Random update. I know I haven't posted stuff in a while. To be honest, there hasn't been much going on except that I'm still hunting for work. It's been more than a month now and still nothing develops. New York has yet to reply me as well so nothing on the American Adventure volume 2 has opened up.
As for the 'Tales from MI' series that I've been posting, I've been delaying that simply because I keep forgetting to upload my picture and video that I need for the next update. I want to keep it chronological so it'll wait until the day I actually remember to put that darn picture on my mac.
Unless I decide to take an Adventure somewhere. Which I think I will. Stay tuned for that. Apparently there's an awesome free holiday destination somewhere in LA that I am yet to visit. So I might just go for it. We'll see about that.
Till the next time...
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Tales from MI - Chapter 6
Just to clear things up, I'm not attempting to write a day by day account of my life at MI. Even I, who's certainly capable of writing nonsense to that amount, can not account for every single day spent at MI. What I am doing is taking a class by class approach. To make it systematic so that I don't glance over classes I'm going through them in the chronological order in which I took them. This brings us to the final class of day 2 - Playing Technique.
I was looking forward to this class a lot upon coming to MI. The one thing I was never sure about when I taught myself was my technique. I'd escaped any form of drumming injury in my 10 years of playing experience and had not come across anything which I couldn't eventually learn in my rudimental playing. For the drum-uneducated, rudiments are like drumming scales. They are fundamental exercises which every drummer does to make sure his hands are in check and that he can play any kind of stroke required on the drums.
Having never confronted my own technique and cross examining it with someone who actually knows what their doing, I've always feared that my technique harboured some bad habits which needed to be fixed. As such I was looking forward to a class that would actually make sure that my technique was up to par with what was required of me as a drummer.
It of course helps that the class is taught by 3 time world champion super snare drummer Rob Carson.
Rob teaches in a mixture of intense physical training, zen mastery and mental preparation. I'm not all for the zen mastery that envelopes some of his talks but he doesn't force it on anyone. It's his own little way of approach and it's cool. But man is he a monster for speed and hand condition. His curriculum contains hand exercises that are designed to just screw with your physical capabilities and they push the limits of what the hands can do. They build around all the drum rudiments and require control, speed, power, and everything else a drummer's hands need to do.
I managed to make my way through his 18 months crash course relatively unscarred. Well, scarred in a good way - my hands are no longer the same ones that I had when I left but are now these machines that are capable of things I only dreamed of doing.
It's an intense class. And it requires a lot of ritualistic practice. It takes up a huge bulk of my time in the labs - at least an hour every single day - and it's the most difficult thing about practicing drums. It's exactly like scales. It's tedious and uninspiring, but necessary for advancement. I'm glad I muscled through it.
And those DC 10s.. will never forget those. The insane heavy weapons for the technique war that is Rob's class.
A picture I posted a year ago and more. Just a reminder of how epic the size of these things are.
There's more that I can say about this class and that'll be next chapter. Plus you'll get to see a transcription and a video of my solo piece for my final - the one and only 'I SQUEEZE YOUR MANGOES'.
Laterszszzzzsss.
I was looking forward to this class a lot upon coming to MI. The one thing I was never sure about when I taught myself was my technique. I'd escaped any form of drumming injury in my 10 years of playing experience and had not come across anything which I couldn't eventually learn in my rudimental playing. For the drum-uneducated, rudiments are like drumming scales. They are fundamental exercises which every drummer does to make sure his hands are in check and that he can play any kind of stroke required on the drums.
Having never confronted my own technique and cross examining it with someone who actually knows what their doing, I've always feared that my technique harboured some bad habits which needed to be fixed. As such I was looking forward to a class that would actually make sure that my technique was up to par with what was required of me as a drummer.
It of course helps that the class is taught by 3 time world champion super snare drummer Rob Carson.
