and listen. Also,what more positive response can you haveto your music than crowds of people want-ing to get up and move to it? I introducedthis article by conjuring up the vision of anempty dance floor. Let me leave you withthis thought: Imagine that dance floorpacked with people. Isn't it all worth it?

M I D I C O R N E Rby Jim Fiore

Playing Drum MachinesWith Drumsticks

"Play buttons"—a misnomer if ever therewas one. You know what I'm talking about:those little squares of plastic growing outof the face of your drum machine. Theydon't look anything at all like drums, noteven electronic drums. Yet the user manualalways states that you're supposed to "play"them. Maybe a keyboard player or a typistcan "play" them, but I can't. In fact, when-ever I want to feel a little spastic (that is,more so than usual), I just walk up to mydrum machine and start hitting the buttons.Play buttons, simply put, are not designedfor drummers; they are designed for guitar-ists, computer hacks, the guys with thesynths, and that most curious of creatures—the North American Table Beater (heard onlunch counters across the land). Unless youhave an exceedingly light touch, laser-likeaccuracy, and don't mind repair bills, I don'trecommend using your favorite pair of 7Ason those buttons. If you've been followingalong with our past discussions, you knowthat the obvious way around this hurdle isvia MIDI. MIDI will allow you to have theconvenience of the drum machine with thecomfort of a normal drumkit.

Any reasonably powerful drum machinewill allow you to access its sounds (andusually other functions as well) throughMIDI. All that is required is a set ofdrumpads (or acoustic drums with triggers)and a trigger-to-MIDI converter. If you'veever shopped around for a drum machine,you know that there is a wide variety ofunits on the market, ranging in price from afew hundred up to a few thousand dollars.The capabilities of these machines vary asmuch as their respective prices. The ques-tion, then, basically is: "As a drummer, whatdo I need from a drum machine?" Thereare two divergent paths that you can fol-low: (1) You can use the machine in the"standard" way (i.e., never touching yourdrumsticks), and program the beastie byhand. This means, of course, that you neverreally "play" it; in essence, the machine"plays" by itself. Or (2) You can use theunit as a voice module, play it in real time,and (if you need to program it) you do yourprogramming with your sticks. (We'll leavethe sequencing stuff out for now.) In thefirst case, your requirements are probablypretty much the same as most people's:How many patterns, how many songs, howdo I sync it, what's the maximum resolu-tion, etc. In the second instance, song/pat-

tern/resolution questions may be trivial, andthe important things may be: Can I recallmixes, how flexible is note assignment, canI detune sounds, and so forth.

There is no law that says that you mustprogram in patterns and sequences for adrum machine to be useful! Consideringthe prices and capabilities of some of thenewer units, they make excellent expand-ers for larger systems and can prove to bevery cost effective as the core of a smallersetup. In such a system you may neverneed to enter a pattern or sequence! As amatter of fact, a pad/drum machine combooffers quite a bit for the student, not theleast of which is realistic sound with a vol-ume control.

Okay, so there you are in Ralph's MondoMusic Emporium, surrounded by two dozenof the latest and greatest in the realm ofdrum machines. Which one makes the bestvoice module? First and foremost, listen tothem. It doesn't matter how many featuresa model has, if you don't like the way itsounds, don't buy it. If you do, it's a rea-sonable bet that you'll never be happy withit. If you're looking for realistic sounds,make sure that you compare units througha reasonable set of full-range loudspeakersand not through the bass cabinet that thesalesman could hook up quickly. If techni-cal specifications are available, look formachines that have high sample rates andhigh resolution. If you're a stickler for abright, strong top end, you'll want a samplerate of at least 40kHz. It is possible withcertain hardware tricks to get a bright soundwith lower sample rates, so don't treat thisas an iron rule. On the resolution side, thegeneral idea is "more bits is better." Manydrum machines use 12-bit encoding thesedays, with a few of the newer units using16 bits (as do CDs). Some less expensiveunits, and some of the older guys on theblock, utilize a compressed 8-bit format.Compressed formats offer lower memoryusage, and hence lower cost, with reason-able dynamic range. Their one downfall isthat the noise level tracks the drum soundlevel. This is kind of like getting a burst ofhiss every time you strike a drum. Thiseffect is more prominent on sounds withless high-frequency content (like a kick orfloor tom), and often goes unnoticed onsounds like snares or a cabasa.

The other side of the sounds coin is quan-tity. Does the unit you're considering have

a wide enough variety of sounds to createthe kit that you're after? First looks can bevery deceiving here, so be careful. For ex-ample, model A may have three differenttom sounds (high, medium, and low), whilemodel B may only have two (acoustic andelectronic). It may work out that model B isthe best choice here, assuming that youcan change the pitch of these sounds. Pitchchange was once found only on the mostexpensive machines, but today can befound on units in the $500 range. It ispossible to produce three or four toms fromone tom sample with this feature. Not allpitch changers are alike, though. There area few different ways of producing a pitchshift, and they affect the sound in differentways. Of major interest is the range of pitchshifting and the number of steps available.For natural sounds, you probably won'tneed more than one half octave of shift upand down. Pitch shifting generally worksbest with simpler sounds like toms, and isless effective with cymbal sounds. (In somecases the word "grotesque" comes to mind.)For pitch shifting to be really useful, youneed some form of facility to copy sounds.In this way you can copy a tom sound toseveral "locations" and shift the pitch ofeach of them differently—the net resultbeing a set of toms. Some machines alsooffer control over the decay—or length—ofa sound. Again, it may be possible to copya sound to several "locations" and indi-vidually adjust decay (for example, to pro-duce a choked cymbal). Okay, what's this"location" business, eh? Well, this is wherethe different design philosophies of elec-tronics companies really show up.

If you were a designer, how would youget a given sound out "into the real world"?The most straightforward solution is: Giveeach sound a play button and an outputjack. This works well for small machines,but it runs up against a few obstacles. Whenyou make a machine with a lot of sounds,that means lots of buttons and lots of out-put converters, amplifiers, and jacks. Eachoutput path is referred to as a voice. Do notconfuse output jacks with voices. You see,in an effort to reduce cost, manufacturersuse a variety of techniques to share outputcircuitry across sounds. Usually, you mustsomehow assign a sound to a play button(i.e., a "location"), and then assign the playbutton to a given MIDI note number. When-ever that note number is received, the drum

machine will act as though you hit the playbutton. Depending on the complexity ofthe machine, you may have the option ofassigning play buttons to specific outputjacks. Simple machines may only give youa single stereo output pair, while largemachines may give you eight or more freelyassignable outputs. For plug-and-go sim-plicity, stereo outputs are quite nice, par-ticularly if you have control over place-ment (panning). If you ever do a lot ofoutboard processing on a number of sounds,separate outputs will be required for eachprocessed sound.

Now comes the perpetual favorite: "over-ring." Remember, a single voice can pro-duce only one sound at a time. What if youhit a crash cymbal twice in a row? Thevoice sees this as two sound events andcuts off the first sound in order to repro-duce the second. The end result is that youcannot "roll" sounds; they simply will notblend. To blend sounds, you need theequivalent of two voices. In this way, thefirst sound will be allowed to die out as thesecond one starts. Do not confuse this withlayering; they are not the same. In somemachines it is possible to assign multiplesounds to a given play button. Triggeringthe play button produces that combinationof sounds. If you layer the same soundtwice, you don't get the blending effect,you just get a slightly louder sound. Thisblending capability is sometimes referredto as dynamic voice allocation. Unfortu-nately, it is not readily available on drummachines at present. Oddly enough, thereare times when you need to purposely cutoff sounds in order to prevent them fromsounding simultaneously. The obvious ex-ample is with hi-hats. Unless you own twoof them, there's no way in which you canplay an open and a closed hi-hat at thesame time! Many machines have this sortof exclusivity built in. If not, they can usu-ally be coerced into doing so with theproper voice assignments.

Another useful feature is mixing. Thisallows you to control the volume of eachindividual sound. In more sophisticatedunits, you get control over which soundsare assigned to what outputs, decay, andthe like. In essence, this is the equivalent ofa synth patch. Usually, this sort of thingcan be accessed via program change com-mands (although it may take some foolingaround with that song/pattern business). Byinitiating a program change from your MIDIpad controller, you'll be able to call up anew setup. Finally, make sure that yourunit is capable of operating in at least modesone and three (OMNI ON/OFF). This willmake multi-unit setups much easier to setup and alter.

So there it is. You don't have to deal withthose little plastic buttons, and you don'thave to program in sequences either. Drummachines make very nice voice units andmay just be the perfect complement to anotherwise totally synthesized electronicdrumkit. I hope this helps you in yourshopping search!

B A S I C S

Heavy Metal PowThis month we continue to look at some of thefills played by today's brightest heavy metal drumstars.

Mick Brown

Mick Brown supplies the powerful yet tastefullydesigned drum parts for Dokken. His drumming isbeat-oriented, and his fills are right to the point,

like these two from "It's Not Love":

Mick fires Dokken into the first verse of "In My Dreams" withthis short burst:

Aynsley Dunbar

Aynsley Dunbar has played with Frank Zappa, Journey, andStarship. His most recent recorded effort is on the multi-platinumWhitesnake album. These credentials speak for themselves. In theWhitesnake hit "Here I Go Again," Aynsley pulls the band out of asoft intro with this fill, his cymbal crashes telling us that the rest ofthe song won't be so soft:

Crash cymbals to the rescue again, this time in the intro of "BadBoys" with this two-measure fill:

Here are two more fills from "Bad Boys." In the first, Aynsleymakes use of the open hi-hat for a different crash effect:

This fill contains barely audible ghost notes, in which Aynsleyturns a straight-ahead rhythm into a very syncopated one:

Dave Holland

If you're into metal, it's hard not to like Judas Priest. DaveHolland is Priest's drummer, and there's plenty to be learned about

this type of drumming from this man. "You've Got Another ThingComin'" is known for its solid beat, but this sneaky fill after the firstchorus is manufactured by taking the snare, bass, and hi-hat usedin the beat and simply altering the rhythm: Variations of this fill areheard throughout the song.

Dave plays this more obvious fill before the guitar solo:

He then puts the toms to use in this fill at the end of the song:

Here's a one-measure fill that Dave plays in the version of "OutIn The Cold" heard on the Priest...Live! album:

Lars Ulrich

When you think of a fast car, a Ferrari comes to mind. Manypeople consider Metallica's Lars Ulrich the Ferrari of speed-metaldrumming. But Lars is more than just a fast drummer; he's adrummer whose beats and fills fit the songs in which they areplayed, and that is what makes Lars Ulrich a good drummer.

This fill from "Fade To Black" keeps the song moving forward; itkicks in the song's last chorus:

Lars plays this fill in the song's final section:

In "The Wait," from Garage Days Re-Revisited, this fill is heardin the first verse:

Lars stretches out the idea when he plays this beauty in the song'sguitar solo:

by Jim Pfeifer

er Fills: Part 2

You'll be in power fill heaven when you've mastered these threefrom "Crash Course In Brain Surgery":

When playing fast, 8th-note based fills are often all you need.Lars plays these two fills in "Disposable Heroes":

These final power fills from "Master Of Puppets" may look easy,but looks can be deceiving. When playing a song that is as fast asthis one, even the simplest fills become a challenge!

P O R T R A I T S

I wondered what Barbara Merjan reallylooked like as I walked backstage at NewYork's Minskoff Theatre after being mes-merized by the Broadway production ofCabaret. In the show, Barbara had playeddrums on stage as a member of the Kit KatKlub, a cabaret quartet in 1929. I wasn'tsure if it was her as a petite blonde ap-proached me, for she had taken off thecurly wig and no longer sported kewpie-doll lipstick.

But by her eagerness to show me herdrums on stage and the pit orchestra whereshe is able to sub for John Gates, I knewthis was far more than an actress playing apart. From her resume I had actually beenaware of that fact, though, with such jazzfestivals listed as the Kansas City Women'sand the Kool/Newport, work with KitMcClure's Big Band and the Mel Lewis JazzOrchestra (on a night when Mel's planewas late getting back to town), and a vari-ety of other work as a drummer/percus-sionist.

Barbara showed me the small band carton which she sits with the other three mu-sicians in the show, and she pointed outhow she has to sit sideways to play thebass drum: "Luckily it's just 1 and 3 on thebass drum, so there's not much compli-cated footwork," she laughed. Pointing outhow she knew to bring the setup cowbelland woodblocks to the audition, she said,"Kit [McClure] had brought us down as awhole group, so she asked if we couldaudition that way. They had drumsets setup at the Actor's Equity building, and weplayed the song 'Cabaret.' Then they hadus sight-read some of the music we would

have to play. They wanted us to sing, too,so we all did that. It was very exciting. I feltvery good about all my background, be-cause I had played scads of shows in highschool and college and also had been onstage in a couple of them. The auditionwas fun, which surprised me since I wouldusually be nervous. I got called back with afew other people, and we went through theprocess again. On the third callback, thedance captain was there, and he choreo-graphed something that we all had to moveto, because they had to look at that, too.They were looking for an image; it wasn'tjust how well we played and sang."

Before the third callback, Barbara rentedthe movie Cabaret as preparation, in addi-tion to emphasizing the qualities that shethought should stand out on her resume.Once she landed the role, the preparationintensified. No one directed her to do anyof it, however she knows full well that, hadshe not taken the initiative, its absensewould have been noticed.

"I've been to Mel Lewis's apartment alot, and he's played me things. Plus, I lis-tened to the cast recording, of course, anddifferent records. Vince Giordiano is a con-noisseur of the music of the '20s and '30sand has a room this size full of records,"she said, pointing to the loft in which shepractices and stores her equipment. "Heeven has a whole category of jazz fromGermany in that period. So hearing all that,I knew how it should be.

"We rehearsed for three weeks beforewe started performances on the road," Bar-bara continued. "We were supposed to bethere eight hours a day, six days a week,

which was quite a full-timejob—going from playing aclub date every few days. Itook a few lessons with JackMoscrop at Drummers World,who's from England, and hetold me a lot of things I didn'tknow about the cymbals andthe style. The cymbals usedthen weren't as good qualityas they are today, because themetal was cheap and soft.Larry Hirschfield, who is a per-cussionist friend of mine andwho collects old drumsets,had no use for the cymbals,so he sold them to me. They'reperfect for the show. I am nowusing a little 8" Zildjian splash,though, and a Zildjian effectscymbal that I got in Los Ange-les, because the old onesstarted to crack from hittingthem so much. Plus, Joel

[Grey] hits it with his cane, so I had tomake a little compromise there. But by look-ing at old pictures and with Jack's help, Iknew how to make it authentic. I knew thebass drums were real big, and I was ex-cited that I got to use these big old drums,even though the band cart is so tiny. I havea Ludwig snare and a 20" Ludwig bassdrum on there now, but if I could cut it inhalf, it would be more comfortable," Bar-bara laughed before continuing. "The bassdrum beater has a little attachment calledthe Milhaud Attachment, so every time I hitthe bass drum, it hits the little cymbal. Ihave woodblocks, a triangle, and an Acmesiren whistle."

There are parts during the show whenBarbara actually plays, and there are alsotimes when she is miming John Gates, thepit drummer. "When I'm miming, I'm hit-ting the drums a little bit. I can't really beplaying much, because the mic's for thepeople talking or singing will pick up thedrums too much. I do that half and half inthe opening and closing numbers. WhileI'm on stage in the Kit Kat Klub and every-one is singing and dancing, I'm miming. Imay hit a cymbal every now and then be-cause I think it looks good moving, but it'sstrictly for visual effect. When it's back-ground music, we're playing, and we playthe entr'acte, which usually the orchestraplays between acts. That's to tell peoplethe play is about to start up again and toget back to their seats. That's our big num-ber."

While Barbara enjoys the stability of asteady gig (eight shows in six days), shealso relishes the freedom that the job al-

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by Robyn Flans

lows her to play other musical situations.Since her contract is with the Musician'sUnion and not Actor's Equity, she is af-forded the standard New York City pit or-chestra contract, which provides the lux-ury of being able to take off 50% of thetime in a 13-week period.

Barbara also enjoys subbing for JohnGates in the pit when that opportunity pres-ents itself. "Being in the pit orchestra is realimportant to me," she said, "because moremusicians see me there, and it's importantfor me that they know I can play the parts,read, and follow the conductor. Followingthe conductor is very important, along withhaving a good time, listening, reading, andconsistency. Consistency is really impor-tant to the performers on stage. Time is alsoreally important, because you're dealingwith dancers. There's a whole chorus ofdancers, and they can't dance any fasterthan is called for; it just doesn't look good.And they can't do it any slower; they can'thold back to get to the next movement.The conductor and the drummer really haveto work together. John has a headphonesetup because he's behind plastic, other-wise the saxophone players would get theirears blown out from the cymbals. Also,there are numbers on a click track. There'salso singing that is pre-recorded, so in themiddle of the song, the click track comeson, and you hear the click and '5, 6, 7, 8.'So you have to be locked in, or else thatcan be very embarrassing. That's in the

'Don't Tell Mama' number and in the kickline after the entr'acte. That's fun to do; it'sone more challenge. Plus, it's important toknow all the percussion instruments for thepit orchestra. John combined the two booksinto one, so he has the xylophone, bells,and timpani, which is fun for me because Ilove doing that, even though I knew onething I didn't want to do was try out for theNew York Philharmonic or go that route."

Why didn't she? "There's too much sit-ting around for 125 measures waiting toplay the triangle," she replied frankly."There's definitely great stuff to play, but Iknew that was something I didn't want todo on a professional level. I'm lucky enough

that I ended up in theWest End Symphony,where we play somethings I wouldn't nor-mally get to play; but Ididn't have to do thatto the exclusion ofeverything else."

Barbara chose thedrums in her fourth-grade elementaryschool program. Thinkabout how many kidstake an instrument inelementary school,play at it for a year, andthat's as far as it goes.Whatever inspiressomeone to go furthercan make all the dif-ference in that person'slife. "Maybe whatprompted me to con-tinue," she said, "wasthat I got teased aboutmy drum pad. The firstday on the school bus,they laughed at me, 'A

girl playing drums—guffaw, guffaw.' So Iguess I dug my little heels in and said, 'I'llshow them.' It was more than that; obvi-ously I loved the drums. I loved making thesounds and the physicality of it, and I lovedmusic. But that was an underlying motive.There weren't any other girls I knew ofdoing it until I got to junior high, though.

"Percentage-wise, there are fewer womenplaying drums than men. There was alwaysthe comment from people, 'Isn't thatstrange?' When I first said I wanted to playdrums, my parents, without asking me, wentto the music teacher to ask her if it wasokay for a girl to play the instrument. Theteacher told them that a lot of times girlsactually do better than boys because they'rereally serious about it, while the boys justwant to bang around, have fun, and quit."

Some question whether the physical re-quirements of playing the instrument makeit difficult for women, but Barbara coun-tered, "It's just as much a problem for men.I hear them complaining about their backsand the weight of the drums. Modern Drum-mer has carried a lot of helpful articles onexercises for your back, so everybody dealswith that. There are men who are smallerthan I am, and they're just monsters. Lookat little Dave Tough."

Unfortunately, the problems Barbaraencountered didn't end in elementaryschool. By sixth grade, she had committedherself to being a musician, even thoughshe had little knowledge of what that en-tailed. She did know, however, that it wasnecessary for her to be as schooled as shecould be, and to practice as much as pos-sible. "I loved jazz and I loved pop, too,"she recalled. "I played a lot to the hit singlesof the time, by groups like the Jackson Fiveand such. When I got interested in jazz,though, my first big influence was BuddyRich. I loved to play with those records

and go watch him. Elvin Jones was the nextbig influence I can remember, and that wasa pretty major shift for me as far as styles ofmusic.

"At the end of high school I found aradio station that was playing jazz continu-ously, and they'd always say who were onthe albums. I just loved the Miles Davisand John Coltrance stuff. My parents arejazz fans, too, so they always tried to getme interested in it. I was pretty opposed toit at first, bringing home Grand Funk Rail-road, although I never really did play withthat music. I liked to listen to it, but neverplayed with it. I liked to play with EltonJohn and Carole King. My mom would takeme to jazz performances, which was great,and it opened up more when I got to col-lege and started playing more percussion,not just drumset. I went to Ithaca Collegeas a percussion major, so it was a require-ment to take all those courses. They didn'thave drumset lessons, but they did have ajazz lab. I had been playing in a swingband since ninth grade, though, which wasa bunch of businessmen who would gettogether once a week to rehearse and playsome gigs. I had a great time and got somegreat experience playing those stock ar-rangements.

"So I had some experience when I gotinto the jazz lab at school and got to playsome more contemporary stuff. The instruc-tor there opened me up to drummers likeTony Williams, Peter Erskine, and Joe La-

Barbara, and the teacher was a good drum-mer himself, so he showed me how to dosome things. There you had to learn ma-rimba and timpani and all the theory, and Ireally loved that. I got kind of away fromdrumset, although I was actually gigging,but I was putting practice time into tim-pani, marimba, and percussion ensemblestuff, which I think really helped me musi-cally. When you learn about melody andharmony, it can't help but open up yourconcept of music and help you hear thingsthat are going on."

