Building a minitour takes only 30 days.
There are a few basic keys to note about drumming and I like to share them while juggling three rice bags.
A) DRUM LOGIC is the easiest pattern to play. The pattern is left hand right hand one after the other and repeating back over again and again. I use the juggling to show that using this pattern one can seemingly levitate objects and it works, too, for drumming like being in water; 'with the right architecture you can float.'
B) The spaces in between the beats, when the drum is actually struck, are just as important as the hits. The morse code works because its architecture is binary with short and long notes making it possible to spell out our entire alphabet.
C) The drum can sound diverse with hand drums, they will start by teaching you three basic hits; bass, tone & slap. The bass hit would be bouncing your palm off the center of the drum like a basketball hitting a gymnasium floor. The tone hit would be tapping the outer edge of the drum with your middle and ring fingertips tensioned like a mallett. The slap hit would be opening up all your hand down hard hitting with the whole length of the fingers riding pinkie first and up in order through the index finger as if to push the sound up & out.
D) Playing chaotically through random sounds and adjusted pauses and passing the beat across left and right hands in an improve manner can insight epiphanies leading to ones learning or problem solving.
E) Phrases are a catchy pattern repeated into rhythm. Keeping this steady and consistent is being the 'pocket' for the rest of the band to play along to. A visual representation that can show the shapes & patterns & how they fit together would be the Greek 'key' consequently the rhythm being the Greek 'Frieze'. The fascination with this concept is that it mimics the very dimensions of our universe. You have a key, then that key is repeated into the frieze, then the frieze is stretched full circle into what we know of as the labyrinth. It is this labyrinth maze where stories of life itself starts to make sense. For Theseus starts to enter the maze using the string as a tool. (or the count by musical standards sometimes referred to as the pulse.) Theseus finds his minatour within the maze and defeats the monster clearly and precisely carrying it out of the maze by following the string laid down.
(dot, line, shape & plane, object, art)
0 1 2 3 4
Five senses & elements & dimensions
Or you might start the song out screaming 3,2,3,2,1 & go.
F) Counting on the beat can improve your steadiness. You can count in quarter notes, eighth notes and sixteenth notes. Try tapping a steady pulse on your thigh and count the beats '1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &' with each tap being the downbeat. The &'s would be the counter-beat, making a dupal meter for eight notes. For sixteenth notes you would count '1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a'. To get comfortable just feeling the beat, you could try a sidewalk exercise. Count with a 4/4 dupal meter measure with your dominant foot on the down beat and your other foot for each '&'. Clap on beats 2,3,and 4, leaving a pause on the first beat to count what measure you are on, so each dominant footstep would also be a clap. Each measure of four you would add the count to the first beat: 1&2&3&4&, 2&2&3&4&, 3&2&3&4&, 4&2&3&4&. When you can comfortably pace out 30 measures a few times on the sidewalk going back and fortha, you may know that you could be good at hand drumming or dancing.
G) Polyrhythms are something you can do while drumming with a partner. 'poly' means 'many' and is on player's phrase played over the other players complimentary rhythm at the same pace. Dictionary.com describes polyrhythm as 'the simultaneous occurrence of sharply contrasting rhythms within a composition'.
H) Rhythm in motion is also a study of mine that can be practiced with a drummer playing a good pulse and having the dancer count the beats out loud while keeping the tempo in mind, to land on photographic posture on the beat.
I) Babatundi Olatunji is largely responsible for bringing the djembe to America from its origin in Africa. One of his end-of-life wishes was for us to corrupt the world with drum, dance and chant. Seemingly I believe all of hip hop is chant. I am working with one that I will share here:
OO OO OO ***:)
Childrens Version:
Theres a difference of pi in my druml.
This one sounds different than the other one.
I'm not going to stop until were all done.
The best is when were all at fun.
Thats when the grandfathers say we won.
Adult Version:
All this time its been on the tip of my toungue.
Why we should not fight war with a gun.
Compassion is the weapon for my son.
The daughters can push the love so strong.
They break the bonds and bring back fun.
In the end of turmoil we'll all get along.
Each and everyone will belong.
The brain is a muscle that an be strong.
My Version:
Livin' the life by the tall grass field.
The amount of love that mother nature yields.
A defense that's dense is what this wields.
An attack that gives us our own meals.
A wit to fit the best offered deals.
A love so pure that this stuff seals.
So make a prayer in a tall grass field.
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