Rob teaches in a mixture of intense physical training, zen mastery and mental preparation. I'm not all for the zen mastery that envelopes some of his talks but he doesn't force it on anyone. It's his own little way of approach and it's cool. But man is he a monster for speed and hand condition. His curriculum contains hand exercises that are designed to just screw with your physical capabilities and they push the limits of what the hands can do. They build around all the drum rudiments and require control, speed, power, and everything else a drummer's hands need to do.
I managed to make my way through his 18 months crash course relatively unscarred. Well, scarred in a good way - my hands are no longer the same ones that I had when I left but are now these machines that are capable of things I only dreamed of doing.
It's an intense class. And it requires a lot of ritualistic practice. It takes up a huge bulk of my time in the labs - at least an hour every single day - and it's the most difficult thing about practicing drums. It's exactly like scales. It's tedious and uninspiring, but necessary for advancement. I'm glad I muscled through it.
And those DC 10s.. will never forget those. The insane heavy weapons for the technique war that is Rob's class.
A picture I posted a year ago and more. Just a reminder of how epic the size of these things are.
There's more that I can say about this class and that'll be next chapter. Plus you'll get to see a transcription and a video of my solo piece for my final - the one and only 'I SQUEEZE YOUR MANGOES'.
Laterszszzzzsss.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Tales from MI - Chapter 5
The Hess part 2.
So you've met gary in our previous chapter. He wounded up as my private instructor for my first 6 months too. I'm incredibly grateful for that. Gary's not the man with a million chops, but he's got everything he's got so solid you couldn't move it with a nuclear bomb.
And that helped me a lot because that's exactly what I needed - some good solid foundational stuff to build on. I've never had a teacher before coming to MI and so none of my skills were properly grounded. And Gary fixed that up real quick. It took him no less than 5 minutes into our first lesson to give me something that completely messed with the way I was positioned behind the kit. He slapped a little 16th note funk chart in front of me that totally screwed up my hands and how I was hitting the drums, immediately requiring a fix.
Best part about working with Gary was the fun big bang charts we did in the second quarter. I've never played to jazz charts before in my life, let alone big band stuff so it was incredibly fun. Coupled with his reading class, I started to get the hang of reading charts right off the bat and now I can do it pretty easily. Setting up figures and stuff is a lot of fun when you've got a whole brass section behind you and you nail those notes right on the head.
I also had Gary for my music minus one class.. but that's day four. We'll get there when we get there. We're in day 2 and that's no where near getting done.
Stay tuned for the next chapter - Playing technique with 3 time world champion snare drum master, Rob Carson.
So you've met gary in our previous chapter. He wounded up as my private instructor for my first 6 months too. I'm incredibly grateful for that. Gary's not the man with a million chops, but he's got everything he's got so solid you couldn't move it with a nuclear bomb.
And that helped me a lot because that's exactly what I needed - some good solid foundational stuff to build on. I've never had a teacher before coming to MI and so none of my skills were properly grounded. And Gary fixed that up real quick. It took him no less than 5 minutes into our first lesson to give me something that completely messed with the way I was positioned behind the kit. He slapped a little 16th note funk chart in front of me that totally screwed up my hands and how I was hitting the drums, immediately requiring a fix.
Best part about working with Gary was the fun big bang charts we did in the second quarter. I've never played to jazz charts before in my life, let alone big band stuff so it was incredibly fun. Coupled with his reading class, I started to get the hang of reading charts right off the bat and now I can do it pretty easily. Setting up figures and stuff is a lot of fun when you've got a whole brass section behind you and you nail those notes right on the head.
I also had Gary for my music minus one class.. but that's day four. We'll get there when we get there. We're in day 2 and that's no where near getting done.
Stay tuned for the next chapter - Playing technique with 3 time world champion snare drum master, Rob Carson.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Chapter I - Intermissionsionsion
I went to see McCoy Tyner, the great jazz composing legend, today at the Catalina.
It was fantastic right up to the point McCoy walked off the stage because some a-hole was recording him on a video camera or some shit.
Which got me thinking - I want to come to a point where I'm established enough to be able to walk off stage whenever I want. It's a weird ambition, I admit.