It was in college, however, where sherealized that not everyone was as open towomen players as she had thought. "Theleader of the jazz band was one of theteachers at school. He had hired me toplay a bunch of gigs with him—quintetstuff, outside of school even—and I hadbeen up to his house to listen to records. Ikind of looked up to him, because he wasthe only jazz connection at the college. Ithink it was the summer going into mysophomore year, and I had been invited toplay at the Kansas City Women's Jazz Festi-val with Ariel, because we had won theCombo Competition. Then we got calledto play the Newport Jazz Festival in NewYork, which I was very excited about. So Iwas in this teacher's office, and I told himabout it." She paused, and then explainedthat he made an unbelievably derogatorycomment towards women. "It reallyknocked the wind out of me. I didn't sayanything then, but about a year later, I real-ized just how outrageous this was. Afterthat, our relationship deteriorated. He didn'tput me back in the jazz lab; he put a fresh-man in there who I didn't think was asgood as I was. He graded my recital withsome pretty unfounded comments, so Iwrote to the committee about that and thisincident, and repeated exactly what he hadsaid. I sent a copy to the head of the musicdepartment, and he contacted my percus-sion teacher, who then called me into hisoffice and asked me to retract this letter,because it would look bad on my record. Isaid, 'No way.' I never got an apology oranything. None of this would have everhappened if I had been a guy."

As much as she wishes it weren't so,Barbara realizes that discrimination doesexist, even in the Broadway world. Sherecounted a story she was told recentlyabout someone giving the contractor on anew Broadway show a list of possible substhat included a few women's names. Hisreply was that there were no females intown who could handle the job. Barbaraknows otherwise. She emphasized that thereare many people who couldn't care lessthat she's a woman, but only consider thatshe is a capable musician.

Barbara makes her living playing the fullspectrum of music, from pop with HelenHooke, to jazz with Marian McPartland, tobig band with Kit McClure. "I love bigband," Barbara exclaimed. "There are justso many colors. And they're constantly shift-ing, because you have the trumpets, the

trombones, and the saxophones all play-ing. There are so many writers now whoare great with all the influences that arestarting to come in, like Latin and reggae. Iheard Bob Mintzer's band recently, and itwas wonderful.

"With a big band, I have to be thinkingabout the bigger ensemble I'm playing for,so my playing has to be bigger. In a way,it's like having a little more responsibility. Ican't be playing just what I'm hearing; Ihave to be thinking about what's comingup, and listening to a lot more musicians.In a quartet I can be more responsible tomyself and a few other people. It doesn'thave to be spread quite as far. I guess whenI'm playing in a big band, I generally thinkof the drums being bigger and the stuffbeing broader."

Another musical situation Barbara ap-preciates is her role in a group called theWest End Symphony. "There's an organiza-tion called Music Outreach, which pro-vides music for special-ed elementary-school children in New York City. I wasfortunate to get with them when I movedhere at the end of 1981. There are five triosin their group, and I'm the leader of one ofthem. We go a couple of mornings a weekto different schools to play two concerts forfrom 10 to 40 kids. The kids may be emo-tionally disturbed or physically disabled andin wheelchairs. We play songs that arefamiliar to them and bring a big bag ofpercussion instruments so that some of themcan get to play with us. We talk about ourinstruments, we sing, and we show themdances from around the world. It's beenreal rewarding to me to be able to do that."

For Barbara, just playing is rewarding.When asked where her musical heart lies,she laughed, "I keep asking myself that. Iseem to have to let myself go through thestages of what I go through. Before I didCabaret, I did more pop than I had in pre-vious years. I was in a band playing popmusic and playing percussion for HelenHooke's band, as well as playing in KitMcClure's band, which plays contempo-rary stuff too, not just the old big bandarrangements. Mel Lewis has given us somearrangements to play. When I was on theroad, I would sit in with somebody afterthe show and play in some jam sessionswhere it was just jazz quartet style, and itfelt so good to do that. I would enjoy doingmore Broadway and playing in the pit or-chestras of shows, too. The other thing thatI think is important now for Broadway isthe use of electronic instruments, and I'mgetting more into that. I have the YamahaRX5 and the Roland Octapad, and JohnGates has the Roland drumset, which I'vefooled around with some. I'm starting tocollaborate with a writer, creating drumparts for the songs, and I've done somerecording, which is fun, too. That's a wholeother aspect to deal with. I'm not forcingmyself to channel energy into just one thing,because I like all these things, and I thinkit's possible to play them all, keep work-ing, and be happy."

Andrew, and I were so intently on onetrack—music—that we were too stubbornto let anything else perforate that. It was tothe point where we had the will to make ithappen, and when other people see that,they allow it to happen as well. The loudnoise from playing all the time, the lack ofinterest in school, being a bit esoteric—notyour normal kid interested in sports—andjust the total preoccupation with it was theway it was for all of us, as far back as I canremember. At an early age, we all knewwhat we wanted, and we knew we wouldbe doing this."

Ironically, Jon relates that, although heand his brothers were ardently devotedmusicians, they never played together untilthey formed an early incarnation of INXSin the mid-'70s. "That was because ourplaying was really private to each of us,"he explains. "I guess it's really strange thatINXS came together at all, given that weliterally played together for the first timewhen the band became a band."

By age 13, Jon had developed a legiti-mate reputation as a drummer, havingplayed with a dozen bands at that earlyage. Yet he remembers that he still had towalk in the shadow of his eldest brother,Tim, for most of his adolesence. "I wasalways the youngest kid in the bands I wasin. I was always 'Tim's little brother' andwasn't taken seriously, always hanging withthe big guys. But I was basically respectedat a young age because I could play.

"By age 13, I played in bands of a moreserious type, in that we were writing ourown music and creating our own sound,"he continues. "And we were doing verydifferent styles of music as well: DeepPurple, Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, Crosby,Stills, Nash & Young, a bit of Motown.When INXS got together, it was the resultof our various influences. Our backgroundsas musicians have been versatile, mineespecially because I played with a clubgroup for a time. It was a bit regressive on acreative level, but it served primarily as away to get professional at a young age aswell as stylistically versatile. And I was 13,playing with musicians who were 20 to 24.We'd cover Chicago to the Doors. It defi-nitely added variety to my background."

The Farriss Brothers—formed in 1977

when Jon turned 16—was the original tagfor INXS, and featured the same lineup as itdoes 11 years later. The following year, theband relocated to Perth, on the West Coastof Australia, to assemble songs and to playthe many clubs that populate the area'smining towns.

With their name now INXS, the groupreleased their self-titled debut album in1980 in Australia. It was at this point thatthe band started earning a sizable live repu-tation Down Under, playing an average of300 shows a year over the next few years.They followed up INXS with UnderneathThe Colors, which rapidly propelled theirfame in their homeland.

But the pivotal point in the INXS storyconcerning their worldwide—and morespecifically, American—popularity had tobe the international release of ShaboohShoobah in February of '83. Recorded theprevious year and released to high acclaimin Australia (reaching number five on thecharts there), the third release proved to bethe icebreaker for radio-play recognition.Its first single, "The One Thing," became astaple of American radio that particularsummer, while its video was in constantrotation on MTV. Audiences were gravitat-ing towards highly danceable rock at thattime, and INXS flaunted danceable rockrhythms on Shabooh Shoobah. But whatelevated INXS apart from a plethora ofseemingly similar dance-rock aggregationswas their highly definitive yet broad sound.

Experimenting with everything fromMotown soul and skeletal synthesized funk,to frenetic and gutsy guitar breaks that justnip at the outer fringes of metal, INXS defyclassification. As documented, the variedleanings stem from the varied influences oftheir six discerning members. There are acompendium of influences merging andfluctuating throughout all of their releases,but the group as a whole is always movingin the same direction at the same time,allowing them a recognizable sound thattakes risks, but does so with successful re-sults.

In Jon's case, there is a fascination andlong relationship with funk and soul. "Mo-town was very much a part of my upbring-ing, as it was my parents' choice of musicwhen we were kids," he says. "It wasn'tnecessarily in my lunchbox in terms of my

record collection, but it was something thatI listened to a great deal, and it was some-thing I was inspired by."

On the heels of Shabooh came TheSwing, which indulged Jon's inclination forfunk and aggresively pushing rhythms. Theinitial single, "Original Sin," kicked off thecollection with its keyboard and sax excur-sions. Although the production was a littlebottom-heavy in patches, it still yieldedenough propulsive dance rhythms and in-fectious hooks to garner multi-platinumstatus. It also contained material on whichJon shared songwriting credit. How did thattranspire?

"The general process for writing an INXSsong is that we take a tune that one of ushas written, listen to it, and try it out. If itdoesn't hit all six very opinionated musi-cians really well, then we don't do it. If itdoes but it needs to be worked on orchanged, we try to smooth it out. With'Melting In The Sun' [off The Swing], afterwe auditioned our various songs to the restof the band, we decided to do two particu-lar songs—one that Tim wrote and one thatI wrote. During rehearsals for the album,both of those songs were giving us someproblems, so we decided to join the two ofthem together, keeping my main theme andchorus and adding Tim's verse part. ThenMichael Hutchence came in with his lyric,and there you go. That's basically how thatsong was put together."

In the Autumn of '85, INXS presentedListen Like Thieves, which marked theirstatus as a Stateside platinum-selling group.This album took the funk backbeat of itspredecessor several steps further. Spawn-ing the hits "What You Need," "This Time,""Kiss The Dirt," and the title cut, the re-lease emphasized rhythm above everythingelse. Additionally, it showcased more ofJon's songwriting capabilities, including atrack titled "Red, Red Sun." The track isfast and hard on "Listen," but Farriss ex-plains that its outcome wasn't exactly howhe conceived it. "That was written in amuch slower tempo than the way it wasdone. It was written with a funk feel, be-cause it was written around the time weworked with Nile Rodgers. I was very in-fluenced by his guitar style, and in fact, theguitar riff that was written for it was donewith his style in mind.

"So 'Red, Red Sun' was picked to have atempo change," he laughs, "and the intrin-sic style of the song changed a bit, but thebasic key, notation, etc. remained. Andrewsaved the day by changing the chorus anda couple of parts, so we share the song-writing credits."

B-sides are an avenue for INXS to stretchtheir wings in alternative directions, andJon has made his own contribution. Casein point: a whacky tune he wrote and per-formed called "You Never Used To Cry.""We had decided, 'Why do something realserious for B-sides when, after all that work,no one ever really hears it?' Besides, a B-side could potentially be a good song as asingle. So we thought, 'How do we achieve

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doing better than second-rate singles?' Wedecided to be completely free-form onthem, allowing each of us the opportunityto do our own thing. I don't know for thelife of me why I chose to do 'You NeverUsed To Cry,' but when I did it, I didn'thave any instruments with me, so I thought,I'll just sing all the parts,'" he says, laugh-ing. "So I just played it on the drums, then Islowed the tape down, sang on top of it,and out came the first things that poppedinto my head! I was singing words thatwere totally out of context with each other.It was the stupidest thing I've ever done,but they pressed it and released it anyway.

"I got a bit more serious and did a B-sidecalled 'I'm Over You,'" he adds, "and thenanother after that as well. I was alwaysinterested in doing things in the studio, andthis kind of thing really gave me thatchance. That's how I eventually got intoproducing."

Farriss produced Glory Road in 1986 forAustralian singer/guitarist Richard Clapton,who in fact had produced Underneath TheColors. Farriss explains: "He had been put-ting out records that were progressively sell-ing less and less. He was a friend, and Iwas also interested in working with himbecause he's a very good songwriter. Any-way, he had been sending me tapes, and Ihad been giving him my thoughts aboutthem. Eventually, it had come down to thetime for him to record, and I had just got-ten off our tour in support of Listen. Therehad been another producer hired to do it,and he wanted me to drum on it. We hadn'tdiscussed the production; he was just verygracious about wanting me to play on it, soI said, 'Of course I'll come in and do a fewtracks.' Carry [bass player for INXS] was inthere as well, and during the work on thefirst track there was more of a musicalunderstanding between me and Richardthan between him and the producer. Soonafter, the producer thought he might as wellleave. He had plenty of other projects todo, and it was obvious that it wasn't work-ing out that well with him. The guy whowas paying for it told me, 'You might aswell do it yourself because you're alreadyproducing it anyway.' So I did.

"Not that the other producer couldn'thave done it, but he didn't have the musi-cal capacity to understand the arrangementsI had put together. I wanted to put togethera new sound for Richard, and a lot of thatwas based upon my drumming, and noone knows my drumming better than I do.Ultimately, it worked out well, although Iwas a little nervous at the time. We hadquite a few months in the studio, and therewas quite a bit of money spent on theproject, so it turned out to be a fantasticlearning experience. I learned a lot aboutengineering, balancing the mix, understand-ing the board, understanding the band, andcompiling the sounds for the music. It defi-nitely was an endless stream of informationand education for me, all the way through."

From his self-taught drumming and per-cussion to his continual experiments with

electronics to his songwriting and produc-ing, Jon Farriss emerges as a man who isalways looking to increase his knowledge."I scare myself with what I know, and Iscare myself with what I don't know," hecomments. "It's yin-yang. The more I learn,the more I learn that there's a lot more tolearn. And you're always relearning whatyou already know. You can see things moreobjectively with time.

"At the point we're at now, we've beenaround the globe a few times, and I'vechanged. I listen to what I did ten years agoand say to myself, 'What was I thinkingabout when I did that?' because I don'tthink that way anymore musically. And inten years' time, I might feel the same wayabout what I'm doing now."

Future aspirations for 1989, when theband will probably partake in a much-needed break? "I'd like to do some ses-sions with other players, perhaps. Or, justget back to my domestic life and try toexpress myself creatively there for a while,which I haven't done for years because I'vebeen so busy.

"The things I want to do are in my mind—sort of a subliminal thing—but I've beenpsyching myself up for something else. Idon't believe in pushing things. They hap-pen when they are ready to happen. I mean,I wasn't searching for the production thing;I never busted my ass to do it, it justhappened when it was supposed to. Soyou never really know what's in store next."

E L E C T R O N I C R E V I E W

The Alesis

What's smallgray, and goes"Boom...crash" inthe night? Answer: Avery old burglar. Eitherthat, or the new AlesisHR-16 drum machine. T h eHR-16 is surprisingly small and light com-pared to its competition (partially due tothe fact that it uses a small AC wall adapteras its power supply). At first glance, onemay even get the impression that this unitis somewhat of a toy, and should be soldnext to the $79 "mini-key" keyboards thatseem to sprout like mushrooms in everystore. Simply put, the HR-16's guts far out-distance its surface "appeal." Alesis haspackaged a number of features into theHR-16, including a very nice MIDI implem-entation, and has positioned it at an attrac-tive price point.

The top of the HR-16 is dominated by 16velocity-sensitive play buttons. Above these

are the cursorkeys and numeric keypad, a

data entry slider, and two sets of but-tons: one set for song/pattern functions, andthe other set for voice, tempo, and otherspecial functions. Positioned pretty muchdead center and above the keypad is atwo-line alpha-numeric display (yellowbacklighted LCD). This display is your com-munication window with the HR-16, andgives you all of the data pertinent to yourpresent function. The back panel of theunit contains the power adapter jack andon/off switch, MIDI in/out, tape out, andtwo sets of stereo output jacks. The verytop of the unit is hinged, and by lifting upon the small tab, a brief but thorough guidesheet is revealed. (No, this is not detach-able.)

Basically, there are two reasons why most

people buy a drum machine: (1) They wantto use it as a drum sequencer and programsongs into it, or (2) they want to use it for adrum/percussion voice module or expander.In the area of sequencing, the HR-16 offersthe user 99 patterns and 99 songs. Each

pattern can be up to 682 beats long, so ifyou need a bar of 53/8, you can get it.

Several levels of "swing" are alsoavailable. Patterns are recorded one

at a time in either real time orstep edit mode. Quantization

will go as fine as 1/64; thenext finer step is consid-

ered "no quantization."In step edit, you can addand delete drum eventsat each quantization

point. You can also changethe events volume level (at increments

of 1 to 8). The display shows where youare in the pattern in beats and sub-beats,and also indicates drum events by padname, with the volume level next to it. It ispossible to leave step edit and reenter un-der a new quantization level. This newlevel is only applied to new drum events(very handy). The one bad thing about stepedit is that editing is forward only; youhave no way of backing up in the sequenceshort of quitting edit and reentering. (Whatever happened to bi-directional linked lists?)Along with drum events, patterns also havevoice, mix, and tuning assignments associ-ated with them. (More on this later.)

Once you have created the requisite pat-terns, they may be strung together to forma song. The song creation functions of theHR-16 are not particularly sophisticated,but do get the job done. You may freelyinsert and delete patterns and tempo

HR-16 Drum Machineby Jim Fiore

changes anywhere in the song. You canalso copy songs. Interestingly, you can copya song to itself, which makes the song twiceas long. By the way, the copy function alsoworks on entire patterns, and even on spe-cific drum rhythms within the pattern! Un-fortunately, there is no provision for seg-ment looping, as in "play these next fourpatterns six times in sequence, because it'sthe fade-out chorus." While I'm not anadvocate of highly repetitive music, I'msure that many pop arrangers would likethis feature. Your alternative here would beto do this whole thing manually, or to com-bine the four little patterns into one bigpattern (using copy) and then insert that sixtimes. The combination of odd-sized pat-terns and instant tempo changes will allowyou to do some neat stuff—if you don'tmind spending a few minutes of calcula-tion time. If you've ever tried programmingany of Frank Zappa's Shut Up 'N' Play YerGuitar drum parts, you know what I'm talk-ing about. Yes, you can get a measure of 5/4 with the toms doing a 7 into 3 fill; justremember that the tempo can't go over255 bpm.

Okay, enough on the sequncer stuff; whatabout the unit's use as a voice module/expander? Here the HR-16 shines verybrightly, indeed. It has a few limitations,but it is one of the best boxes for expansionyet. First off, the unit comes with 49 16-bit,high-sample rate (20kHz bandwidth) drum/percussion sounds. These samples are niceand bright and have very little noise. Thesound selection is rather broad, and thereshould be something in there for most every-body. (This is, of course, a matter of personaltaste.) As an example, for snares yourchoices include: ambient wood snare, 13"

piccolo snare, gated snare, rimshot, crossstick, brush hit, and more. There are fivedifferent toms, including power and double-headed types, as well as a classic electron-ic tom. You have your choice of normaland "bell" ride cymbal hits, and well overa dozen different percussion sounds, in-cluding timbales, congas, claves, wood-blocks, and so forth. There is a single crashcymbal, and although this may be tuned toproduce different sizes, it would have beennice to have either a China-type or a splashcymbal in there. (Maybe having twodifferent versions of the cowbell, wood-block, and maracas was a bit much, eh?)

From this selection, 16 sounds are as-signed to the 16 play buttons. Multiple as-signments are allowed for layering. Also,the same sound may be assigned to manydifferent play buttons. Each button also hasspecific tuning and mix assignments asso-ciated with it. The tuning range is about afifth up or down. "Mix" allows you to set arelative volume (0-99) and one of sevenpan positions for the stereo output of yourchoice. You cannot assign a pad to bothsets of stereo outs (as in the creation of twodifferent mixes). Also note that the pan as-signments are ignored if you've onlyplugged in a single cord (very handy).Twelve of the play buttons each use a singleD/A "voice." The three hi-hat buttons shareone voice (exclusive outputs), and the crashcymbal button uses two voices in order toachieve a blended sound. The sixteenthvoice is used by the click track. There areno rules governing what goes where, so ifyou assign a ride cymbal to the crash pad,you can "roll" the ride sound. Likewise, ifyou assign three toms to the three hi-hatbuttons, they cannot play together. This

setup isn't bad (it's far superior to the singlevoice/button arrangement), but when usingthe HR-16 as an expander, the drummershould be able to "roll" several differentsources.

In the land of MIDI, the HR-16 gets evenbetter. First, the unit has a few nice pro-grammable extras: It can start songs viaMIDI if desired; it can echo MIDI IN info toits own MIDI OUT; it can ignore drummessages from MIDI (and supress their trans-mission); and more. The real neat thing isthat you can recall patterns with programchange commands. Since each pattern hasvoice, mix, and tuning levels associatedwith it, this boils down to a patch change!This is perhaps the nicest addition to thewhole package. Also, each play button isprogrammable as far as its associated MIDINote On number. The note number assign-ment is global and is not associated withpatterns (not a problem). The unit will re-spond in OMNI mode, or on channels 1through 16.

The HR-16 also has a number of littleextras. For example, the play buttons canbe set for soft, medium, and loud dynamicresponse, or at one of eight constant levels.There is also a facility for storing and re-calling data via cassette tape. The HR-16manual leaves a bit to be desired, though.While it does cover all the bases, it is rathershort (less than 30 pages) and dry, andassumes a previous knowledge of drummachine programming—no example ses-sions are given. Considering its overallcapabilities and price, though, the HR-16would be a fine addition to any home stu-dio. The unit's suggested retail price is$449.00.

woodwork afterwards. Then if they happento be around for the next tour, they're hiredagain. I think that Elton wanted to keep theunit together because, as you say, there is acertain rapport between us all. This meansthat it is particularly quick getting a back-ing track down, because everyone is ableto compensate for everyone else. I love it;it's one of the biggest things to be said for aband unit.

Having said that, there is also a lot to besaid for not knowing how another player isgoing to react all the time. Session playersare known for being kept on their toes, andit's that uncertainty that can make thingssound slightly more precarious and per-haps more exciting. I enjoy doing sessionsas an independent, and I think Elton appre-

ciates this, because it brings other stylesand other reactions into the band environ-ment with Elton.

