Brush sweep control with "Syncopation"

Here's an exercise to work on your brush sweeps using Ted Reed's Syncopation.  For each note you see, regardless of the length, it gets one sweep, or one half circle of the drum. so, four quarter notes would look like:

 

 

 

A bar of 8th notes:

 

 

Since each note gets a half of the circle, the speed of our sweeps is going to change in the middle of each phrase.  Quarter notes and 8th notes together, for example:

 

 

 

As you move through Syncopation you'll come across notes that are even longer, requiring you to control the speed even more.  Dotted quarter notes and 8th notes:

 

 

 

When you get to Syncopation I recommend starting on page 34, which is labelled as "Syncopation Set 2".  Again, you're changing direction with each note.

 

Number 1: 

 

 

 

Number 2:

 

 

 

Once you've got through "Syncopation Set 2" and done each example multiple times, you can then move on to the ubiquitous page 38, which is "Exercise 1"

 

The first line looks like this: 

 

 

 

This exercise is likely to be most beneficial for left hand control as that what we tend to sweep with the most, but you can, of course do this with either hand.

 

Also, I tend to sweep in a clockwise motion, and have notated it as such.  But if you are a counter clockwise player, you can just as easily flip it around.

Groove Transcription - Edu Ribeiro, "Samba Blues"

Here’s an interesting (and fast!) groove played by Edu Ribeiro on the Hamilton de Holanda quartet album Harmonize.  I’ve had the pleasure of hanging out and studying with Edu a few times, and he explained that he didn’t come up with the groove. Hamilton de Holanda apparently dreams up ideas that he wants to hear, and gives them to Edu - or presumably other drummers - to figure out.  It was also de Holanda who created the “samba invertido” groove on “Tamandua” of which a version appears on this same album.

I’ve been in this same situation myself, and always find it interesting.  No matter how creative we are as drummers, we are still drummers, and tend to think within certain conventions.  These conventions which we spend years working on can also be cumbersome on occasion, as it can be difficult to break away of them.  Other musicians, however, aren’t naturally encumbered with the same conventions and can write more freely.  Of course this occasionally leads to parts that are completely unplayable, but I enjoy the challenge of trying to figure out parts by non-drummer, and find that it often inspires future ideas. 

 

 The ruckus starts around 1:02

 

Weekly Wisdom

It's been many moons since I did one of these "Weekly Wisdom" posts, but I saw a quote the other day that I really liked:

 

“Practice like you’ve never won. Play like you’ve never lost.”
-Michael Jordan

 

Mike was likely talking more about humility and swagger, but I do see a musical parallel here.  Many of us are guilty of playing when we should be practicing, and practicing when we should be playing.  Another common quote goes something like, "if you sound good in the practice room then you're not really practicing".

 

We should all be practicing as though we are beginners in whatever we are working on and not assume anything, as if we've never gigged in our lives.  We're simply trying to figure out how to play the instrument, and devoting our utmost focus to every detail.

 

But on the flip side of that, when we are gigging, practice should stop.  Many of those same among us who play in the practice room end up practicing on the bandstand.  You've got that thing you've been working on and make the active decision to give it a go, which almost always end in disappointment at best, or disaster at worst.  Once we are on stage we should be gigging with confidence like we've been at it our whole lives.  Let go of the practice, and just play.  We shouldn't be trying anything.  We should just be doing.

 

Practice is practice and playing is playing.  It's surprisingly rare that the twain should meet. 

Joe Negri (1926-2026)

We lost Sonny Rollins recently who was truly one of, if not the, last of his generation of jazz musicians.  But another heavy-weight musician, though not quite as widely known left us the other day, just 11 days shy of his 100th birthday.

 

Guitarist, Joe Negri, was a born and raised Pittsburgher like myself.  He was probably best known as "Handyman Negri" on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, a beloved childrens television show that was filmed in Pittsburgh.  But, he was one of the baddest guitarists out there as far as I'm concerned.  Had he made the move to New York I'm certain he'd be named up there with guys like Joe Pass.

 

For nearly 50 years, Joe taught jazz guitar at the University of Pittsburgh, the first place to offer such a course in higher education.  He was also instrumental in setting up the jazz guitar program at Duquesne University, a highly respected music school in Pittsburgh.

 

I had the pleasure of gigging with Joe only once, and I was pretty inexperienced, but it left a big mark on me.

 

Here is one of my favorite performaces of Joe's.  He's playing with his long-time collaborator, and fellow Pittsburgh jazz legend, Johnny Costa, who Art Tatum called "The White Art Tatum".