I did an album and a three-week tour ofJapan with a Japanese singer called KojiTamaki. He came to London to make thealbum, and the band who did that wereinvited to do the tour as well. I had to clearit with Elton's office, of course, but it wasgood. It kept me on my toes, and it kept thenew ideas flowing. I think it's important fora player to get the stimuli constantly flow-ing in. If you cease to get any input, itbecomes predictable and boring, like doinga "9-to-5."SG: You've also done an album with PaulMcCartney in the meantime.CM: That was another enormous buzz. He's

definitely one of the all-time greats. Therewas this face that I'd seen so many times—on album sleeves, on TV; I'd grown upwith it. And there it was, on the other sideof the glass in the drum booth, smiling atme and playing along with what I was play-ing. It's one of the few occasions in recentyears when I've nearly fallen off the kitbecause of not quite believing what washappening to me. [laughs] I've regardedPaul McCartney as one of my favorite drum-mers, actually. He played on a lot of theearly Wings stuff, and his intuition aboutwhat to put where shows that he is reallygifted. He's a natural drummer in the sameway that Stevie Wonder is—not a drummerfirst and foremost, but someone with somewonderful off-the-wall ideas. People whoaren't trained on a particular instrumentoften come up with brilliant ideas, becausethey aren't tied down by any techniquethey've been taught.SG: Does McCartney lay down backingtracks with a full rhythm section, as Eltondoes?CM: Yes, in fact there was one track thatwe laid down as a six-piece with hardlyany overdubs. It was an instrumental. Wehad Duane Eddy on guitar and Jim Horn,who played with the Rolling Stones a lot,on sax. That was a really exciting session.You see, we're talking about people likeElton John and Paul McCartney who'vegrown up with the idea of putting every-thing down together—most of the timebecause they weren't allowed the luxury ofmulti-track recording when they started out.Multi-track recording is a two-sided thing:It is possibly one of the greatest technologi-cal advances in music, yet it is also one ofthe most potentially damaging things forcreativity!SG: What do you consider to be the dam-aging aspects?CM: I have done sessions where I had toplay just the bass drum all the way throughthe track, then just the snare drum all theway through, then the hi-hat, then maybesome tom-toms and cymbals.... This is sothat they could get total separation on eachdrum and have ultimate control over thefinal product. That's taking it to an extreme.You have the luxury to be able to do that,but I think that people who do that havethe wrong idea about recording and cap-turing a performance—if it is a performancethey want.SG: But, in general, you and technologyare quite good friends?CM: Well, perhaps I'm lucky; I don't haveany of this latest thing that people are call-ing "technophobia." I'm quite prepared tolaunch into any new application of com-puterization or electronics. I'm not scared

of it, and I've been able to maintain myposition as a busy session player at a timewhen many of my colleagues were saying,"It'll go away." But it didn't go away. Itbecame a complete epidemic at one point.I remember about three years ago, before Ijoined Elton, 80% of my work was elec-tronic: triggered stuff, drum machine pro-gramming, tracks played and then quan-tized. It was electronic to some extent,whether it was played or programmed.

Every new invention that has come alongin the music business has always found itsniche. I think that electronics is finally find-ing its place in the whole master plan, andit is starting to swing the other way. It's truethat it won't last to the same degree that ithas been used in recent years, but there isgoing to be some element of electronics inevidence forever. This kind of thing goesback even to the time that the electric gui-tar was invented; it stayed. There were un-ion attempts in the '20s to outlaw the bassdrum pedal! I think they were frightenedthat every single aspect of percussion wasgoing to be taken over by one person play-ing everything. But if you look back at itnow, classical percussion has remaineduntouched by this aspect. You don't getsomeone in a symphony orchestra playinga drumkit; you still get a percussion sec-tion.SG: Following this line of thought, thereare styles of music—which can loosely becategorized as jazz and rock—that havegrown up in the twentieth century with thedrumkit at their heart. These are the formsof music that people have latched onto asthe popular music. Classical music is morefor the elite.CM: Yes, but I think that in the past tenyears in particular, there's been a movetowards going back to popular classicalmusic for the masses. But, yes, you areright that electronics has got a firm foot-hold in popular music; but then who arewe to decide about progress? This is myanswer to the anti-synthesizer lobby: I knowthat synthesizers look as though they aretaking away the jobs of classical musicians;but when it comes down to it, anybodywho can afford to do so would rather havereal string players than a synth. People likeElton—anybody you care to mention—assoon as they are successful enough andhave the budget to allow it, they'll have thereal thing. They know that there's nothing

that comes across quite the same way as anumber of classical players playing together.

Maybe electronics have taken work awayfrom people; but maybe in some cases thework wasn't there in the first place, andelectronics is being used as a scapegoat.It's like drummers complaining about drummachines. You can sit there and moan andcall union meetings, or you can get your-self a drum machine, learn how to use it,and then persuade the nearest producerthat he is better off having a drummer doinghis drum programs, because a drummerknows what to do.

That's what I've done. It does take a lotof learning and relearning, but I believethat being in the music business is a con-stant learning process. I also believe thatpeople who think that there's nothing elsethey can learn are working themselves intoa rut. If you stop learning, you will imme-diately be pushed into a backwater. Changesare happening faster than they were, butthey're not happening as fast as somepeople try to make out.SG: Didn't it ever worry you that the physi-cal drumming skills, which you had takenso long to develop, weren't needed whenyou were programming things?CM: Yes, at one point this was true, whenthe only way you could program a drummachine was to push buttons. Now tech-nology has advanced so that with the aidof electronic drumpads I can play some-thing into the computer. Then I can chooseto auto-correct it but leave the feel the wayI want it, or auto-correct the main patternbut leave any fills human. I can controlhow much or how little it sounds like amachine.SG: You use a Roland MC-500 sequencerand an Akai 5900 sampler. What sort ofapplications do these have?CM: For the uninitiated, a sequencer is likea tape recorder, but you don't record thesounds, you record the performance, thenyou trigger the sampled sounds later. Thegreat thing is that I can get the playingdown with any basic drum sound. Then, if

a producer says, "Yes, but we need a deepersnare drum sound," I can find him a sampleof a deeper snare drum. If he says, "Yes,but I'd like it to have more ambience," Ifind a sample of a deeper snare drum withmore ambience. Meanwhile, this sound isbeing played from the sequencer. It's doingexactly what I played, but I can change thesounds without forefeiting the original per-formance. Then when I've got the soundsthat people want, I can say, "Okay, nowthis isn't quantized, this is me playing realtime." If they have a lot of sequencers play-ing synthesized parts, I can say, "You needa degree of accuracy beyond what I can doas a human being. If you want that ma-chine-like quality, I'll quantize my part." Ican then quantize the timing without los-

ing the dynamics. The feel can change, butquite often the feel has to do with dynam-ics—the sheer volume at which someoneplays something. So it will be perfectly intime, but there will be exactly the sameattack as there was before.

I am enthusiastic about these electronicgadgets, but I still think that there is nowaythat a drumpad, a sample, or an electroni-cally generated sound of any kind can re-create all the nuances of a snare drum, atom-tom, or a cymbal. There is an infinitenumber of places and ways to hit any oneof those instruments, and you'll get a com-pletely different sound from it. The exper-tise that goes into that is totally intuitive;it's something that we drummers don't eventhink about. If you want to start a press roll

quietly and get it to build, you start at theedge of the drum and go towards the cen-ter, and if you want to rise to a massivecrescendo and finish on a "popping" sound,you'll hit the rim on the very end. So yougo from the edge to the middle, and finishwith the middle and the rim together. Thatis impossible to program into a drum ma-chine or play on an electronic drumkit.You would need an infinite number of vari-able samples. So if someone wants a realsound, I'll play a real kit. If they want anelectronic sound, I'll use electronics. Theelectronic drum shouldn't be attempting torecreate an acoustic drum, it should bemaking its own sound. If an engineer isgoing to try to make it sound as close to anacoustic drum as possible, I might as wellplay an acoustic drum. And if I can't playthe damn thing in time, I don't deserve tobe there.SG: How did you break into sessions?CM: I played in clubs, and although I didn'tget jaded, I got disillusioned with the atti-tude of some people I played with. But in1975 I was with a really great band that gota record deal. However, the company whohad signed us just sat on us. That was an-other aspect of being in a band that I didn'tlike: the fact that you were at the mercy ofpeople like that. That band went on tobecome the nucleus of Kate Bush's band,who I worked with later on. But I starteddoing some sessions while I was with thatrecord company. They had some writersand singers signed with them, and theywould use a lot of the people they had ontheir books for the sessions. I developed ataste for doing studio work rather than beingin a band at that stage.

The big break really came a couple ofyears later, with Kate Bush. Through work-ing in Kate's band, I met a lady calledIsobel Griffiths, who was a fixer for ses-sions, and I think she marked my namedown as someone who might be used.About a year later, a friend who I hadworked in clubs with co-wrote the big hit"Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" for JohnnyMathis and Deneice Williams, and he setout to do some 24-track master demos ofsome of his other songs. He was workingwith an arranger, John Altman, who usu-ally worked with a specific group of musi-cians, but the drummer, Pete Van Hook,was on tour with Van Morrison. My friendrecommended me for the session, but Johnwas skeptical at first. But, by a happy coin-cidence, he checked with Isobel Griffithswho gave me a glowing recommendation.The session was a success and I got a lotmore work through John and Isobel.

At • one point, 70% of my work wasjingles. It got to the ultimate session stage

when I did six jingles in one day, for sixdifferent people. There was a period in mylife, before joining Elton, when I was doinga 65- to 70-hour week.SG: How did you get the gig with Elton?CM: I was doing a certain amount of rec-ord work as well as jingles. There was NikKershaw in particular. Elton adored the firsttwo Nik Kershaw albums. He was usingdifferent rhythm sections for different trackson his 1985 album, Ice On Fire, and hesaid to the producer, Gus Dudgeon, "I'dlike to use Nik Kershaw's drummer on someof these tracks." So at Easter of '85 I did myfirst week with Elton, then we did Live Aidand went into doing the live work. In July'86 we did the Leather Jackets album, thenthe American and Australian tours, and sowe come to this album. It really was asnowball effect from the time he heard mywork on record and liked it—which is, Isuppose, the best recommendation you canget, particularly when they contacted theproducer in question and asked, "Is thismanufactured, or is the drummer as goodas he sounds?" I think it's important to rec-ognize the people who have helped youalong. Most of my work has been throughword of mouth, and if I hadn't had peoplesaying, "Try him; he's good," I wouldn't bewhere I am now.SG: You had to be able to do a good job inthe first place, though. Have influences beenimportant to you?CM: I'm a great fan of Steve Gadd and JeffPorcaro. I've never really followed the vir-tuoso players like Billy Cobham and LennyWhite; the only one I really got off on wasSimon Phillips because he plays with a lotof feel as well. I always understood whathe did, but Cobham would often go be-yond what I could actually take in. That'sprobably a shortcoming on my part, but heis over my head a lot of the time. I alsoadmire the clique of drummers who haveplayed with Steely Dan: It includes Gaddand Porcaro, Rick Marotta, Ed Greene, andBernard Purdie—drummers with feel.SG: I thought I detected shades of BernardPurdie in some of the things you were doingtoday.CM: Yes [laughs], I admit it. Another biginfluence on that track would have to beRichie Hayward of Little Feat, I think maybebecause Elton was playing with a certainamount of influence from Bill Payne, LittleFeat's keyboard player.

SG: You've been subbing for the West Endshow Chess [the English equivalent of aBroadway show], so your reading must beof a very high standard.CM: In fact, doing Chess was a bit of abaptism of fire, because being out on theroad with Elton for the previous 14 months,I'd done, virtually no reading at all. WhenGraham Ward, the regular drummer, calledme to ask if I would do it, I acceptedbecause I enjoy challenges, but it was avery sobering experience. I had to get myreading back into shape before I could eventackle the playing. It's a very hard part.One passage has two bars of 5/8, one barof 6/8, one bar of 9/8, one bar of 5/8, onebar of 7/8, and then it goes back to twobars of 5/8. Reading that is about well-nighimpossible!

It got me back on my toes as far as read-ing is concerned, and following a stick aswell. Fortunately for me, the musical direc-tors are all people I know. I've done a lot ofsessions in the past for the current one,Paul McGuire. He's a very sympatheticperson. He came to me the first night andsaid, "Look Charlie, just remember, don'tfollow the downbeat. Follow halfway upthe next upbeat, because the string playersare following that." It was a good piece ofadvice, because in rock sessions, if youhave somebody conducting you, you fol-low the downbeat. But orchestral playersfollow maybe a quarter of the next up-stroke behind.

It would be nice to get to a point withChess where I don't have to rely on thepart so much and can concentrate on theconductor a bit more. Splitting your eyesbetween the part and the conductor isn'tthe easiest thing in the world. But it's adifferent aspect of playing, and one that Ihope I rise to. It's the whole point of beinga versatile drummer.SG: Standard question: What drums do youuse?CM: Premier. My live kit is a Black Shadowwith a 22" bass drum, 12", 14", 16", and18" tom-toms, which are all mounted on

stands, and an 8" deep wood-shell snaredrum. The stands are all Premier Prolock,but I've got a Tama chain-drive pedal and aTama throne. That was the kit you saw meusing today, but my usual studio kit is aPremier Soundwave in natural wood. Thebass drum is a 22" with a Resonator lining,and the toms are 10", 12", 14", and 16",again all rack-mounted.

I've got a selection of snare drums. Thereason I like the 8" wood shell for live workis that I'm able to tune the top head up toget quite a lot of bounce and crack off it,and yet I'm still able to get the depth. Ineed the variation in sound between therock numbers and the ballads that Eltondoes, and I needed that depth that NigelOlsson used to get. For studio work, I've

got a variety of metal-shell drums for aslightly more clangy sound. One of myfavorites is the limited-edition Piccolo drumthat Premier makes. It has such a cut andtop end to it! That sound is very much invogue again. In the mid '70s they used tohave the snare drum and bass drum almostat the same pitch, particularly in discomusic. But people have been tuning drumsup ever since. People like Phil Gould ofLevel 42 have done a lot to popularize thehigh snare drum sound. I think it's veryhealthy; there should be a different spacewithin the music for each drum.

The snare drums I tend to take aroundwith me for independent sessions are thePiccolo and a 6 1/2" wood-shell Project One,which has a second shell inside. It is a very

versatile drum; you can tune it high, butyou can also get a lot of depth out of it. I doactually have an old favorite snare drumthat isn't a Premier. It's a Tama 5" metal-shell drum from before the time they werecalled Tama; it's a Royal Star.SG: Resonator shells are standard in theBlack Shadow kit, and you've had the lin-ing added to your Soundwave bass drum.What is it that you like about them?CM: When you get behind the kit and playit, you may notice a fractional increase inthe length of the note from the toms, and aslight extra fullness about the bass drum.But if someone else is playing the kit andyou walk away from it, it retains that full-ness and it projects.SG: Does this help when you are record-ing, or playing miked-up on stage?CM: Not necessarily for recording, but forplaying on stage, yes. You do get a lot ofambience, and it makes the people on stagefeel better. I don't always do gigs fully mikedup; I sometimes do smaller gigs with thatkit. It does have a big sound, and thereforeit isn't necessarily the right sound for everysession I do, and that is why I have theSoundwave. It's designed to be a morecontrollable, "hi-fi" sounding kit. I have aResonator lining in the bass drum, becauseI love the sound of a double-shelled bassdrum. I think that the bass drum is the onethat changes most with a Resonator shell.Nowadays we damp our bass drums sothat there is hardly any ring to them. It'sthat bottom end the drum can produce oninitial impact that you really notice withthe Resonator.SG: What about the choice of heads?CM: I use all Premier heads. On the bassdrum I like the Powerplay heads. These arethe ones with the black "doughnut" patch.I use pipe-band heads for snare drums, andon the tom-toms Clearplay, top and bot-tom, to get the drums breathing. They aresingle-ply and quite light; the disadvantageis that they "dish" easily and get dented alot. But having to change the heads regu-larly is a small price to pay for the superbsound they give.SG: What are you using the Drum Bugsfor?CM: They were originally fitted to triggerelectronic sounds, but at the moment inthe studio they are being used to triggernoise gates, which we've got on the mic'sfor each individual tom-tom, so that themic' only "opens" when that particulardrum is being played. This is so that thesound doesn't spill onto the other mic's.When I'm using them live, I still have thenoise gates, but each Drum Bug goes into asplit lead so that it can be used to triggerelectronic sounds as well.

SC: Just to complete the picture, what aboutthe electronic gear you use, apart from thesequencer and sampler we discussed ear-lier?CM: I use Roland Octapads as a MIDI in-terface, with Boss MPD-4 MIDI pads for hi-hat and cymbals. I also have four RolandPD31 external pads and a Drum WorkshopEP-1 bass drum trigger pedal. My drummachines are a Roland TR505and a TR626,with an MDR-30 module.SG: I noticed that you were using blackPaiste Colorsound cymbals in the studio.CM: Yes, I've got 15" hi-hats, 16" and 18"crashes, a 20" Power Ride, and a 20" China.Originally I just had them for the visualeffect on live work, but I've found that theywork very well for recording. I think thatthere's a stigma attached to colored cym-bals, but I think it is mistaken. The ridecymbal is particularly good for recording,because it doesn't build up, being slightlydamped. I also have a set of 3000s, which Inormally use on sessions with the Sound-wave kit: 14" hi-hats, 14", 15", and 16"crashes, an 18" Power Ride, and 16" and18" Chinas.SG: The 3000s are relatively new. Whatwere you using before, and do you see the3000s as an improvement?CM: I was using 2002s for ride and crash,and 602 hi-hats and Chinas, but I'm nowvery happy with the 3000s; they are verycrisp and clear.SG: You've got the attachment for an extra"double" pedal on your bass drum pedal.Do you use that much?CM: I've never really gotten into usingdouble bass drums; I prefer to concentrateon speeding up my single drum. The rea-son for the double attachment was that,while we were in Adalaide on the Austra-lian tour, I locked my knee up. Fortunately,they have some of the best knee surgeonsin the world there because of injuries fromAustralian Rules Football. I had to have anoperation, and I only had a day in which torecover before the next gig. So I phonedthem and said, "Look, I'll make the gig, butget me a double bass drum pedal. Thatway, if my right leg gives out, I'll use myleft." As it happened, I was able to playmost of the time with my right foot, butwhen the leg got tired, I'd take over withmy left for a while.SG: Did you have any coordination prob-lems?

CM: Yes [laughs], it's a bit like turning yourguitar around and trying to play it the otherway up! It was a question of making do.I'm not ambidextrous and I'm very muchright-handed. All the exercises I've done tomake me more independent have, if any-thing, inhibited me. There are a few thingsI do with my left hand, but I don't reallylead with my left hand and I'm perfectlyhappy to be a right-handed drummer. Thisobsession, at the moment, with leading withthe left hand—I think it can be detrimental.It can make you feel awkward and stiff.The child who is forced to write with hisright hand when he is naturally left-handedis likely to develop complexes, and educa-tors recognize that today. I think the samecan apply to drummers. If you are naturallyambidextrous, you'll do it. There are exer-cises to make you as fast with your lefthand as with your right, and there's noth-ing wrong with that! What I'm saying isthat people who become obsessed withtrying to play left-handed all the time areprobably doing themselves more harm thangood. There have been generations of right-handed drummers who are dazzlingly goodplayers.SG: Finally, may I put you on the spot andask you to sum up your secret of success?CM: [laughs] I was asked this question whileI was doing a demo for Premier at TheBritish Music Fair, and what I said was, "Bymaking up for my technical shortcomingsby turning up on time and being nice."Okay, it was a bit of fun, but there's many atrue word spoken in jest. I think that any-body who aspires to be a session playerhas to have the ability to be totally chame-leon-like and have understanding towardsthe people he or she is working for. Youcan be the greatest player in the world, butbe a grumpy bastard and you won't con-tinue to work. You've got to bite your lip, ifnecessary, keep the producers at ease, anddo what they want you to. In his interviewin Modern Drummer, Harvey Mason said,"Unless you are prepared to do the jobyou've been booked to do, you mightas well give up." I agree with that.

T R A C K I N G

The AcademyI have been the percussionist on the Academy Awards show abouteight times so far. Some of the composers that I have been in-volved with at the awards include Bill Conti, Jack Elliott, andLionel Newman. This last Academy Awards show was the SixtiethAnnual show, and we had tons and tons of music to record,perform, and have ready for winner presentations. Larry Bunkerplayed timpani, vibes, congas, shakers, suspended cymbal, andvarious other instruments; Harvey Mason played acoustic andelectronic drums; and I played vibes, xylophone, marimba, or-chestra bells, chimes, snare drum, piatti, Emulator, song bells,bongos, and various small Latin and percussion effects.

We had a total of 97 pieces of music, of which about one thirdwere prerecorded. The reason for prerecording is so the dancerscan have the music for the large production numbers about aweek before the show so that they can practice. (In some cases,they need the music early so that they can videotape some of thesequences.) Recording was done on April 4th and 5th, 1988, andwe got together again on Sunday, April 10th for a very long day ofrehearsal and balances. The day of the show was Monday, April11th, and we were all there at 8:00 A.M. The show, which wasbroadcast live from Hollywood, began at 6:00 P.M., and ran atotal of 3 hours and 37 minutes. The first piece was the "Opening'88 Pt. 1," and as you can see, Larry Bunker had a nice solotimpani part. The tempo was about 160 on the metronome. (See"Opening '88 Pt. 1.")

The hardest part about doing the Academy Awards show isplaying the music for the "nominations" section of the show. Wehave to be prepared to play music for each and every nominationat a given moment. For the percussionist, each piece of music foreach nomination could involve playing a different instrument.Whenever the presenter said, "...and the winner is...," Bill Conti,who was the conductor for this year's show, would give the down-beat, and we had to be there with the right piece of music on theright instrument. Larry Bunker, who played timpani, really had hiswork cut out for him. Each piece was in a different key, so in somecases, Larry had to be ready to play the right timpani, or changethe pitches immediately!

I've often been asked if the musicians know who the winnersare going to be beforehand, and the answer is no! No one is told

who the winners will be. Of course, we always have some ideawho it might be, but we can never be sure. In some cases, like"Achievement in Art Direction," for instance, there were five dif-ferent nominees. To be able to cover the possibility of playing anyof the parts, I needed one bell mallet to play either bells orxylophone, one vibe mallet to play either vibes or suspendedcymbal, one chime hammer, and one drumstick.

Another problem that we ran into was in how the presenterswould announce the winners of categories. For instance, the pre-senter would say, "The nominees for 'Original Score' are: GeorgeFenton and Jonas Gwangwa for Cry Freedom, a Universal picture;Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Byrne, and Cong Su for The Last Em-peror, a Columbia picture; Ennio Morricone for The Untouch-ables, a Paramount picture; John T. Williams for Empire Of TheSun, a Warner Bros. picture; and John T. Williams for The WitchesOf Eastwick, a Warner Bros. picture. And the winner is...ColumbiaPictures—Cong Su, David Byrne, and Ryuichi Sakamoto for TheLast Emperor," and the downbeat comes, and you have to beplaying. The problem is you never know if the presenter will firstannounce the picture, the company, or the name of the people,and that's when you panic.

Look over the music to the "Original Score" nominees section;this will give you an idea as to what we were looking at. Thepercussion chair was easier on this particular category. However,the timpani part was tougher. Larry Bunker tuned his five drums toF, G, Ab, Bb, and Eb, and he was ready to pedal the D necessaryfor winners Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Byrne, and Cong Su for TheLast Emperor. He then had a few moments to retune, if necessary,for the playoffs.

Usually the orchestra is made up of about 75 of Hollywood'stop studio players. It's a little easier for musicians like the violinistor the trumpeter to deal with some of these problems, like beingready for the winner. But when you are playing percusion ortimpani, you are definitely in the "hot seat." The drummer, who asI mentioned was Harvey Mason, also has the hot seat, as he isresponsible for all the right tempos along with conductor BillConti. Playing the Academy Awards is always a challenge, and funto do. This is why we, the percussionists, chose to be in thegreatest section of any orchestra.

PERCUSSION60th ACADEMY AWARDS

by Emil Richards

Awards

60th ACADEMY AWARDS ENNIO MORRICONETHE UNTOUCHABLES

PARAMOUNT

GEORGE FENTON ANDJONAS GWANGWA

CRY FREEDOMUNIVERSAL

RYUICHI SAKAMOTO, DAVID BRYNEAND CONG SU

THE LAST EMPERORCOLUMBIA

EMPIRE OF THE SUNWARNER BROTHERS

JOHN T. WILLIAMS

ORIGINAL SCORE60th ACADEMY AWARDS THE UNTOUCHABLES

PARAMOUNTENNIO MORRICONE

CRY FREEDOMUNIVERSAL

GEORGE FENTON ANDJONAS GWANGWA

THE LAST EMPERORCOLUMBIA

RYUICHI SAKAMOTO, DAVID BRYNEAND CONG SU JOHN T. WILLIAMS EMPIRE OF THE SUN

WARNER BROTHERSA

THE WITCHES OF EASTWICKWARNER BROTHERSJOHN T. WILLIAMS

THE WITCHES OF EASTWICKWARNER BROTHERSJOHN T. WILLIAMS

R O C K ' N ' J A Z Z C L I N I Cby Kelly Paletta

Style & Analysis:

Omar HakimThrough his work with such diverse artists as Weather Report, Gil Evans, Sting, John Scofield, and David Bowie, OmarHakim has become one of the most innovative and influential drummers on the contemporary scene. His playing is alesson in creativity and taste. The following transcriptions are examples of the eloquence and wit characteristic of manyof his recent recordings.

The first example is taken from the tune "Techno," on the John Scofield album Still Warm. The basic pattern is statedin the first two measures and then repeated with variations. Omar avoids playing a straight backbeat throughout thesong. He creates tension by not playing the snare drum on beat 2 in the second measure of the pattern. Notice also how

a feeling of forward motion is implied by the open hi-hat "barks" and the five-stroke rolls leading into beat 3 of measures three and five.The hi-hat is played with the tip of the stick (not the shoulder) to achieve a light, articulate sound. When practicing this excerpt, payparticular attention to the accented hi-hat notes (especially in measures two and eight) and to maintaining an even, consistent bass drumsound.

Next is a series of hand-to-hand coordination exercises to be practiced in preparation for the following excerpts. Play each exerciseslowly and repeatedly until they can be executed in a relaxed, flowing manner. Remember, accented notes should be played loudly,unaccented notes mezzo (one, and "ghosted" notes should be barely audible.

After mastering the previous exercises, we move on to two related patterns that Omar has played on record. The first is Omar's solointro to "High And Mighty," also from the John Scofield album. The next is taken from the middle section of the Weather Report song"Db Waltz," from the Domino Theory album. Omar plays this pattern very quietly behind the band's sparse rhythmic figures. The fill inmeasure five is written as 16th notes to ease readability. To play this pattern accurately, the 16ths should be swung. Don't let all of thenotes scare you; these two examples are just variations on the previous exercises. Once again, the hi-hat is played with the tip of thestick.

Pho

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ick

Mal

kin

The next example highlights Omar's unique approach to pop music. The song is "Consider Me Gone," from Sting's album The DreamOf The Blue Turtles. Throughout most of the tune, Omar plays a very understated jazz shuffle, leaving much room for Sting's vocals. Asthe song builds to its powerful conclusion, Omar plays a strong backbeat and adds a cymbal bell pattern that makes this beat soundmore like a 12/8 African groove rather than the straight-ahead shuffle he started with. The written straight-8th notes should be swung.

Finally, "Shadows In The Rain," again from The Dream Of The Blue Turtles, is a great example of a solid, hard-driving shuffle. Omarkeeps this beat surging forward by rarely playing the bass drum on beat 1. Again, play the written straight-8th notes in a swing feel.

Cym. Bell

CB-700's new MS Series of snare drums includes a 4 1/2 x 13piccolo snare (the only true piccolo in this review). The drum'sshell is 8-ply maple/mahogany, and it has eight double-endedlugs, with plastic gaskets mounted underneath to "float" the lugcastings. The snare throw-off uses a center-throw lever, with a fine-tension knob. Twenty-strand wire snares are used on this drum,held with plastic strips.

CB-700 is using 2mm "Power Hoops" on the MS Series, whichare a bit thicker than normal and can take higher tensions morereadily without warping or cracking. To me, they also provide alouder rimshot sound. The drum has two ventholes, and does nothave any internal muffling.

The drum I tested came fitted with a coated Remo Ambassadorbatter and a "no-name" snare-side head (presumably made for/byCB-700). To be honest, the thing that most hurt the drum's sound(and tuning) was that bottom snare head. I couldn't get it to seatproperly or tune up evenly; it was plainly inferior. After changing itto a Remo Diplomat, those problems vanished. I was able to keepthe head level, tune it accurately, and make an annoying snarerattle go away. (All the more reason for using quality heads onyour drums—beginners, take note!)

The CB-700 piccolo had good volume and response, but Icouldn't get it to tune up quite as high as I would have liked. Don'tget me wrong; the drum does sound good, and can still be pitchedquite a bit higher than a standard-sized drum.

A major appeal of this piccolo snare is the price. Chrome-finished, it retails at only $119.50. Blond maple or black lacquerfinishes are available for $189.50. CB-700 has always provideddecent quality drums at a decent price, and the MS Piccolo is agood example. (As an added bonus, a vinyl carrying bag is also in-cluded.)

Remember when drum sizes got deeper and snare drums gotdeeper right along with them? Many drummers are using smallerdrums now, resulting in a renewed interest in piccolo snare drums.These smaller snare drums are being used to blend in, pitch-wise,with the other drums in the kit, or for a secondary snare drumsound.

I prefer to think of a true piccolo drum as one similar to Ludwig'sold 3 x 1 3 model. (By the way, if anyone has one, I'll buy it!)Oddly enough, Ludwig is not even producing a piccolo snare atthis time. However, many manufacturers today are making "pic-colo" snares. Most of these, rather than being true piccolos with a13" diameter, are merely squashed 14" drums. For all intents andpurposes though, we can call them piccolo drums, and here's alook at some of the currently available models.

CB-700

P R O D U C T C L O S E - U P

Piccolo SnNOBLE & COOLEY

Noble & Cooley makes a 3 3/44

x 14 piccolo drum, using thesame materials and specifications as their standard snare drums.The drum is built of 1/4" rock maple, which is steam-bent to form aone-piece solid shell. It has ten double-ended tubular brass lugs.As with their other drums, the lug posts are mounted at the nodalpoint to maximize shell vibration. (On the piccolo, it's just aboutcenter.) Die-cast chrome hoops are used, and there's no internalmuffler. Reinforcing rings are used at the top and bottom of theshell.

Noble & Cooley's strainer is one of my all-time favorites. Thethrow-off is made of lacquered brass, and releases via a center-throw lever. It has a brass knurled knob fine-tension adjustment,and on this drum, the 20-strand wire snares are held with plasticstrips. The strainer is incredibly smooth and silent. It's actuallysimple in design, but works like a dream.

The drum I played was fitted with a coated Ambassador batterand a Diplomat snare-side. Since there's no internal damper, Noble& Cooley includes one of their Zero Rings for the batter head. (AZero Ring is a thin Mylar O-ring that lays on the outer perimeter ofthe head to dampen excessive ring and overtones.)

Like all the Noble & Cooley drums I've played in the past, this3 3/4 " piccolo had a full, vibrant tone with great sensitivity. It tunedup to a high pitch easily, and had more than ample volume;rimshots resounded with a nice crack. The drum is sensitive tofeather-touch playing, while at the other extreme, will not chokeup under loud playing. Five finishes are available: natural mapleand honey maple lacquers, and white, red, and black polyure-thanes. The drum retails at $598.00 and certainly earns a five-starrating in all aspects of design, sound, and payability.

A new addition to the Noble & Cooley line is their 6 x 1 2Drumbali. The Drumbali shares many features with Noble &Cooley's other snare drums (rock maple shell, brass strainer, etc.),but also has some differences. The Drumbali has six chromeddouble-ended lugs, which are a variation on their standard lugs.They're still tubular, but are formed to a large rectangle at thebottom. Each lug is attached to the shell with a single screw; therest of the casting does not touch the shell. The shell's interior hastwo reinforcing rings: One is near the bottom, at the nodal point(where the lugs attach); the other is equidistant from the top. Thereis a single venthole, and the drum has a 12-strand wire snare unit,held with cording.

I must mention that Noble & Cooley's bearing edges are simplybeautiful. They are expertly cut so that drumhead-to-shell contactis at a minimum, which allows for sensitive response.

The Drumbali sent to me was fitted with a FiberSkyn 2 thin

by Bob Saydlowski, Jr.

are Drumsbatter and a Diplomat snare-side head, but no Zero Ring. Thepremise behind the design of the Drumbali is to give the drummera snare drum also capable of producing a realistic timbale sound.In its snare drum form, it's crisp and dynamic. Throw off thesnares, and the drum instantly turns into a cutting high-pitchedtimbale with great resonance. I wouldn't really recommend theDrumbali as your primary snare drum, but it can definitely func-tion as a secondary snare, giving an articulate piccolo snare sound,plus a good timbale sound for Latin and reggae music. The Drumbalialso retails at $598.00.

IMPACT

R.O.C.

R.O.C, makes many different sized snare drums—some even"exotic." Most of their drums, including the 5 x 1 3 piccolo I tried,are made of 10-ply mahogany/oriental hickory.

R.O.C.'s 5 x 1 3 snare has six double-ended lugs, all backed withfelt. It uses a simple side-throw strainer, with 11" 16-strand wiresnares. A lock on/off internal muffler is installed. The drumshellhas very acute bearing edges cut on both sides, which finely slopedown for the first 3/4

4

inch or so of the shell. The primary, head-seating edge is quite thin.

An R.O.C. silver-spot clear head was fitted on the batter side,and a milky-white smooth head was on the snare side. I don't havemuch faith in these heads; they fit very tightly to the shell, negatingany positive influence the thin edges may have on the drum's toneand response. Along with the fact that the wire snares were twoinches shorter than the diameter of the snare head, the drumsounded dry and choked. It did have a quick decay, but was not as"snappy" as others. The drum had the capability for loud volume,but sensitivity for quiet playing was unfortunately not there. Thedrum retails at a suggested price of $166.00.

R.O.C. also sent a 4 1/2 x 14 drum, made of 10-ply poplar/maple/oriental mahogany, covered in chrome. It has ten felt-backed,double-ended lugs, a parallel strainer with 20-strand split snares(along with a steel rod through the shell), the same acutely formedbearing edges, plus a lock on/off internal muffler. The strainer hasa fine-tension knob on both ends, and works with a lever release.It's fairly massive, having two steel guard rails per side, and workedrather stiffly, I thought.

Physically, the lugs on this drum were not centered on the shell,and in a few instances, actually touched the bottom head hoop.This might cause some tuning problems with the snare head. Thedrum came with transparent batter and snare-side heads. It hadgood attack and more snap to it than the 5 x 1 3 , although it wasstill a bit dry-sounding. This snare drum did respond well at itshigher tunings, but would benefit immensely from different heads.The drum lists for $159.00.

R.O.C. says they've learned to "manipulate" wood for specificperformance abilities, and can also do shells ranging from five to15 plies using mahogany, maple, birch, teak, rosewood, luaan,poplar, oak, bubinga, burl, or eucalyptus. PVC covering is stan-dard (in black, white, blue/white, wine red, or midnight blue).Mylar and bubinga burlwood finishes are extra. Other piccolo-type sizes available are 4 x 14, 6 1/2X 13, 8 x 13, 5 x 12, 6 1/2 x 12,and 8 x 1 2 . (On the other end of the spectrum, they make a 14 x

Impact makes a fiberglass-shell drum measuring 4 1/2 x 14, whichis the largest of the piccolo snares reviewed here. It also has 12double-ended lugs, giving it the most tension points of the drums Itested.

A sophisticated parallel-lay strainer is used. The throw-off sideworks via a large cross-lever, and also has a fine-tension knob nearits bottom. (The butt end also has a tension knob.) Twenty-strandwire snares attach directly to both ends of the strainer, and extendpast the snare head on both sides. To allow for this, the bottomhoop is entirely cut away, leaving an open gate. Steel guard railsare attached to the tuning rods adjacent to the throw-off and buttassemblies. A steel rod passes through the inside of the drum toconnect up with both ends of the strainer unit. Impact's snarestrainer is extremely silent when switching on and off; there isvirtually no slap of the snares hitting the head. It works well, andhas various tension and leveling adjustments.

The drum has two ventholes, each of which is surrounded by arubber grommet. Impact still provides an internal muffler, whichwill lock its position on or off at a single touch, and can beadjusted for the degree of dampening desired.

Four covered finishes are available: chrome, black, white, andgray. The drum I tested came with a coated Ambassador batter andan Ambassador snare-side head. The drum had a full-bodied,bright sound (thanks to the fiberglass shell). It cut through quitewell, and rimshots resounded with a good crack. The extendedsnares helped to give this drum a crisp, snappy response. Even atits 4 1/2" depth, it was still able to provide a high-pitched, livelypiccolo sound. I would consider using Impact's drum in manysituations—even as a primary snare drum, since it will also tunedown lower and still retain a solid sound. The suggested retailprice is $270.00.

14 snare drum on legs!)In fairness to R.O.C., I'd like to temper any comments pertain-

ing to the hardware on their drums with the statement that, ac-cording to company president Glen Quan, their entire focus is ontheir shells. They feel that using generically available, moderate-cost hardware helps them to keep overall drum cost down, andthat they can more than make up for any acoustic deficiencies thatthe hardware might cause by what they can do with the shells. Inaddition, they are more than happy to create drums for customersusing any specific brand of hardware desired.

TEMPUS

Tempus Instruments of Canada is offering a 4 1/2 x 14 fiberglasspiccolo snare drum. Their drum has ten double-ended lugs, withnylon washers on the rods to cancel metal-to-metal contact.Tempus's shell is different from Impact's fiberglass shell in that theinterior has a black matted texture, rather than being smooth.Also, the exterior colored finish is part of the shell itself, instead ofa laminated covering.

Since Tempus doesn't produce its own strainer unit, the drum Ireceived was fitted with a Drum Workshop cross-lever throw-offand a Pearl adjustable-slide butt. The throw-off operates smoothlyand is easy to adjust. The lever is pretty much flush with the top ofthe drum so that it doesn't get in the way. Twenty-strand wiresnares are used, and are attached via plastic strips.

The drum came fitted with coated Ambassador batter and Dip-lomat snare-side heads. Tuned to its upper limits, this drum has avery loud, piercing sound. Due to the fiberglass shell, it's brighterthan most, allowing it even more cutting power. (At times, it cameclose to hurting my ears!) There is no internal muffler, but a thinZero Ring dampened out any annoying ring. Throughout its tuningrange, the Tempus drum spoke clearly, and at the piccolo level,had a nice "pop."

Fiberglass is less prone to being affected by temperature andhumidity changes than wood. The sound is not as warm as wood,of course, but the reflective qualities of fiberglass make for a nice,bright piccolo snare sound.

Available shell colors are yellow, red, black, white, grey, andblue. Other colors are available on a custom basis (as per the FerroEnamels color chart). The 4 1/2 x 14 retails at $297.00. When I lastspoke to Tempus, they had successfully developed a 6 x 13 drum,and were experimenting with other sizes.

Previous Product Close-Up columns have reviewed these otherpiccolo snares: Joe Montineri soprano drums: 4 x 12, 5 x 12(September 1987); Premier 2024: 4 x 1 4 (March 1988); YamahaSD-493: 3 1/2 x 14 (March 1988). For a complete overview ofavailable piccolo snare models, check out MD 's latest Equip-ment Annual.

J A Z Z D R U M M E R S ' W O R K S H O P

SambaIn my last article, I demonstrated some authenticsamba rhythms, and showed how they could beplayed on the snare and bass drums while theride cymbal played a modified 4/4 ride pattern.Now I would like to show you some ride cymbalvariations, as well as how to play time on the kitwithout relying on a steady cymbal beat, i.e.,playing on the drums,

ablish what the feet are playing:

Here are some cymbal variations you can try while playingsamba. If the tempo is not too fast, you can comfortably play this:Ride Cymbal (or closed hi-hat) moderate tempo

Another pattern that is effective is the straight 8th-note interpreta-tion of the jazz ride-cymbal pattern:

You can also just play quarter notes:

Try accenting different quarter notes; for example, on beats 1and 3. (These kinds of accents work really well when played onthe bell of the cymbal.)

Now, try this:

The bell tone really cuts through. Now try accenting the offbeats:

And then, play just the offbeats:

All of these cymbal variations work particularly well with samba-type snare drum rhythms, as well as the half-time backbeat rhythm.The half-time backbeat opens up the different levels of time goingon in the music, and complements the "two" feel that is so impor-tant to samba. It also clearly takes us into more of the "fusion"realm, i.e. jazz, or improvised music, that has elements of straight8th-note music in it (pop, rock, R&B, ethnic, etc.).

Try this half-time backbeat with the previous and followingcymbal patterns:

Here are some extensions of the off-beat cymbal idea with thebackbeat:

I played this beat on the Weather Report recording of "BlackMarket," on the 8:30 album (M.M. = 120):

The reason for playing these different variations is to make yourmusic (and music-making) more interesting.

Now let's try some beats where we use more of the drumset. Inthe following two examples, the right hand plays the ride cymbaland floor tom notes, while the left hand plays the snare drum notes :

Variationsby Peter Erskine

Follow the sticking pattern on the next example.

This is only the beginning. You can create all sorts of patterns andfeelings by using different accents, placement (orchestration onthe drumset), textures, and so on. Here, for example, is a beat thatI really like to play; it's a brush/stick combination. To make iteasier to read, the individual hand parts have been written onseparate staffs, with the left hand on the top staff and the righthand on the bottom staff. The right hand 8th-note pattern (like we

played on the cymbal earlier) is often played on the snare drumwith a brush. Play the quarter note "swirled," or slid across thehead of the snare, in a left-to-right circular pattern, with the 8thnotes played regularly. The left hand plays the cross-stick andsmall tom notes. Once you are comfortable playing the handstogether, add the samba bass drum and hi-hat pattern. A goodtempo to work this up to is quarter note = 158.

I picked that up from some recordings with Grady Tate, and used iton the tune "My Ship," from my first solo album.

To get a better idea as to how these patterns, as well as others,work within samba, I strongly recommend listening to the follow-ing: any Antonio Carlos Jobim recordings, old Sergio Mendesalbums, any recordings with Airto Moreira, and Eliane Elias' CrossCurrents (Denon compact disc). Jack Dejohnette and I are playingdrums on this one.

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U P & C O M I N G

Kurteffe of sound that people like to categorizeas New Age. That's thoroughly exciting tome." Using only electronic equipment andperforming standing up rather than sittingdown, Wortman shares the spotlight withde Grassi. Yet, Wortman doesn't activelypursue the onstage attention. "The key is tomake the technology that I use to createsound seem transparent," he says. "I don'twant the audience to focus in on where thepercussion sounds are coming from. I'mmore interested in their hearing and ab-sorbing what I'm adding to the music inthe form of rhythm."RS: How did you get involved with Alex deGrassi?KW: Originally, the connection goes backto 1981 and an album called Clockwork.Alex called me up, as well as another mu-sician, Patrick O'Hearn, when we were ina band called Group 87. Up to that point,Alex had done only solo acoustic albums,but for Clockwork he wanted more of aband sound. The drums on that record aremine. There's not a lot of them, but theexperience was enough to get involved withAlex and his music.RS: You didn't continue to play with himfrom that point on, right?KW: No, I didn't. We began playing to-gether fairly regularly last year. Alex calledme up again, this time to do a quartet tourwith him. Alex played guitar, Mark Eganplayed bass, Clifford Carter played key-boards, and I was the drummer. On somedates on the East Coast, Danny Gottliebplayed drums instead of me. Anyway, dur-ing this tour, there were a couple of pieceswhere only Alex and I would play. Theyworked so well that the idea for this duotour was hatched from the success we ex-perienced last year.RS: Is it difficult to play with de Grassi? Heseems to have a guitar style that doesn'tlend itself quite so easily to rhythmic ac-companiment.KW: That's true. He's unlike any other gui-tar player I've performed with. His rapid,intense fingerpicking style is very rhyth-mic, which, you'd think, sounds best unac-companied. But I think both Danny [Got-tlieb] and I enhance Alex's music when weaccompany him. We certainly don't com-pete with him.RS: Is there, or has there been, a problemwith volume? After all, de Grassi playsacoustic guitar. It may be amplified, but it'sstill acoustic and still rather soft.KW: It was an adjustment that I had tomake. He uses a pickup and a microphonein order to preserve as much of the acous-tic sound as possible. I tried to play quietlyand somewhat restrained right from the

de Grassi on stage in the small New Jerseyshore venue called Club Bene, and it'sobvious that New Age they're playing ishardly sedate or sleepy. Although de Grassi'sacoustic guitar doesn't ring out the way arock or jazz guitar might, Wortman'ssampled percussion setup is pumping outcomplicated rhythm runs that fill out themusic and allow it to take on a more de-manding direction. If this is New Age, it'sNew Wave New Age.

"I'm really quite happy with the resultswe've been getting," says Wortman back-stage after the show. "It's amazing how youcan change the sound of this music bygiving it a sense of rhythm. What I'm doingis bringing my sense of drums and drum-ming to what I view as an expanded pal-

In a very unassuming way, drummer KurtWortman is breaking new ground. He'shelping to pave a path in a contemporarymusic form where drummers have rarelyventured in the past. The music is NewAge, that often airy, always soothing hybridof world folk, jazz, pop, and classical mu-sic strains.

Since its inception, New Age has beenthe music form that certain critics love toflatten. They deride the music as possess-ing a sound suitable for a hot-tub party andno more meaningful than what you hear inan elevator. But thanks to Wortman and ahandful of other drummers, New Age maysoon have a new sound—and a new repu-tation.

One listen to Wortman and guitarist Alex

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beginning, and it's worked. But I've got tosay that there were moments on that quar-tet tour, for example, where the rhythmsection simply overpowered Alex. It wasn'tintentional, of course, but that's what hap-pened. But later on, when Alex and I playedthe Telluride Jazz Festival in Colorado, weexperimented even further. We worked onthe volume problem and the integration ofthe rhythms I was producing with his gui-tar. It worked so well that we got a standingovation from the festival audience. Need-less to say, that made us feel real good.RS: What is your musical background? Didyou study in a formal setting before em-barking on your career?KW: I studied with a lot of Bay Area teach-ers when I was starting out, like GeorgeMarsh and Smiley Winters. When I was 17,I played in my first band. It was a rock 'n'roll band, and we played a lot of Santana,Chicago, Jethro Tull—that sort of rock. Thegroup was lead by a flute player. I alsoattended San Francisco State as a musicmajor, but it was more off and on thansteady. I left school when I realized that Iwas more interested in performing and play-ing as much as I could than sitting in class.I played with Van Morrison, Jan Garbarek,Eddie Harris, Mark Isham, and Group 87. Ialso played some rock, but I did a lot morejazz gigs.RS: And now you're becoming known as aNew Age drummer. I know many so-calledNew Age artists scoff at the term. Do you?KW: I absolutely resist the term. I mean,I've recorded a fair number of things withWindham Hill, it's true. But I've also donea lot of other stuff. The term "New Agedrummer" almost doesn't exist. I've done alot of sessions and live dates with New Ageplayers. But I'd consider myself a jazz playermore than anything else. Now Alex is la-beled a New Age artist, because that's wherehe came from. He got his first bit of notori-ety as a New Age artist.RS: You and drummers such as Stuart Nev-itt of Shadowfax have been called "NewAge drummers." Yet, you say the termdoesn't really exist. Can you explain that?KW: Sure. Because a drummer or percus-sionist plays in a New Age style doesn'tmean he's a New Age drummer—not whenhe does a lot of other kinds of music, too. Imean, if someone said to me, "Name agreat New Age drummer, " I couldn't thinkof one. Maybe that will change in the fu-ture.RS: If more drummers follow your lead,then perhaps it will change.KS: That's true.RS: Your stage setup certainly gives youraudience the impression that what you're

Wortmanby Robert Santelli

playing is new and unusual. Can you giveme a rundown of your equipment?KW: I have a minimal setup, but I reallybelieve I get maximum results out of it. Asyou know, I'm not using a standard acous-tic drumset. I'm using the Sequential CircuitsStudio 440 as my sampler. I also use twoOctapads MlDIed together so I can have16 sound sources. A 17th sound comesfrom the DW trigger pedal that is attachedto the 440. I assign whatever sound I wantto it. So, I have 17 different sample soundsources at any given time. I also have fourPaiste cymbals—two 6" splashes, a China-type, and a Flatride. I don't use the cym-bals a tremendous amount because youdon't ride a lot with this type of music; it'snot appropriate. Sometimes it's hard for mebecause I come from that ECM jazz schoolof cymbal playing.RS: How did you make the adjustment?KW: It's been weird, but really interesting.People are starting to refer to me as a per-cussionist. I try to resist it. When I firstheard it, it drove me crazy. I used to tellpeople, "I'm not a percussionist, I'm a drum-mer." Now I've more or less resigned my-self to whatever they call what I do. I knowthat I'm a drummer first and everythingelse second. That's what counts.

But to answer your question, I've had toadapt myself to Alex's guitar style and toNew Age in general, not only pertaining tovolume and cymbals, but to a lot of otherthings. Alex plays a lot of inner rhythms.My first approach to that was to do thenormal drummer thing—two- and four-barpatterns. But what I wound up doing wasmimicking what he was playing. So now Ilock into patterns, but I go up and downdynamically. I'm also using a lot of me-lodic sounds. Because of all of this, I'vereally grown as a drummer.RS: What drummers have you looked to forinfluence and inspiration?KW: The question has a two-part answer.As far as what I'm doing now with Alex,there are no players whom I've emulated.But as far as drumming in general goes, Ican point to players like Tony Williams,Jack Dejohnette, and Elvin Jones.RS: Do you consider yourself a pioneer ofsorts when it comes to drummers who areinterested in New Age music? Certainlywhat you're doing with Alex de Grassi isturning a few heads.KW: I do consider myself a pioneer. Thereason I say that is because of the responseI've been getting from people after the show.Drummers are constantly coming up to meand saying, "Wow! What were you doingup there? What is this?" as they point to my440 and pads. I tell them that I'm using a

sample setup and that I make my own soundsamples. To tell you the truth, I'm amazedthat other drummers aren't using a setuplike I have. I'm a pioneer, but only by de-fault. No one else has jumped in to dowhat I'm doing.RS: And why is that? Why aren't there moredrummers experimenting within the para-meters of New Age and with the equip-ment that you're using?KW: I don't know. Maybe the term "NewAge" scares them. I prefer to call what Alexand I play "New Ethnic World Music." Therhythms we employ have nothing to dowith New Age. A lot of New Age recordcompanies wouldn't accept what we'redoing. They'd tell us that there was toomuch percussion going on.RS: You and Alex are also doing a bit ofimprovising.KW: That's right. I can be a snob and saythat what we're doing musically is veryjazz-based, but I wouldn't call it jazz at all.We dip into jazz, but our music has a lot ofsoul to it, too. It's certainly not backgroundmusic as a lot of New Age music suppos-edly is. At times, the music we play is veryintense. I think that's pretty obvious.RS: It is indeed. You add to the interest aswell as the intensity on stage by standingup rather than sitting down when you play.KW: Oh yeah, that's definitely true. I usemy right foot very sparingly. I don't use itthe way I would when I'm in a more tradi-tional setup with acoustic drums. I reallydon't use my left foot, either. My left andright hands, however, are constantly inmotion.RS: I guess rudimental exercises would pre-pare a drummer for what you're doing.KW: Yeah, they would. They would give adrummer that fluidness you need. But on adrumset you tend to go up and down andlift up and move to another drum, even ifthe motion is very rapid. What I do is movelaterally between the small pads.RS: I know Stu Nevitt of Shadowfax listensto a lot of world music at home for bothinspiration and new ideas. Do you do thesame?KW: I listen to more music in my car than Ido in my house. Strangely, I listen to a lotof pop and a lot of jazz, and some rock,too, of course. Basically, I listen to stuff thatreally grooves. Yet, I'll also listen to Indianand other ethnic music. When I was a kid,I used to go see Santana a lot. I'm talkingabout early Santana bands, back when theyplayed the Fillmore West. I especially lis-tened to [Jose] Chepito Areas, the timbalesplayer in the band. I recently ran into himin San Francisco. I walked downstairs to letmy girlfriend into the place where Alex

and I were rehearsing, and this guy wasstanding there. I immediately knew who hewas. He looked at me and said, "Hey, re-member me? 'Black Magic Woman'?" Iyelled, "Chepito!" We talked, and he saidthat he heard some guys were jammingupstairs. He wanted to bring up his tim-bales and jam. He was like a hero to mewhen I was a kid. When I used to do drumexercises, I'd put on Santana records andimprovise within what I heard.RS: You said before that, since you've beenplaying with Alex, you have drummerscoming up to you and asking about yourequipment and your role onstage. Are theysimply curious, or do they seem movedenough to perhaps emulate what you're

doing in some capacity?KW: There are two reactions I get. One is atimid one. There are drummers who arefearful that I have some knowledge thatthey don't. That's not true. Some, though,seem relieved when they find out what I'mdoing. You can see them saying to them-selves, "Oh, I could probably do that."RS: Do you give out advice?KW: I do, especially when it comes toequipment.RS: What do you tell them?KW: I tell them to spend very little, be-cause the equipment is out of date beforeyou know it. Don't skimp, though. Spendmaybe $3,000 on some good-soundingequipment. Strive to get the best product

you can, and then just dive into it.RS: Do you think that in the future therewill be more work for drummers within therealm of New Age?KW: Yes, I do. Within the circle of musi-cians I'm involved with—Patrick O'Hearn,Alex, Mark Isham—there's a growing de-mand for percussion and rhythm. And thesethree names are pretty big names in NewAge. I read an article the other day wherePatrick was called a New Age solo master.But the key here is that all three artists arenow writing music that is very rhythmic asopposed to the more traditional styles ofNew Age. If these guys are writing veryrhythmic music and it's still being calledNew Age music, then the scope of NewAge is definitely changing. And that's goodnews for drummers who want to exploresomething new and different. Prior to this,drummers were pretty much excluded fromthe New Age process. That's definitelychanging. I'm a product of that change, asa matter of fact.RS: The best thing about New Age becom-ing more rhythmic is that it will undoubt-edly be more stimulating. The old conno-tations of New Age—namely, that the mu-sic is overly gentle, almost to the point ofmaking you drowsy—might become obso-lete. That's got to be good for the music.KW: Oh, yeah. When I play with Alex orany other so-called New Age artist, I seemy job as one in which I strive to getpeople's bodies moving.RS: What about when you are in the stu-dio? Does your approach to the musicchange?KW: In the studio, things are more com-positional, so I do a lot more thinking be-fore playing. You can get away with a lot ofstuff live. But in the studio, it's going tosound far too busy if you put everything inthat you might put in on stage. So, I tend towork from a compositional viewpoint inthe studio and take one part at a time. Live,I really go for the control and smoothnessof the performance, but I also shoot for alot of excitement.RS: Which do you prefer more, studio workor live dates?KW: It's funny. When I'm in the studio, I'llsay to myself, "Yeah, this is where it's at.The money's good. I'm learning a lot. I'mgetting a lot done." But then I go out on theroad and I go, "Boy, this is great. I performfor people and get that instant feedback.I'm getting to see places." The truth is, Iconsider myself a performer, be it in thestudio or up on the stage.RS: Over the next few months, who willyou be touring with?KW: I'll certainly tour with Alex, and alsowith Patrick O'Hearn. But the tour I'm reallylooking forward to—which I believe be-gins in October—is one with guitarist DaveTom, bassist Mick Karn, Mark Isham—whowill be playing synths and trumpet—andTerry Bozzio. I'll be playing electronic per-cussion. It ought to be quite a tour.

practice.In Jany's review, she mentioned that some

of the views chosen by the camera opera-tor occasionally restrict the viewer duringcrucial closeups. Jany, this is not the Mi-chael Jackson Thriller video; this is an in-structional vibraphone video. The shotswere designed to show technique and exe-cution of musical passages. We purposelywanted hands to be seen and tried to covera lot of the keyboard. At the same time, wehad to show the performer occasionally tokeep interest.

Jany mentions "a debatable choice ofverbiage and terminology: Tachoir refers toblack or white sets of bars as 'registers,'and calls the independent (or Musser) gripthe 'marimba' grip." My response to this is:I'm sorry, Jany, my instrument (a vibra-phone) doesn't have black and white bars;I have a silver set and a gold set. This wasintentional, not to confuse the beginner andhave him looking for something else. Notall mallet players have a piano background."Register" refers to an instrumental voice.For example, the C scale or natural notescould be one register and the sharps andflats another. My choice of "marimba" gripwas a general term. If you would get aroundmore, you might realize that in addition tothe Musser grip, there are other independ-ent marimba grips. Ever heard of Leigh Ste-vens?

Jany said, "Tachoir's doubling of left orright stickings in linear patterns is in directopposition to a majority of teachers, whoexpound the virtues of alternate sticking."Jany, where have you been? This is 1988,and the old tilted military snare drum per-cussion techniques have been passe forsome time. This is the contemporary wayof performing. Maybe we should have achallenge and see who can execute linescleaner, faster, and more musical. Remem-ber music that's what I'm striving for notunorthodox technique, or maybe I'm just acreative genius.

Jany goes on to say that my video isinconsistent in aiming at one level of play-ing ability. Thank you; that is exactly whatwe wanted. We wanted the beginner to beable to learn the vibes and the advancedstudent to be able to polish his or her tech-nique and see what others are doing.

Jany goes on to say that some of thebeginners will be confused or discouraged.Obviously this reviewer is misguided andconfused. I don't know of Jany Sabins andnever heard of her, but maybe she shouldstart at the beginning of my video and takeit a step at a time. One can't be expected tounderstand everything in just one viewing.

Jerry TachoirHendersonvilleTN

Jany Sabins replies: Modern Drummer pro-vides review guidelines to all contributingwriters, from which I quote this pertinentportion: "...we prefer to call attention togood material, and ignore the junk. There-fore, if you feel that you cannot give some-thing a fairly positive review, please con-tact our office and advise us accordingly.

This is not to say that you should ignoreany faults; this is only in situations wherethe faults outnumber the good points."

When I wrote the review of Mr. Tachoir'sinstructional video, I advised MD that thetone of my review would not be overlypositive, and left the matter to their discre-tion as to whether my judgment was justi-fied and whether the review merited publi-cation at all. They are qualified individualsand, like myself, will seek out (and, in fact,sought out) information to support and/orverify facts and opinions in order to pre-serve the excellence of the magazine. Myviews in this case were not solitary or un-supported.

In consideration of Mr. Tachoir's protes-tations, I can only encourage the discrimi-nating reader to consider my comments inview of the total context of which they area part. Any journalist worth the proverbialgrain of salt knows that arguments may bemade for or against an opinion by arbitraryselection of words or stress placed on thelanguage involved. Arguing semantics is afruitless pursuit; I am more concerned withwhether or not the intent of my writing isunclear. As for my musical competence inreviewing, I am more than willing to bowto the judgment of the MD staff and reader-ship should it become apparent that theirconsensus agrees with Mr. Tachoir's. To myknowledge, it has not done so, thus far.

Debate is healthy. Caveat emptor—letthe buyer beware.

LIBERTY DeVITTOI can't begin to tell you how much I en-joyed the July cover story on LibertyDevitto. I have long felt that Liberty's con-tribution was a very significant percentageof Billy Joel's successful sound, and I'mglad that Liberty was given the opportunityto explain how some of that contributioncame about. While I enjoyed the descrip-tion of the Russian tour and the experi-ences that Liberty and the rest of the bandhad, I was especially pleased at the depthto which Liberty went when explaining hisapproach to the various tunes on TheBridge. His clear and honest statementsregarding his philosophy of drumming werealso most refreshing and welcome. Hemakes a strong case for the fundamental,drum-loving player who doesn't feel com-pelled to rely on heavy technology in orderto perform entertaining and commerciallysuccessful music. All I can say is, if LibertyDeVitto is still looking to play a local clubgig for a night or two, he's welcome tocome and sit in with my band anytime!

Donald WretroughClifton NJ

RON TUTTThank you for the super interview with myfavorite drummer, Ron Tutt [July '88 MD}. Iremember watching the television on Janu-ary 14, 1973 and seeing Elvis perform livefrom Hawaii. I was only nine years old atthe time, but I'll never forget seeing the

Alan White:

R O C K C H A R T S

This month's Rock Charts looks at Yes, a group that has been around for a while, and Alan White, the drummer for thegroup ever since Bill Bruford's departure in the early '70s. From the album Big Generator (Atco 90522-1), "Rhythm OfLove" features Alan's identifiable high-pitched snare sound, along with other trademarks: his patent precision andcleverness in modifying something mundane (8th-note rock) into variations that are downright interesting. Alan alsoinstinctively knows that absence makes the ear grow fonder, for when he drops out the bass drum at letter G, hisinterspersed kicks are all the more effective.

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Transcribed by James Morton

"Rhythm Of Love"

E L E C T R O N I C I N S I G H T S

Choosing A Mic'The current boom in electronic drum tech-nology has fostered a change in thedrummer's sound and role within music.Thus, today's drummers are quite differentfrom their counterparts of eight to ten yearsago. An interesting side effect of this newtechnology is the modern drummer's re-

transducer, which is the heartof all microphones. A transduceris a device that converts acous-tical energy (sound) into electri-cal energy (AC current). Thecurrent is then transmitted downthe line to a mixer, amplifier, or

tape machine. Manykinds of transducersare available, but thethree most importantfor drum applica-tions are the movingcoil, the ribbon, andthe condenser.

Moving coil trans-ducers achieve elec-tro-acoustical con-version by suspend-ing a coil of wire at-tached to a dia-phragm within themagnetic field of apermanent magnet.As sound waves move the dia-phragm, the coil is movedwithin the magnetic field, gen-erating an AC current. This al-ternating current correspondsdirectly to the nature of thesound wave creating the dia-phragm movement. The result

is a very low level audio signal. Micro-phones employing this type of transducerare generally called "dynamic" mic's.

Ribbon mic's achieve the conversion bysuspending a strip of aluminum (or "rib-bon") between two permanent magnets. Thestrip of aluminum acts simultaneously asthe diaphragm and the conductor of elec-

newed interest in acoustic drums and themethods used to mike and record them.Drummers are discovering that combiningacoustic and electronic drums can create apercussion system able to meet the demandsof almost any contemporary musical situ-ation.

Miking acoustic drums seems intimidat-ing to many drummers, sound reinforce-ment technicians, and recording engi-neers. Because drums produce manydifferent frequencies at high sound pres-sure levels (SPL), they are consideredthe most difficult instruments to repro-duce accurately. However, by examin-ing choice and placement of micro-phones, many miking problems can beidentified.

As the first link in the audio chain,the microphone is of critical impor-tance. Even if the rest of the recordinggear in the chain works perfectly, mi-crophone deficiencies will be repro-duced intact—especially with digitalequipment.

Transducers

The ability to select the right mic'and use it properly depends on a thor-ough understanding of design charac-teristics. A good starting place is the

tricity. The ribbon is extremely light inweight and can reproduce transients fasterand better than a moving coil. Transients—sounds that reach their highest level anddecay in a fraction of a second—are com-mon in drum sounds.

Condenser microphones use a diaphragmcoated with a conductive material. Thediaphragm is suspended between two metalplates that are polarized by an externalD.C. supply. Because gold is the best con-ductor of electricity, the best condensermicrophones use it as a diaphragm coat-ing.

As sound waves move the diaphragm,the distance between the diaphragm and

plates will change. This causes achange in capacitance, which can bemeasured as an alternating current.Condenser microphones have a veryfast transient response and are usuallyquite durable. Most of today's mixingconsoles have phantom power sup-plies that will power condenser mic's.Some condensers can operate withself-contained power supplies.

Different Features

Each type of transducer offers spe-cific features and benefits. Under-standing these features is importantwhen choosing the proper type toreproduce the various drums in a kit.

Moving coils are more durable thanribbons and condensers. They canwithstand the higher sound pressurelevels produced by drums. If the con-struction of the mic' element is smallenough, the transient response is suf-

by Bob Lowig

For Acoustic Drumsficient to reproduce the initial attack tran-sients a drum produces when struck.

Ribbons have an exceptionally fast tran-sient response, allowing the most accuratereproduction of drum sounds. They pro-duce a warm low end, clean, smoothmidrange, and a crystal-clear high end. Theyare, however, more delicate than movingcoils and can be susceptible to damagefrom the high sound pressure level of drums.

Condenser microphones have excellenttransient response, produce a higher out-put than dynamic mic's, and are reasona-bly durable—all the ingredients of a gooddrum microphone. Condensers, however,can be very expensive. When consideringprice versus performance, moving coil mic'sare generally the recommended choice.When money is no object, condensers arechosen most often.

drums for better control over thesound.

An omni ("omnidirectional")pattern microphone reproducessounds arriving from all direc-tions in equal levels (Figure 1). Amicrophone with a "cardioid"pattern is insensitive to soundsarriving from the rear, but picksup sounds in front (Figure 2). Onpaper the plot resembles a heart,hence the name "cardioid." A bi-directional (or "figure-eight") pat-tern is sensitive to sounds com-ing from 90 degrees off-axis fromthe front of the microphone andinsensitive to sounds comingfrom both 0 degrees on-axis (di-rectly in front) and from the rear(180 degrees) (Figure 3).

Frequency Response.A frequency responsegraph (Figure 4) displayseach microphone's tendencies toincrease or decrease the outputlevel of certain frequencies. Thisis extremely important whenchoosing a mic'.

Each drum has its own particu-lar tone or frequency responsebased on different shell lengths andmaterials, head types, and the waythe drum is played. For optimumresults, a microphone's frequencyresponse should be preciselymatched to the sounds of the drumon which it is used. Understand-ing transducers, polar patterns, andfrequency response is vital forchoosing and placing microphoneswhen miking a drumkit. Now let'sconsider each drum individuallyto determine specific needs andconsiderations when miking.

Snare Drum

The snare drum exhibits a frequency re-sponse primarily in the midrange (500 to1200 Hz). When miking a snare drum it isessential to use a microphone with a flat(no obvious increases or decreases) fre-quency response in the midrange. The mic'should be less sensitive to sounds below500 Hz to prevent it from reproducing thelow-end frequencies of the bass drum andfloor toms. This is often called a "rolledoff" low-end response.

The mic' should have a cardioid polarpattern in order to be insensitive to soundsentering from the rear. Positioned properly,it will reject unwanted sounds from therack toms, bass drum, or hi-hat, yet accu-rately reproduce the sound of the snare.

Terminology

A knowledge of basic mic' terminologyand functions can provide valuable insightsinto the performance capabilities of differ-ent microphones. The following are someof the more common terms used in de-scribing the characteristics of a particularmic'.

Polar Pattern. A polar pattern is a printedplot of the microphone's sensitivity to thesounds arriving at all angles in a 360-de-gree sphere around the mic' head. Thesepatterns indicate particular areas in thesphere where the microphone is either moreor less sensitive to sound. Each microphonecan be constructed to exhibit a specificpolar pattern. This is an important aspectto consider when placing the drum mic's,because it can help to isolate individual

A small mic' will allow proper place-ment without interfering with the drummer'stechnique. Finally, a small, lightweightmoving coil diaphragm will properly re-produce the fast initial attack transients ofthe snare drum.

The mic' should be placed 1" to 2" fromthe top of the drumhead at the rim, withthe rear of the mic's cardioid polar patternfacing the rack toms. For a fatter sound,move the mic' closer to the head and moretoward the center. A second mic' can beplaced under the drum to pick up a moreconcentrated snare sound. This can thenbe blended with the sound generated bythe top mic'. (Figure 5).

With the double-mic' method, the mic'smust be out of phase with each other. Adrum having the upper and lower heads onwill produce sound waves from the topand bottom that are out of phase with eachother. If you mike these out-of-phase soundsand combine them together at the mixingconsole, you cancel the midrange frequen-cies of the drum. The resulting sound isunacceptable; it sounds like playing a gar-bage pail stretched with newspaper. Toovercome this problem, one of the micro-phones should be wired out of phase. Somemiking consoles have phase reverse con-trols that do this.

Another way to alleviate the problem isto split the signal from a single snare mic':One output can be sent to the mix and oneto an electronic drum synthesizer that alsofeeds sound back to the mixer. Then, thesetwo sounds can be blended.

Bass Drum

The bass drum plays a role second only

to the snare in the make-up of a good over-all drum sound. This drum creates the lowfrequency tones that make us move ourfeet.

There are more devices for and opinionson reproducing the sound of the bass drumthan on any other part of the drumset. Thenature of the bass drum sound, however,demands that—whatever mic' is chosen—it must have certain performance charac-teristics.

The ability of the mic' to handle highsound pressure levels is essential, since thebass drum can produce sound pressure lev-els of 130 dB or more. A large diaphragmelement is also necessary to reproduce thelow-end frequencies and sub-harmonicsgenerated by a bass drum.

The polar pattern necessary for a bassdrum mic' has become a topic of contro-versy, as new methods employing differenttypes of polar patterns have recentlyemerged. The one most commonly used isthe cardioid polar pattern.

When placed in the drum, this type ofmicrophone is sensitive to sounds from thebeater head and to shell "ring." It is insen-sitive to sounds produced by the front headand to sounds entering the drum from othersound sources (i.e., stage monitors for thedrummer). If this type of mic' has a largediaphragm for low-frequency response andcan handle high sound pressure levels, agood sound can be achieved.

A technique currently being advanced,however, is the use of a "figure-eight" (or

bi-directional) polar pattern. This patternoffers unique advantages. First, the front ofthe mic' will be sensitive to sounds gener-ated by the beater. The rear of the micro-phone will be sensitive to sounds gener-ated by the vibration of the head on thefront part of the drum.

When tuned properly, the front head isan integral part of the overall bass drumsound that we hear acoustically. It shouldbe considered when using a mic' to repro-duce the sound of a bass drum. Most sig-nificantly, a "figure-eight" polar pattern re-sponds to a problem all drummers and en-gineers try to alleviate: Its off-axis responseis designed to be insensitive to the shell's"ring." (Figure 6).

Figure 6

Some engineers feel that using a "figure-eight" pattern for the bass drum in liveapplications may cause feedback or bleed-through problems. One claim is that thesensitivity at the rear of the mic' will causeit to pick up stage monitors and other in-struments. However, if the gain on the mix-

ing console is adjusted to create properinput levels when the mic' is subjected to120 dB of sound pressure level from thebeater, the rear of the mic' will only hearsounds of 120 dB at the same distance themic' is from the beater. Because the mic' isusually not more than 6" to 8" from thebeater, any sound source outside the drumwould have to produce a sound pressurelevel of at least 120 dB, 6" from the rear ofthe mic'. In practical applications, this al-most never occurs.

Considering its advantages, a "figure-eight" polar pattern in a bass drum mic'becomes a very important component whenattempting to create the most accurate rep-resentation of the bass drum sound.

Hi-hat

The hi-hat exhibits the same frequencyrange as the snare drum. Therefore, micro-phone considerations are similar. The mic'should be small so that it can be movedaround the hi-hat without interfering withthe drummer's technique. It should exhibita cardioid polar pattern to isolate its soundfrom the rest of the set.

The hi-hat's frequency response shouldbe rolled off at the low end so it will not re-produce the low frequencies of the bassdrum. When positioned, the mic' shouldpoint toward the top cymbal (Figure 7) ofthe hi-hat. This will help to accurately re-produce both the sound of the hi-hat clos-ing and the sound of the drumstick hittingthe cymbal.

Figure 7

Rack Toms

Mic's for the rack toms should be smallfor easy placement and, like the snare andhi-hat mic's, should have small elementdiaphragms for fast transient response. Thisway, initial attack tones created by drum-sticks hitting the heads of the drums will beaccurately reproduced.

Since the sound of the bass drum radi-ates up and around the rack toms, the racktom mic's should have a rolled off low-endfrequency response as well. This helps tokeep the bass drum sounds out of the racktom mic's.

If your set has only one rack tom, mic'placement is easy. But more drums calls formore mic's, which usually means moreproblems. Here again, the snare drum isthe point of reference. A mic' should beplaced 1" to 2" above the head near theupper rim (the one furthest away from the

snare) (Figure 8). Ideally, the cardioid pat-tern should face the top head, but such aplacement would interfere with thedrummer's technique.

Figure 8

Floor Tom

Floor toms require a full frequency re-sponse to capture their true power and to-nal capability. Once again, a mic' with acardioid pattern is the preferred choice.The mic' placement is not as critical aswith a rack tom because a floor tom's fre-quencies will radiate in all directions.

The mic' should be placed near the head,as on a rack tom, and out of the way of thedrummer's playing (Figure 9). Pointing therear of the cardioid polar pattern at the lowride cymbal will help reduce any bleed-through.

Figure 9

Overhead Mic's

Overhead mic's present one of the big-gest challenges of drum miking. All toooften, engineers indiscriminately place twomicrophones over the drums in the vainhope of attaining complete coverage. Un-fortunately, with this type of miking (twomicrophones mixed together in mono), theproblem of phase cancellation becomes ap-parent. It occurs because the distance be-tween any multiple sound source (i.e. cym-bals) and each of the microphones will bedifferent. The sound from each individualsource will arrive at the mic's at differenttimes, and thus will be out of phase withthe other sound source. The degree of phase

cancellation will be directly proportionalto the difference in distance from each mic'to the sound source.

One way to overcome this problem witha single sound source is to observe a simple3-to-1 distance ratio: The second mic' mustbe more than three times the distance fromthe source than the first mic'. But since adrumset presents multiple sound sources,this can be impractical.

The problem can be solved by placingthe two overhead mic's at a 45-degree angleto each other (the X-Y technique) (Figure10). The distance between the soundsources will be the same , eliminating anyphase cancellation relationships. Since theobjective of the overhead mic's is to repro-duce not only the cymbals, but all of thedrums as they sound naturally, a mic' witha full frequency response is recommended.

Since crash and ride cymbals producevery fast transients at high frequencies, acondenser microphone is most commonlyused for this application. Condensers canbe expensive, however, and there are someexcellent moving coil alternatives for over-heads at a fraction of the cost of condens-ers.

Figure 10

Expertise in the art of mic' choice andplacement comes with years of experience.The basic principles outlined here will helpthose who are just beginning to learn howto successfully reproduce the many soundsof the modern drumkit. If you follow them,your immediate results will surpass yourexpectations. In addition, experimentationwill help to improve your miking skills asmuch, if not more, than any instruction.Above all, begin with properly tuned drums.After all, the right mic's, correctly posi-tioned, can only reproduce badly tuneddrums exactly as they sound to the ear,or worse.

C O R P S S C E N Eby Dennis Delucia

From The Drumset To The Drum Corps: Part 1Contemporary drum corps explores an extremely wide range of musical idioms. The "drumset-oriented" tunes seem to present seriousproblems for percussion arrangers and performers alike. Arrangers often fail to distinguish the characteristics that differentiate one groovefrom another, and players frequently interpret all charts in the same manner. This column, as well as future ones, will present examplesof how a variety of grooves (idioms) might be written in drum corps or marching band.

For the writer/arranger, there are a few important guidelines to be followed when trying to interpret the drumset to the drumline. Firstof all, the most basic consideration is the rhythmic characteristics of the style in which you are attempting to write. For instance, whatrhythmic patterns differentiate a rock groove from a samba, nanego, funk, or jazz tune? Another point to consider is the texturalcharacteristics of a style, or what parts of the drumkit are used to portray various idioms (i.e., hi-hat, cymbal bell, heavy toms, snare,etc.). Another important guideline for the writer/arranger is don't over-write! Every player does not have to play in every measure. Thelast thing to keep in mind is to write it as you would play it. When writing these parts, you should think as if you were playing thedrumset part.

The drum corps players have a few guidelines they should follow as well when interpreting the drumset for drum corps. First of all,tempo control is an element of musicianship that is always considered to be a drummer's (or drum section's) most important function.Another guideline for the player is dynamic sensitivity. Each person in the section must be keenly aware of how his or her volume levelcontributes to the ensemble blend and balance. It is important for each player to understand which voices must dominate the ensemblein order for the idiom to be portrayed correctly. Another guideline for the player to follow—which is the key intangible ingredient—isthat of feel. This is best described in terms of how natural and comfortable a player or ensemble is when performing.

Another guideline is that of interpretation of the time. This has to do with where the groove is played in relation to the beat. Forinstance, should a particular groove be played "on top" of the beat, or in a "laid-back" manner? This critical but often-ignored facet ofpercussion performance is really an important element of "feel." The secret is to work hard on interpreting time so that it sounds like youdon't work at it at all! One other guideline I have for the player is his or her mind-set. What I mean by this is allowing your emotions andyour body language to flow and change as the music that you are performing flows and changes. Joe Franco's approach to playing wouldbe as out of place in a symphony orchestra as Vic Firth's would be in Twisted Sister! Music is the communication of mood and emotionfrom writer, through the player, to the listener. Without the emotional involvement of the performer, the writer/arranger's ideas cannotreach the audience.

The following are examples of how I, as a percussion arranger in drum corps, might interpret drumset grooves. This month I will showyou a basic rock beat and a funk beat arrangement for the drumline. In future columns, I will cover different types of grooves. In thefollowing examples, the snares are written on the top staff (which includes the closed hi-hat sound indicated with an "x" above the staff),the quads are written on the second (from top) staff, the bass drums are written on the third staff, and the cowbell and tambourine partsare on the bottom staff (the cowbell is notated with an "x" on the fourth space; the tambourine is notated with an "x" on the first space).

Basic Rock

Some of the rhythmic characteristics of a basic rock beat are: a 4/4 meter, a solid 8th-note ride played on either a closed hi-hat or openride cymbal, a strong 2 and 4 backbeat played on snare, a steady bass drum pattern emphasizing beats 1 and 3, and a tempo of a quarternote = 120-144. The textural characteristics include a "treble" combination of snare, hi-hat, and tambourine, a fairly straight-ahead bassdrum "bottom," and little or no tom involvement except during fills.

Funk

Some of the basic rhythmic characteristics of a funk beat include: a 4/4 meter, an intense 16th-note syncopation among the snare, hi-hat, and bass drum, and a slightly slower tempo than a basic rock tempo (quarter note = 112-120). The textural characteristics include a

"treble/bass" combination of snare and hi-hat with bass drums that must interact to create the net ensemble sound, and the cowbell andtambourine are added for color rather than for basic rhythmic pulse.

ply to seriously studying anything else.AB: That's because it's supposed to lookeasy. If it doesn't look easy, you're doing itwrong.DF: How do you make it look easy?AB: I keep it simple. I also feel that it's gotto be accessible; it's got to be competitiveon the radio with everything else. But I liketo throw in a few things that attract atten-tion. Lately, I'm getting into fills on the bassdrum—even if that's not really the functionof the bass drum. The function of the bassdrum is to lay down the most solid beat. Ifyou have a moment where the beat canstop and there's a hole, you can make anexception to your bass-drum-being-simplerule. Using the bass drum in fills reallyopens up a lot of different territory. When Ifirst started making records, I used to dobass drum fills all the time—maybe in ex-cess. I evolved to a point, somewherearound "The Reaper." I was still gettingpretty busy then, but right after the bigcommercial success, I started simplifyingmy drum parts. I found that I preferred thesimpler drum styles of Simon Kirke andpeople like that.DF: What's your favorite drum track you'verecorded?AB: "Burnin' for You" is one of my favor-ites. That's just Donald Roeser and me. Wetried several times to get it to sound rightwith the whole band, but it always soundedtoo cluttered, or one thing or another waswrong. One time, Donald and I happenedto be in a studio, the rest of the band had

gone home, and Donald said, "Let's give ita shot." It was just Donald and me on thetrack. He played the bass, too. But I had apretty clear idea how I wanted to presentall the fills and stuff. I could've played itwithout anybody else. But you always haveartistic remorse—if you're any kind of art-ist. You're never really satisfied, even if thething sells 20 million. I'm sure with Mi-chael Jackson, if you looked really deepinside his heart, you would see placeswhere he thought, "Oh man, that guitarsound on 'Beat It' is a little thin." It's al-ways something. So I feel like maybe ifwe'd recorded the lead guitar simultane-ously with the drums, instead of the rhythm,we could've gotten something a little morehappening. But I just sort of plowed ahead,doing my own thing. Later on, he overdub-bed the lead and tried to match up to mydrums. There are things I would make bet-ter, if the lead and drums were locked inreally tight.DF: Live, you've always sounded heavierand more powerful than the way your per-formance has been recorded.AB: With the Cult, we didn't really get achance to play the songs very much beforethey were recorded. Sometimes it wasn'teven worked out until we got in the studio.Then, of course, you go out and play it 500times in a row and you get it right eventu-ally.DF: How do you approach the individualcomponents of the drumset?AB: Well, with the snare, it's important tohit a clear, solid shot right to the center ofthe drum. I like to hit a rimshot every time.First of all, to lay the stick in there for arimshot, there's not a whole lot of variationas far as where you can put the stick.

It's very important to have an ultra-con-sistent snare and bass drum sound for re-cording. You've got to get the meters goingto the exact same spot every time. I neverpracticed with meters, but I would alwaysgo into the playback, and if they weren'treading like that, I'd want to do it again.The muffler system that I have allows me tohit consistent rimshots without a lot of ringand without losing any power doing it.DF: Don't you have a rather special snaredrum that's had a career of its own?AB: That's my Black Beauty, a Ludwig snare.It's some brass alloy. They stopped makingit for a while. But due to popular demand,I'm told, it's available again. It's a 6 1/2"drum. I used it on "Burning For You." And Ilent it to Thommy Price, although I wasn'tgoing to mention his name in this inter-view because he didn't mention mine inhis! I hired him to do my solo record. Origi-nally, it was just to do the demos, but Iliked working with him so much that I hadhim do the record. In rehearsal, we didsome double drumming, which was quiteamazing. But when it came time to recordthe songs that were supposed to have thedouble drumming in them, the engineerwas like, "Oh man, this is too much." Itliterally took two or three days to getThommy's sound. It was just ridiculous. So

he didn't want to take another two or threedays to get a sound out of another drumset.We were rolling; we didn't want to stopand go through all of this stuff. So I letThommy be the drummer.

What happened first was, we really gotinto what we liked about the scene rightnow, drumming-wise. For instance, we bothfreaked out about Phil Collins. We thought,"This guy is amazing." Then we'd tradeversions of each one of his licks. We prettymuch analyzed everything he put out atthat point. I'm not talking about the earlyGenesis stuff, but Peter Gabriel's third al-bum and Collins' first solo record, FaceValue. And we'd compare what we couldhear him doing to what we saw in thevideos. We really got into heavily analyz-ing it. It wasn't only Phil Collins, but otherdrummers as well; we went through ourfavorite Bonham licks. Bonham and PhilCollins were the main ones.DF: There are probably a lot of drum freakswho'd love to have been the fly on thewall. It's too bad you didn't record it. Sowhat did Thommy do with your BlackBeauty snare?AB: After we finished the recording ses-sion, he got a gig to do the record forScandal. I was over at his house one day,and he said, "You know, I really like yourblack snare drum. Can I borrow it for thesesessions?" I said, "Sure, no problem." So Igave him the snare drum, and they did thatalbum with "The Warrior" on it. And I be-lieve that he was using my snare drum. Itsounds like it. At the time, I wasn't doingany drumming. I was working on my soloalbum, doing the vocals, the guitars, andall the other stuff. Then, while he was doingthe Scandal record, he started working with

Billy Idol. I think they were briefly in thesame studio. He'd do Scandal downstairs,then go upstairs and do Billy Idol. He usedmy drum on "Rebel Yell," too. It's a provendrum.

He gave it back with a small modifica-tion that actually made it a lot better. Hetook the muffler head and revised it. Origi-nally, it was made out of rubber and itdeadened the sound, diminished it a littlebit, made it not quite as loud. The idea wasto take off the ring without really deaden-ing the sound. So he substituted an olddrumhead that he cut up in the same shape.It worked just as well for killing the ring,yet it did not lay on the head so heavy thatit really killed the sound.DF: What about your other drums?AB: Well, the bass drum technique is some-thing that I modified after playing withThommy. I used to put a lot of stuff in thebass drum to damp it. Now I don't useanything. And I use the bass drum beateritself to dampen the bass drum. I hit thedrum and hold the bass drum beater intothe head. It's got to be loose enough thatyou can do this. If it's too tight, it'll just go"brrrrrrruppp." It'll make multiple beats.With no padding, the bass drum is louder,and because you're damping it with yourfoot, you have more control and more vari-ation on the sound. When you're playingvery fast, it's automatically damping fromthe time you hit it before.

I use all different kinds of pedals, but Ilike a Speed King, except for the fact thatthey always squeak and you have to keepoiling them. It's mysterious, because youcan't figure out where the squeak is com-ing from, and you have to coat the thing inoil. My new favorite is the Drum Work-shop double bass setup. I'd love to workout a deal with them. The bass drum partsI've been playing lately are a little differentfrom what I used to play. I think I played alot of 16th- and 8th-note parts, whereasnow I'm playing half notes. That seems tohelp the sound—a clear shot for the bassdrum and a clear shot for the snare drum.

My overall philosophy for sound organi-zation—which I try to teach in lessons—isthat as you go down the sound spectrum,you get wider sound waves, which have tobe more organized so they don't createbeats. So the stuff that tends to be fast andcrazy should be on the higher sounding

parts of the kit—the snare drum, the cym-bals. And as you go down to the floor tomand the bass drum, it starts to get simpler.DF: How do you teach this to people?AB: Well, the lesson is divided into threeparts. The first part is technique. That caninclude the rudiments, the drumset rudi-ments—any aspect of the technique. I be-lieve that the technique of doing it is reallywhat I'm teaching, so that's the most im-portant thing. The second part of the lessonis stuff we've gone over or want to go over,like a fill, or some record that I think iscool. More or less, it's the same thing I didwith Thommy Price; we'd go through rec-ords that we liked. Or maybe it's my rec-ords. A lot of people who come to me areinto the way I play drums, and they want toknow: "How do you play that weird'Godzilla' beat?" It's really not that weird ifyou understand what it is. And I write outall the phrases. Not that I'm into readingthat much, it's just so you can see it. It'smore input, and it's easier to visualize what,exactly, you're doing. The third part of thelesson is whatever the students want to goover. If they have a tape that they made orsomething that they're excited about and

they'd like to go over that, it's more or lesstheir time. I'm their servant; I do whateverthey want in the last part of the lesson. Andwhat's also important is to try to encourageindividual expression and creativity.

And the students motivate me, too. I triedall of these radical things—playing songswithout cymbals, leaving certain thingsout—but there was a certain element ofswing and attack I'm only starting to getinto since I've been teaching. It gives me away to go inside drumming that I couldn'tget inside before. I cannot be caught offguard. I have to know more than my stu-dents—why you're using this sticking pat-tern, which hand you're going to start orend with. I go back and deal with these oldrudiments and minute technical details thatpassed me by when I was learning becauseI was in a hurry to get to the other part—like Madison Square Garden.DF: Talk about your "drum corps" idea.AB: When the Soft White Underbelly signedwith Elektra Records, they gave us a pro-ducer who played me a tape from the SouthSea Islands, somewhere in Polynesia, agroup of two to 400 people—and all it waswas drummers and singers. It was some of

the most amazing music I'd ever heard.They'd be playing along or singing along,and all of a sudden, they'd be shouting inthis chant—haiwhachahaiuh! It was a bigsound, lots of dynamics. Since then, I'vewanted to make a record with that kind ofsound. The primitive thing has already beennotated, recorded, and all that. I was think-ing of trying to make something that re-lated to the modern world that would bejust singers and drummers. And I hope someof the drummers will be some of my stu-dents.DF: Do you ever think you should havelistened to your mother?AB: What she said was, "A musician's lifeisn't for you. It's too hard. There are toomany traps." But I never saw myself as a"rock star." I don't want to get like MickJagger. I know the guy is talented, but he'sgot it a little too easy now. His biggestproblem is being tempted by drugs orwomen or whatever. I'm a musician. I'm amusic freak. And I'll keep doing it until I'mtoo old or senile to do anything. I'm ad-dicted to it.

huge double-bass set and the man playingit with such power and grace. I was soimpressed that I begged my parents to getme a snare drum so that I could be just likehim. I listened to every Elvis record I couldfind, and tried to imitate the man who hadimpressed me so. I even bought an Elvisposter because Ron Tutt and his drumscould be seen over Elvis' right shoulder!

Over the past several years I had losttrack of Mr. Tutt and his playing. Then, in1982,1 picked up a copy of Neil Diamond'salbum Heartlight. To my surprise, there hewas again: my favorite drummer with oneof my favorite singers. I've been very fortu-nate to see Mr. Tutt play live on two differ-ent Neil Diamond tours since then, andevery time I see him I'm totally amazed athis playing ability and style.

I would like to say a big "thank you" toRon for inspiring me, and to Modern Drum-mer for featuring him. Ron, if you're everin Denver, stop by so I can thank you inperson.

Mike EatonAurora CO

TOMMY'S RACKIn your recent Tommy Aldridge article [June'88 MD], reference is made to Tommy'sdrum rack being constructed by me fromSonor Signature hardware. That is incor-rect. All bits and pieces, clamps, etc., werefabricated at my facility in Whittier, Cali-fornia from type 304 stainless steel, thenmirror polished [and fitted] with aircraft

quality hardware (nuts, bolts, etc.). Tommy'srack uses 120 feet of stainless tubing.

I have also built racks for Rod Morgen-stein (the one he used at the ModernDrummer Drum Festival last year), DavidBeal, Billy Cobham, Mickey Hart, TonyThompson, Joe Franco, and several for Pre-mier Percussion.

Greg VoelkerWhittier CA

Editor's note: Some of Tommy's hardware,including his hi-hat pedal and a couple ofthe cymbal stands that are hanging fromthe rack, are Sonor Signature series, andthat seems to be the reason for the error.We apologize for any confusion this mayhave caused.

THANKS FROM ALEXI would like to thank all the Modern Drum-mer readers for their support and for select-ing me as their favorite Latin/Brazilian per-cussionist for the past two years [in the MDReaders Poll]. This award means a lot tome and encourages me to continue givingmy best to the art.

Alex AcunaVan Nuys CA

ON THE PERCUSSION SIDESome months ago my favorite magazine,Modern Percussionist, ceased publication.As I understand it, there was a merger ofthat magazine with yours.

I would like to commend you on yourJuly issue, which has a good balance of

THE WHOLE PACKAGEJust a note of commendation for the ClubScene article, "The Whole Package" [June'88 MD]. I consider this to be an excellentand totally fulfilling article on electronicdrums, etc. I only wish it came out aboutfive years and a few thousand dollars back.

Before electronics was really "field-tested," there were a lot of "grey areas."I'm sure a lot of drummers, like myself,suffered a loss of cash and sanity trying toget the best reproduction of their electroni-cally generated sounds. I know I wentthrough a lot of speakers, bass amps, horns,etc. Then there was the challenge of get-ting used to hitting pads in front of you andhearing the sound beside or behind you!Then, after yelling at the sound man (be-cause one couldn't "feel" the sound), be-fore we knew it, a great "up and coming"band had disbanded. Somewhere down theroad, I finally thought everything was hap-pening—until I realized that some of mylicks were not coming out exactly as I washitting them. More equipment...moremoney, etc. And now I hear about "Sim-mons knees" or "Simmons wrist"syndromes...and yet enough cannot be saidof electronic drums. Again, a great article,from a great magazine.

Michael O'HandleyE. Taunton MA

articles devoted to the "rockers" and the"readers." Karen Pershing's article, AnthonyCirone's column, and the article on elec-tronics in the symphony orchestra were verywelcome.

I realize that you are in the business ofselling magazines. I am sure there are moredrumset players than symphony types whobuy your publication. But I just wanted tolet you know we appreciate any materialthat pertains to "classical" percussion.

Jack RumbleyTimpanist-Percussionist

Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra andSymphony

Fort Worth TX

IT'S QUESTIONABLE RESPONSEI would like to reply to a question raised byone of your readers in the It's Questionabledepartment in the July issue (page 12, ques-tion 2). I believe the new C-Ducer DrumWizard would be a solution to A.M.'s prob-lem. Using his existing five-piece acousticset and a Drum Wizard, he would be ableto achieve the acoustic miked sound of hisdrums, as well as being able to trigger hisPearl Drum-X electronic brain. Addition-ally, he would be able to trigger soundsfrom any MIDI equipment and would notneed a mic' mixer, since the Drum Wizardincorporates an 8-into-2 stereo mixer out-put. I hope this will be of interest to A.M.and other MD readers with problems of asimilar nature.

Andre WaltonC-T Audio Marketing

3050 S.W. 14th Place, Suite 3Boynton Beach FL 33435

D R U M M A R K E TFOR SALE

STUDY MATERIALS

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C O N C E P T S

Limitationsby Roy Burns

It is not a new concept that many of ourlimitations are self-imposed. I was onceagain made aware of this while reading aninterview with the great musician HerbieHancock. In the interview, Herbie states, "Irealized I could never be a genius [jazzplayer] in the class of Miles, Charlie Parker,or John Coltrane. So I decided to forgetabout becoming a legend and just be satis-fied to create some music to make peoplehappy."

What strikes me most about this reveal-ing comment is Herbie's honesty. It alsoshows a great deal of self-analysis andhumility—particularly from someone whohas played with so many great jazz artistsand in so many styles. Yet, Herbie Han-cock is probably one of the few musicianswho could have made a living just playingpure jazz.

To some, it might seem like he gave up adream. To me, Herbie is a great case ofsomeone ridding himself of self-imposedlimitations. For example, his albumHeadhunters is a funk classic, and his"Watermelon Man" and "Chameleon" tuneshave reached a huge audience. (Buddy Richrecorded a high-powered version of thelatter song.) Herbie has also written scoresfor such films as Deathwish, A Soldier'sStory, JoJo Dancer, and, of course, 'RoundMidnight, which won him a number ofawards.

That's a pretty impressive record forsomeone who gave up on becoming a leg-end! I think he achieved this kind of suc-cess by giving up his limitations. In otherwords, he became a total musician insteadof purely a jazz musician. Don't misunder-stand me; being any kind of a musician is aworthy goal, whether it be in jazz, classi-cal, rock, or whatever. It's just that some-times we may limit ourselves by taking toonarrow a view of ourselves and of music.

Many of us become all-around playersdue to necessity. The need to make a living

means that, to one degree or another, wehave to play music that people want tohear. So, most of us will play music that ispopular at the time that we enter the play-ing scene.

In my own case, I became a studio musi-cian to get away from endless road trips.Although I loved to play big band jazz, Iwanted to be at home when my childrenwere growing up. I couldn't make a livingplaying jazz without traveling. I also real-ized that I was not going to become agenius any time soon. This meant that Ihad to change my thinking.

Much to my surprise, I found studio workto be a great learning experience, becausea studio drummer must be able to playmany different types of music. The bestexample of this for young drummers is EdShaughnessy on the Tonight Show. Ed neverknows what he will be expected to playfrom night to night.

I have met drummers who get stuck in acertain style and/or a certain place in time,and never update their thinking. This hasbeen especially true for older jazz players.However, I encounter the same attitude withyoung rock drummers who only listen toone group or drummer, and spend timecriticizing most other forms of music.

I have a friend who wanted to be a fa-mous rock 'n' roll drummer. He carried hisdream so far that when it didn't happen, hebecame very depressed. He is nearly 40now, and he finally did give up on hisdream a few years ago. Let me rephrasethat: He didn't give up, he adjusted hisgoals. He made a real attempt to adopt abroader view of the music business. Todayhe is in real demand as a teacher, and heplays every week. He's raising a nice fam-ily, while still working to improve his drum-ming. And he plays all kinds of music, andis much, much happier.

Dreams are great, and they are usuallywhat sustain us in the early years, when

the going is tough. However, music is al-ways changing, the music business is al-ways changing, and—believe it or not—we are always changing. In order to re-main in the swim of things, we must grow,and growth means change. Growth is ad-justing one's attitudes, goals, and concepts.

Looking at music as one vast opportunityis one way to shed limitations in your think-ing. There are many kinds of music andmany styles of drumming, all of which arevalid. Even if you don't play jazz, or rock,or classical music, try to be aware of all ofit to some degree. Co to a symphony con-cert and watch the percussion section. Youmight find it to be a great show, and youmight even pick up some ideas for practiceor performing.

I went to a heavy metal concert recentlyto see Megadeth and Dio. I didn't know allof the songs, but the power drumming ofVinny Appice was something to see andhear. Chuck Behler of Megadeth was alsovery good. It was a very stimulating experi-ence, and I'm glad I went. At the very leastI gained some idea as to what is happeningin that style of music and drumming.

When I read the Herbie Hancock inter-view, I couldn't get over how much thisman has done and is doing in music. Hehas a very broad view of music and moveseasily from jazz to electric funk. ChickCorea, one of Herbie's close friends, is ableto do the same thing. And Dave Weckl, thefine young drummer who plays with ChickCorea, has the same kind of ability, playingacoustic drums and yet embracing elec-tronics.

Take a new look at yourself and see ifyour thinking is holding you back. If youfeel it might be, try to be like Herbie Han-cock. Don't worry about being a legend,just play some music to make people feelgood. Who knows, then you just mightbecome a legend, as Herbie Hancocktruly has.

by Joe MorelloThe book on hand development anddrumstick control. Master Studies fo-cuses on important aspects of drummingtechnique.

by Gary ChesterThis is not just another drum book, butrather a system that will help you todevelop the skills needed to master to-day's studio requirements

by Bob MosesHere is a clear presentation of the uniqueand refreshing concepts of one of themost exceptional drummers of our time.

Here are more than 75 of the most infor-mative and helpful articles from our tenmost popular Modern Drummer columns,written by some of our most popular au-thors!

If you missed out on any of the issues ofModern Drummer's first year, now youcan have all four of the rare, out-of-printissues of Volume I: Issues 1 -4 from coverto cover—even the original ads.

Complete your MD Library with ModernDrummer's Second Year, a specialreprint of Volume II: Issues 1-4. If youmissed out on any or all of these issues,here is your chance to own them!

C L U B S C E N Eby Rick Van Horn

How Much Do You Know?When you play regularly in a club band,technical things usually go the way youexpect them to. The frequency with whichyou perform serves to establish the bestsystem in which to do things. The mem-bers of your band generally assume spe-cific non-musical duties, and everybodyeventually melds into a pretty efficient team.This is all to the good, because the processof setting up and breaking down is mademuch easier when everybody knows theirjob and just what is expected of them.

However, there is a down side to all thisefficiency. What happens when somebodycan't do their job? Suppose a band mem-ber is ill or injured, and can't make thegig—or must be late for some reason andso is unable to contribute to the setup?What happens if you can't handle yourown setup or breakdown some night? Doesthis well-oiled machine fall apart?

Well, it certainly could, but it doesn'thave to. There is a fairly simple solution tothe problems I've brought up, and that isfor everybody in the band to have at least arudimental knowledge of everybody else'sjob. Of course, I'm talking about thetechnical aspects, not the musical ones.No one expects anyone to be able to playeverybody else's axe. But it is importantthat everyone know something abouteverybody else's equipment, along withhow any mutually shared equipment (typi-cally the P.A. system) is set up and control-led.

In most bands, one individual is respon-sible for the setting up and operation of theP.A. system. This may be an onstage bandmember, or a sound technician. No matterwho it is, the rest of the band membersshould also have a thorough knowledge ofhow the system is assembled. They don'tneed to know how it works, or why a givencable goes where it does; they just need toknow where and how everything connectstogether. The idea is for anyone in the bandto be able to get the P.A. operational. Fromthat point, hopefully, the regularly desig-nated individual (or a qualified substitute)should be able to take over.

Learning how to put together a P.A. sys-tem is really little more than putting to-gether a puzzle: Piece A fits into piece B,etc. All that is required is a clear diagramof the patching system, indicating whereeach mic' cable comes in, where eachspeaker cable goes out (and to whichspeaker box), and where each patch cableconnects (and what it connects to). Beyondthat, each band member should be familiarwith the necessary cables, so as to be surewhich are mic' cables, which are speakercables, which are the appropriate patch

cables for each connection, etc. One wayto make your patching system virtually fool-proof is to label each cable clearly withsome sort of tag, and then label your patch-ing diagram in a corresponding manner.(This would make things more convenientfor your regular P.A. person, anyway!)

Setting up equipment in an emergencycan go beyond the P.A. system. Any givenband member should have at least a rudi-mental idea of how each individual's in-strumental amps and speakers connect, andhow that player likes his or her equipmentto be arranged. When it comes to fancypatches for a multi-keyboard player, a dia-gram might once again be the answer if anemergency setup is called for. At the veryleast, every band member should be ableto get the keyboard (or boards) set up onthe appropriate stands, connected to theappropriate amp/speaker setup, and pow-ered up. If the patching is too fancy foranyone else to do, that will simply have towait until the keyboard player can do it.

The same goes for guitar and bass set-ups. Any band member should be able toget the amps and speakers in place, con-nected, and powered. If the guitar or bassplayer uses an elaborate pedal or effectssetup, that may have to wait until he or shearrives. If a sub is coming in, chances arethat that person will be bringing in his orher own, so your band members shouldn'thave to worry about them.

"Ah ha," you say. "But what about mydrumkit? It's one thing for me to learn howto set up the P.A., but how can I expectother members of my band to set up mydrums the way I want them if I need tocome late some night myself? My kit ismuch too personal; it's more than just con-necting up some patch cords!" Of course,you can't expect your bandmates to setyour drums up perfectly for you. But with alittle prior planning on your part, you canmake it possible for them to get your kitwithin 90% of where you need it to be,thereby making it possible for you to comescreaming in at the last minute, make a fewadjustments, and get on with the first set.(You can always fine-tune as you proceedthrough the night.)

As we all know, this is the age of thememory-lock. It shouldn't be difficult foranyone to put your drum stands together ifthey are clearly marked as to what partconnects with what other part. This is just amatter of color coding, numerical I.D. tags,or some other identifying system. Mostdrummers I know do this for themselvesanyway; just make sure that your band-mates know your coding system. As far aswhich drums and cymbals go on which

stands, this is another situation in which asimple diagram would tell all. Just draw anoverhead view, showing where you wantyour drums and cymbals to be placed.(Make sure to show each of your band-mates how your drum mounting systemworks, and how you wish your cymbals tobe placed on their respective stands.) Ifyou happen to use a drum rack, be sure toexplain how the rack itself sets up, andthen use your diagram to indicate whichstand section fits into which clamp on therack.

Again, I stress that these measures aretaken against the possibility of an emer-gency. In such a case, everybody has toremain flexible and make the best of things.Your drums may not be in tune, and youmight be a bit uncomfortable until you canpersonally set them straight, but at least thegig will be able to start as soon as youarrive, rather than being delayed while youare setting up the drums after arriving late.

The bottom line to all of this is that today'sequipment is getting more and more so-phisticated. As a result, the musicians whouse that equipment are turning into spe-cialists. While this specialization works toa band's advantage musically, it can defi-nitely be a detriment technically. In orderto overcome this detriment, a band musttake appropriate steps to overcome the"mystery" element in each other's equip-ment, and to make it (relatively) simple foreach member to cover each other member,should the need arise.

Having said all that, I'd like to relate ashort anecdote that serves to illustrate twothings: First, it underscores the importanceof knowing something about other people'sjobs in your band. Second, it proves thateven when you think you know everythingthere is to know about club work, you maystill be surprised.

This past weekend, my band was sched-uled to play, as usual. Our bass player,who normally handles the setup and con-trol of our P.A. system, had planned a va-cation for the week prior to the gig. Hegave us plenty of notice, mentioning thathe would be flying in on the day of the gigand might be forced to arrive at the club atthe last minute. We all felt it wise to distrib-ute the equipment he normally carriesamong the rest of the band members, sothat we could get it to the gig and have itset up without his having to be there. Atthis point we realized that none of the restof us really knew the patching system thatwas employed for the P.A., (a fact thatprompted this entire column), so the bassplayer created a diagram and gave it to me.Since I normally got to the gig early to set

up my drums, it was decided that I wouldtake the P.A. board, amps, and effects. Ourreasoning was that I could set up my drumsfirst, and then cable up the P.A. The speak-ers would come with other members, butall that had to happen with them was tomount them on their stands and plug themin.

We felt very clever and proud of our-selves for all of this prior planning. And, infact, much of the planning worked out per-fectly. However, we did make one classicerror: We forgot that the P.A. board andamps stacked up on the bass player'sspeaker cabinet. I was unable to carry thatcabinet along with my drums and the extraequipment I was already taking. Conse-quently, when I finished setting up mydrums and dutifully got out the diagram tobegin patching in the P.A., I realized that itwould be useless to do so. There were twosmall, but heavy, racks full of amps andelectronic effects, along with a separatemixing board—and no final place to putthem. It would have been fruitless to patchthem in on the ground and then try toplace them on the bass cabinet when itarrived, because the two racks and theboard—when connected by all the patchcables—would have been impossible to liftinto place. Something would have beendropped, tom loose, or in some other waydamaged. I simply had to wait until the restof the band got to the gig (some 45 minuteslater) with the bass cabinet before I couldrealistically begin the patching.

All of this goes to show that when plan-ning to cover someone else's tasks in aband, you have to make sure that everydetail is accounted for. Had I been able tocarry the bass cabinet, I could have hadthe P.A. ready to go when the band arrived.Perhaps some of my own equipment (whichI could certainly have set up rapidly) couldhave been carried by someone else, whileI carried all of the pieces necessary to makethe P.A. setup work. Extraordinary circum-stances call for some extraordinary meas-ures—which generally only amount to alittle extra forethought. In a way, I'm ratherglad this minor debacle happened the wayit did. It was a humbling experience, serv-ing to remind me that after 20 years inclubs, I still don't know it all.

I N D U S T R Y H A P P E N I N G SMD TRIVIACONTESTWINNER

The MD Trivia Contest in theJune issue offered two prizes,and so there are two winners.A pair of DW/5000 Turbo bassdrum pedals and one DW5500Turbo hi-hat will go to bothMike Calisa, of Parksville, Brit-ish Columbia, Canada, andWilliam Ash, of Brooklyn, NewYork. These drummers' cardswere the first two drawn at ran-dom with the correct answer toJune's trivia question. Thatquestion was: Name the drum-mer who once threw a cymbalat Charlie Parker because hedidn't like the way Parker wasplaying. That drummer was theinimitable Papa Jo Jones.

Congratulations to Mike andWilliam from Drum Workshop,Inc. and Modern Drummer.

INMEMORIAM:DANNIERICHMONDThe jazz world knew CharlesD. (Dannie) Richmond as aninspirational drummer whoalways kept his bandmates ontheir toes with his cascades offresh ideas. Musicians and au-diences will miss this inspira-tion who died of a heart attackearlier this year in New YorkCity. Born in New York,Richmond's first musical pur-suit was the tenor sax. Heplayed in rock 'n' roll bands asa teenager, but found hisunique musical voice when heswitched to drums.

Richmond gained acclaim asa member of Charles Mingus'group between 1956 and1970. After participating inseveral free-lance projects,including a stint with ChetBaker, he later rejoinedMingus, providing provocativedrumming up until the bassist'sdeath in 1979. Dannie helpedspread Mingus' good work(with the help of other Mingusalumni) as a member of theMingus Dynasty band. He alsofound time to lead and record

with his own quartet.During the early '70s,

Richmond also ventured intorock with a three-year member-ship in the Mark Almond Band,dates with Joe Cocker, and atour with Elton John. In 1979,Dannie teamed up with pianistDon Pullen, saxophonistGeorge Adams, and bassistCameron Brown, forming aquartet that proved to be one ofthe most exciting of his career.It was a perfect vehicle for hisspontaneous approach todrums. Several other projectssprouted on the side, includingwork with the Lew TabackinTrio and Benny Wallace. Butthe Pullen/Adams groupremained Dannie's mainstay forover eight years, up until thetime of his death.

"Dannie was a very passion-ate person, and that was re-flected in his playing," com-mented Cameron Brown,Dannie's close friend and col-league in the Pul-len/Adamsquartet. "He wasalso a very warmand very funnyperson whoalways kept theband laughing."

Richmond wasas adept at han-dling highlyabstract musicalideas as he was atgetting down to agritty bluesshuffle. He will al-ways be remembered as aplayer who sought to take riskswith his drumming and stretchthe boundaries of rhythmic/melodic interplay within agroup. He is survived by hiswife, Juanita, and daughter,Tamia.

—Jeff Potter

DRUMSETEVALUATIONSAT PASICDrumset players attending thePercussive Arts Society Interna-tional Convention (PASIC '88)will have a unique opportunityto have their playing evaluatedby a notable drumset artist. Pe-ter Erskine, Danny Gottlieb, JoeMorello, Ed Thigpen, Vinnie

PAUL REAL TODISTRIBUTEWUHANCYMBALSEXCLUSIVELYPaul Real Sales has announcedthe signing of an agreementwith the Wuhan Cymbal andGong factory in China namingPaul Real as the exclusive im-porter and distributor of WuhanLion cymbals and Chau gongs.The signing climaxed a two-week trip to China, where Paulmet with officials of the Wuhanfactory, was briefed on the his-tory of cymbal and gong mak-ing in China, and observed themanufacturing processes.

DREW'SMUSIC NEWROGERSWARRANTYAGENTAl Drew's Music, in Woon-socket, Rhode Island, has beennamed the official warrantyagent for all pre-1987 Rogersdrum equipment by the FenderMusical Instrument company.(The Rogers name and designs,as applied to the manufactureof new drums, was purchasedby Island Musical Supplies, ofStaten Island, New York, in1987.) Drew's Music has pur-chased the entire existing in-ventory of Rogers equipmentfrom Fender, including allAmerican-made drums, Swiv-O-Matic and Memriloc hard-ware, parts, accessories,heads, sticks, etc. The storehas established a new divisionto handle new and usedRogers drums and accessories.According to store owner AlDrew, "This Rogers inventory,combined with our expert staffthat has been handling Rogersequipment since 1960, willenable us to maintain any ofthe existing Rogers drums, aswell as providing service toany of the new R-360, R-380,and Memriloc sets that are stillavailable."

Further information may beobtained by writing Al Drew'sMusic, 526 Front Street,Woonsocket, Rhode Island02895. The store may also bereached by phone at (401)769-3552 or 766-4871between the hours of 1:00 and9:00 P.M. Eastern StandardTime.

"We're very excited to benamed the exclusive importerand distributor of the Wuhancymbals and gongs," Real said."There are many China-typecymbals on the market, butthose who know, want Wuhan.And we'll now be able to pro-vide a steady supply to theAmerican market. This meansthat drummers will now beable to go into their favoritemusic store and see a com-plete selection of Wuhancymbals and gongs."

Colaiuta, and Jim Chapin willbe among the artists participat-ing in this event, with otherartists to be announced. Eachdrummer will meet with one ofthe artists for a 15-minuteevaluation. The sessions will beopen to the public, and will beconducted four hours a day onThursday, Friday, and Saturday.Sign-up sheets will be availableat the PASIC registration desk,and will be handled on a first-come, first-served basis. Thereis no fee for this evaluation, butparticipants must be registeredfor the convention. Equipmentis being provided by PASIC ex-hibitors, and the event is beingcoordinated by the PAS JazzCommittee and Modern Drum-mer magazine.

PASIC '88 is being held No-vember 16-19 in San Antonio,Texas. For further information,contact the Percussive Arts So-ciety, 214 West Main Street,Urbana, Illinois 61801.

ZILDJIANEXPANDSFACTORYThe Avedis Zildjian Companyrecently announced a programto dramatically expand the ca-pacity of their Norwell, Massa-chusetts manufacturing facility.According to company Presi-dent Armand Zildjian, "This isthe most significant investmentthis company has made sincewe moved to this new facilityin 1972. Our philosophy is topreserve the old-world crafts-manship, yet make our produc-tion as efficient as possible. Wewill be able to raise our qualitystandards even higher and in-crease our levels of productionat the same time. This willmean even faster delivery to ourdealers."

Much of the investment is incapital equipment, involvingmany engineering design inno-vations. Most important amongthe new equipment is a state-of-the-art gas-fired rotary typehearth. According to JimRoberts, Zildjian Executive VicePresident, "This new hearthpermits tight controls over theconsistency of heat beingapplied to the cymbal castingsduring the basic heating androlling stages. This will dramati-cally increase our yields at thislevel. Most importantly, we willbe able to spend more time on,and train more people in, thetruly skilled areas of hammeringand lathing."

Chris Noblett, Sales & Mar-keting Vice President, cites in-dustry statistics supporting thegrowth of the percussion indus-try in recent years. "The latestinformation from the AmericanMusic Conference shows thatthe U.S. domestic percussioncategory grew by 12% in 1987over 1986, passing the $ 100million level for the first time.Our own sales confirm thatgrowth."

Armand Zildjian adds, "Wehave an urgent need to fulfillthe huge world demand forZildjian cymbals. There's noshortcut to making a Zildjian,but our modern factory allowsus to do it on a much largerscale and to a much higherlevel of quality and consis-tency."

FIBES DRUM-STICKSACQUIREDFROMMARTINGUITARSThomas Kearns has acquiredFibes Drumsticks from the C.F.Martin Guitar Company. Thedrumsticks will continue to besold under the Fibes trademarkby Fibes, Inc.

Fibes will now be based inNew Jersey and will continueto supply a wide variety of se-lect hickory drumsticksthrough wholesale distributorsunder a new logo. C.F. Martinwill continue to be a distribu-

JOHNSTONNEW PURE-CUSSION VPBruce Carlson, President ofPureCussion (manufacturer ofRIMS Drum Mounts and Pure-Cussion Drums) recently an-nounced that Walt Johnston,former President of Pearl Inter-national, has joined PureCus-sion as Vice President. "We arepleased to have Walt join ourteam at this critical period inour growth," stated Bruce."Walt brings tremendouscredibility and experience toPureCussion and is, in a way,our proof statement that we'reserious about being a majorforce in the drum industry aswell as the percussionaccessory market with ourRIMS Drums Mounts."

Long an advocate of theRIMS system, Walt stated,"While unable to offer RIMSDrum Mounts as standardequipment on Pearl drums, itwas obvious that the majorPearl endorsees and knowl-edgeable pro drum shops over-whelmingly requested theirkits be made to accept RIMSMounts. In this stage of its de-velopment, PureCussion is ayoung, vibrant, and aggressivecompany with some in-de-mand products. I look forwardto being a part of it and help-ing guide its rapid growth."

tor of Fibes.Thomas Kearns was presi-

dent of a management andconsulting firm specializing inmanufacturing productivity.He brings a strong backgroundof general management andconsulting expertise to Fibes.

SIMONGARDNERMANAGINGDIRECTOR OFSONOR (U.K.)LTD.

Horst Link and Steve Gardner,current Directors of Sonor(U.K.) Ltd., recently an-nounced the appointment ofSimon Gardner to the Board ofDirectors in the role of Manag-ing Director. Although only 24years of age, Simon has distin-guished himself academicallyand musically, achieving anhonors degree in economicsand philosophy from the Lon-don School of Economics,while maintaining his musicalcareer playing with variousprofessional artists on Euro-pean tours, records, etc.

Sonor (U.K.) Ltd. also dis-tributes Sabian cymbals andYorkville Sound amplification,and it is felt by these manufac-turers that the presence ofsomeone of Simon's age, en-thusiasm, and knowledge canonly be of great importance inhelping the company to growin the future.

SABIAN DAYMay 1 was Sabian Day onLong Island, New York. FiveSabian artist/clinicians were on

hand at the American LegionHall in Seaford, Long Island toinspire, instruct, and, above all,play! Clinician/drummer DomFamularo hosted the festivities,which were co-sponsored bythe Long Island Drum Center.

Rick Latham kicked thingsoff to a rousing start, setting thepace for the entire day. Zeroingin on the teaching aspects ofhis book, Advanced Funk Stud-ies, Latham both discussed anddisplayed tips on how to keepsolid time, as well as the appli-cation of rudiments on thedrumset.

Although Jeff Watts hadoriginally been scheduled toappear, he couldn't attend dueto recording commitments. Hislast-minute replacement wasBernard Purdie, whosepresence more than sufficientlyfilled the void. The veteranplayer shared some of hisstudio secrets with the youthfulcrowd, and even his subtlertechniques were not lost on the10- and 11-year-old drummerswho were present. Overall,crowd response to Purdie wasextremely enthusiastic.

Next up was Jim Chapin,who was greeted with a stand-ing ovation. Chapin demon-strated the Sanford Moellerhand-conditioning techniquewhile the audience followedalong with the exercises onpractice pads. Chapin's setupwas unique, in that his bassdrum was situated far off to hisleft side, and was played via aleft-lead double pedal.

Brothers Vinnie and CarmineAppice rounded out the lineupin a collaborative effort. Theystarted things out with an open-ing spot where each soloed inrotation, followed by a sectionwhere the two played together.Then came an extended solofrom each player, followed bya question-and-answer period.This format served to demon-strate the contrast in eachdrummer's playing skills: Car-mine delivered a display ofwicked funk grooves, whileVinnie presented a more heavyrock style. Carmine also illus-trated his technique for hittingthe toms with extra attack via arimshot. Overall, the Appicebrothers presented a well-re-hearsed and informative clinic.

—Teri Saccone

N E W A N D N O T A B L E

SIMMONSTRIXERSimmons Electronics recentlyintroduced a new device for re-inforcing the sound of acousticdrums called the Trixer.Housed in a single, rack-mountable case, the Trixerconsists of four clearly defin-able areas:

1. Four "kits" of drumsamples are on board, eachcontaining bass, snare, andfour toms. The sounds can beindividually tuned, and further"kits" can beaccessedthrough soundmemory cards.

2. Simmonshas developeda new circuitfor triggeringfrom acousticdrums. Called"Learn," it actu-ally samples thetrigger profile ofa miked orbugged acous-tic drum andautomatically computes thecorrect signal processing forthe most accurate and dynamictriggering of the soundsamples.

3. An on-board mixer en-ables the drummer to blend thesound of the miked acousticdrum with the digital sound tocreate a reinforced drumsound. A stereo mix of thissound can then be sent to aP.A. board.

4. The Trixer also features a16-bit digital reverb to furtherenhance the reinforced drumsound.

A MIDI interface is also in-cluded for those drummerswho wish to trigger the soundsof drum machines and

samplers from their acousticdrums. For further information,contact Simmons ElectronicsUSA, 2391 7 Craftsman Road,Calabasas, California 91302, orcall 1-800-TECDRUM.

NEWZILDJIANCYMBALSZildjian is now offering twonew cymbals: the EFX Piggy-back and a 22" K Custommodel. The EFX Piggyback isdesigned to be used in con-junction with other cymbals toproduce a variety of specialeffects sounds. The cymbal isavailable in 1 2" size only. It isvery thin, with a round bell anda turned-up edge similar in pro-file to Zildjian's Swish cymbals.This size and shape is the resultof extensive field testing anddiscussions with various topdrummers.

The EFX Piggyback can beused in a number of ways. Itcan be placed inverted inside

an inverted China Boy or Swishcymbal separated by felt. In thisposition, the EFX Piggyback en-hances the intrinsic "trashy"sound of the cymbal and re-duces the overall decay to pro-duce a much shorter, sharper"China sound." Alternatively, itcan simply be rested the rightway up on top of a crash orride cymbal. This combinationagain produces a very distinc-tive "trashy" sound. Twosounds are readily available tothe drummer, by striking eitherthe edge of the bottom cymbalor the EFX Piggyback itself.Other ideas have beenexperimented with, andZildjian's Marketing Manager,Colin Schofield, is quick to

add, "The EFXPiggybackactuallysounds incred-ible on itsown, produc-ing a unique,high-pitchedsharp Chinasound."

New toZildjian's KCustom seriesis a 22" model.(The series hadpreviously onlybeen availablein 16", 18",and 20" sizes.)Designed pri-marily as a ride cymbal, the 22"model combines both hand andmachine hammering with anunlathed surface. The result,according to Zildjian, is veryclean stick definition (a charac-teristic of a thick cymbal) alongwith a warm, shimmeringundertone (a characteristic of athin cymbal). Colin Schofieldstates, "When played forcefully,the 22" K Custom generatesmore volume and has a 'bigger'overall sound than that of theother K Customs. However,when played more gently, thecymbal's beautiful, darker andmore mellow overtones be-come more prominent...thetype of sound that many playerswould use in a jazz trio set-ting." For more information,contact Avedis Zildjian Com-pany, 22 Longwater Drive, Nor-well, Massachusetts, 02061.

NEWPRODUCTSFROMYAMAHA

Yamaha has recently been ac-tive in the introduction of newconcert- and marching-percus-sion products, along with intro-

ducing a new entry-leveldrumset line and expanding itslibrary of sounds for the D8series of electronic percussion.

For mallet percussionists,Yamaha is now offering the YV3400 and YV 2600 vibes. Bothinstruments are three-octavevibes featuring aluminum alloytone bars. The bars and resona-tors of the YV 3400 arefinished in glossy gold; thoseon the YV2600 are in silversatin. The YV 3400 featuresadjustable regulator caps forthe resonators in the loweroctave to allow players toadjust for acoustics in differentplaying venues. The variable-speed motor offers a touch-pause system. According toYamaha, this system eliminatesclick noises when the fan isturned on or off during per-formance. The fan can also bestopped at a predeterminedpoint with total accuracy. TheYV 3400 incorporates a foldingrail frame that is height-adjust-able. The YV 2600 does notinclude the folding frame, nordoes it feature the lower octaveresonator regulators.

In the area of marching per-cussion, Yamaha now offers avariety of new stands and per-cussion accessories. The MTS3 and MTS 4 are stands de-

signed to effectively sup-port Yamaha trio or quadtoms mounted on Yamahacarriers during rehearsalsituations, while the MQAT5 Marching Quint CarrierAttachment allows a 6"marching tom to be addedto a quad setup to create aquint. A new line of graymolded polyethylene cases

for marching drums isnow available, featuringheavy duty straps andhardware. Finally, allYamaha marching bassdrums will now be fittedwith Sound Impact Strips,to eliminate unwantedovertones.

In the field of concertpercussion, the 65 112and BS 412 are bassdrum stands designed for easyportability and use either in-doors or outdoors. The 65 412is fitted with casters, brakes,and a footrest.

For entry-level drumset play-ers, Yamaha has introduced thePower V series drumkit. Thedrums feature nine-ply shellsmade in England of Phillipinemahogany, using Yamaha's AirSeal System. The drums areavailable with outer coveringsof jet black, winter white, mir-ror chrome, and Italian red.The insides are finished withclear lacquer. Hardwareincludes a new FP 725 bassdrum pedal and an HS 820 hi-hat (both featuring lightweightfoot pedals) and a new TH80W Tom Holder. Drum sizesavailable are 10x10, 10x12,11x13, and 1 2x14 rack toms,16x16 and 16x18 floor toms,16x22 and 1 6x24 bass drums,and a 6 1/2x14 metal snare.

For electronic drummers,Yamaha has introduced fournew Waveform ROM cartridgesto expand the musical capabili-ties of the D8 Electronic Per-cussion System. The WRC01cartridge offers Latin sounds,DX synthesizer voices, specialsound effects, and vocalsounds. The WRC02 cartridgefeatures 25 sounds created forcontemporary jazz and fusionapplications. These include awide variety of bass drum,snare, and tom-tom sounds,along with rhythm guitar,fingered bass, cowbell, andthree hi-hats. The WKC03cartridge features heavy metaldrum voicings for toms, snaredrums, and bass drums, alongwith a picked bass and metalguitar sounds. The WRC04 car-tridge offers high-tech voicingsof "processed" drum and synthbass sounds popular incontemporary dance music.

For further information onany Yamaha mallet or marchingpercussion item, contact

Yamaha Music Corp. USA, P.O.Box 7271 Grand Rapids, Michi-gan, 49510, or call 800-253-8490. For drumkits and elec-tronic percussion, contactYamaha Music Corp. USA,Drums, Guitars, Amplifiers Di-vision, 6600 OrangethorpeAvenue, Buena Park, California,90620, or call (714)522-9011.

NEW SABIANCYMBALSSabian has recently introduceda new series of ride cymbalscalled HH Classic, available in20" and 22" sizes. According tothe company, these new mod-els were created in response tonumerous drummers' requestsfor a ride cymbal that capturedthe cymbal sound popularizedby the great drummers of the'40s, '50s, and '60s.

Nort Hargrove, AssistantVice-President of Production,states, "The HH Classic is ahighly musical cymbal. Inten-sive hand hammering of itshigh profile and large bell haveproduced a sound that is higherpitched than our standard HHmodels, but also highly fo-cused. Its rich, full-bodiedsound peaks within tonalparameters that are extremelytight. This means that eachcymbal retains its own veryspecific voice regardless of thevolume at which it is played."

In addition to the HH Clas-sic, two other new listings tothe Sabian catalog include 12"Mini-Hats(heavyweightcymbals said tooffer substantialvolume and cutin a size ideal formain or secondhi-hat applica-tions), and a 12"Splash in the 68Plus series. Fur-

ther information can be ob-tained by writing Sabian Ltd.,Meductic, New Brunswick,EOH 1LO, Canada.

LP JAM BLOCKLatin Percussion recently intro-duced its Jam Block, a percus-sion device with a "cutting"wood sound, but made of asynthetic material (Jenigor) forextra durability. According toLP, it is the only product of itskind that's virtually indestruc-tible. As a result, the companyis offering a one-year limitedwarranty.

The shape of the 7am Block isthe essence of its sound. It has araised striking surface for opti-mum performance, and threemounting locations for versatilepositioning. A steel mountingbracket is included. For furtherinformation, contact Latin Per-cussion Inc., 160 BelmontAvenue, Garfield, New Jersey07026, (201)478-6903.

BOZZIO ANDFRANCOVIDEOSFROM DCIDCI Music Video Inc. has pro-duced the first-ever instruc-tional video by Terry Bozzio.Sixteen hours of footage wasedited to create the 60-minutevideotape, including solos,technique analysis, equipmenttalk, and other items of interest.

"I didn't want this to be a'play-the-greatest-hits/explain-the-greatest-hits'-type of video,like some instructional tapes,"says Bozzio. "Instead, I went forthe inspirational aspect. Thistape has interesting drum per-formances and offers someinsights on new techniques."The tape also goes over Terry'sinnovative drumkit, focusing on

someunusual per-cussive itemsthat Terryhas incorpo-rated into hisplaying. Thevideo, en-titled TerryBozzio: SoloDrums, will

be available in mid-September.Also new to DCI's catalog is

Joe Franco's Double BassDrumming, a video textbookthat details an easy-to-followmethod for strengthening con-trol and independence ondouble bass. The tape featureson-screen music graphics andclose-up shots of Joe's foot-

work. (This video was re-viewed on its first release in theSeptember, '85 issue ofModern Drummer.) Joe Francois noted for his work with theGood Rats and Twisted Sister,and has recently recorded withLeslie West and Vinnie Moore.

ED THIGPENBRUSH BYCALATOJoe Calato, President andfounder of Calato Manufactur-ing, announced that he has"recently completed the re-search and development of aunique drum brush designedfor one of the masters of brushtechnique, Ed Thigpen." Thebrush is now available inmusic stores throughout theworld.

The Ed Thigpen Model brushis made of special thermo-plas-tic wires held together in aflexible plastic handle, whichallows the brush to mold to theplayer's hand—a breakthroughin comfort and control. Theflexible plastic wires produce aclean, "pingy" sound on cym-bals and a warm, mellowsound on drumheads. "Like allRegal Tip brushes," Calatosaid, "the Ed Thigpen Modelwas designed with quick wristresponse in mind." For moreinformation, write Calato, 4501Hyde Park Boulevard, NiagaraFalls, New York 14305.

ADVERTISER'SINDEX

Atlanta Pro PercussionBamo, Inc.Sam BarnardCalato/Regal TipGary Chester TributeCollarlock Canada, Inc.Comprehensive Music ServicesCorder Drum CompanyDallas PercussionDC1000 PercussionDCI Music VideoD & F ProductsddrumD.O.G. PercussionDrum/Keyboard ShopDrum WorkshopElectro-VoiceEvans ProductsExplorer's PercussionFibes Drum SticksGallien-Krueger

GC MusicGrant's Drum CityGretsch DrumsHot Licks ProductionsImpact IndustriesImperialLatin PercussionVictor Litz Music CenterLudwig IndustriesL.T. Lug LockMD Back IssuesMD Equipment AnnualMD LibraryMusic Connection ProductsMusician's InstituteNoble & CooleyPaistePearl InternationalPercussion ParadisePercussive Arts SocietyPrecision Drum Co.Premier Percussion USAProfessional Video Corp.Pro MarkPurecussionRemoResurrection DrumsRIMSR.O.C. DrumsRogers DrumsRolls Music CenterSabian"Set The Pace" Pedal Practice PadsShining Mountain WorkshopSimmons Electronics USASonor PercussionTama ..Tempus InstrumentsThoroughbred MusicThunderstick .Valley Drum ShopVeneman MusicVic Firth, Inc.Waddel's Cymbal WarehouseGlenn Weber Drum StudioThe Woodwind & The BrasswindYamahaZildjian

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JEFFPORCARO

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