Right now I'm at the point where I'll smile and take as much bull crap as I can handle, then some more, because clearly I need the work.
But one day...
I really need to punch that moron. If only I weren't so skinny.
It was fantastic right up to the point McCoy walked off the stage because some a-hole was recording him on a video camera or some shit.
Which got me thinking - I want to come to a point where I'm established enough to be able to walk off stage whenever I want. It's a weird ambition, I admit.
Right now I'm at the point where I'll smile and take as much bull crap as I can handle, then some more, because clearly I need the work.
But one day...
I really need to punch that moron. If only I weren't so skinny.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Tales From MI - Chapter 4
Today's episode is dedicated to the Hess. That's Mr. Gary Hess, Mr. PIT for you.
First quarter, Mr. Hess was in charge of a bunch of my classes. And he was my private instructor for the first 6 months.
Gary's known for being a little scary. He actually joked about not smiling in my picture and I told him 'it looks more natural'. Well, I'm kidding. He's an awesome instructor and a crazy great player. He's just incredibly honest when it comes to his classes. He'll tell it like it is. If it sucked and if you come in unprepared, he'll give it to you right there. No sugar coating with the Hess.
I remember day 2 at MI in one of his other classes - Developing Your Groove. That class basically puts your whole basic coordination to the test to find out just what you can't do and what you can. All sorts of coordination patterns against ride surfaces and stuff. It's actually a good class - aside from the fact that there are 10 other drummers in the same class bashing away and burying the click.
First time off the gun, everyone totally rushed the metronome. Eager horses, everyone.
And then there's Gary's famous metronome ending. He gives the rat-tat-tat-tat-tat ending (in music notes, it's C_G_G-A_G-B-C with the _ meaning going down.. you'll know it once you hear it) and we give the last two smacks on the B-C and then he turns on the tuning tone through the PA and we make as much noise as possible.
More on the Hess later on.
First quarter, Mr. Hess was in charge of a bunch of my classes. And he was my private instructor for the first 6 months.
Gary's known for being a little scary. He actually joked about not smiling in my picture and I told him 'it looks more natural'. Well, I'm kidding. He's an awesome instructor and a crazy great player. He's just incredibly honest when it comes to his classes. He'll tell it like it is. If it sucked and if you come in unprepared, he'll give it to you right there. No sugar coating with the Hess.
I remember day 2 at MI in one of his other classes - Developing Your Groove. That class basically puts your whole basic coordination to the test to find out just what you can't do and what you can. All sorts of coordination patterns against ride surfaces and stuff. It's actually a good class - aside from the fact that there are 10 other drummers in the same class bashing away and burying the click.
First time off the gun, everyone totally rushed the metronome. Eager horses, everyone.
And then there's Gary's famous metronome ending. He gives the rat-tat-tat-tat-tat ending (in music notes, it's C_G_G-A_G-B-C with the _ meaning going down.. you'll know it once you hear it) and we give the last two smacks on the B-C and then he turns on the tuning tone through the PA and we make as much noise as possible.
More on the Hess later on.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Tales From MI - Chapter 3
Day one isn't quite done yet.
On day 1 we were introduced to the wonder that is Digital Drumming. Going into the class, I didn't quite have a clue what it was going to be about. Turns out it's about playing in the world of modern music with backing tracks and loops and stuff. Perhaps one of the most important classes I've taken here at MI.
You listen to all those pop tracks that come out on the radio - even when there's live drums being played on it, there is still so much effects and loops that are going on in the tune. Essential information. So begins my struggle to play with a music loop and a backing track.
This was also the class where I began practicing my skill of identification. I've heard countless times of the idea of something 'ahead' or 'behind' but never quite sat down and made myself do it. So this is where the fun began and gosh it was hard.
But the greatest thing about this class was meeting my teacher for the first time - Donny Gruendler.
The man himself. No shortage in the amount of jokes told in class, no shortage of fun. He's an awesome instructor and gets the lesson across really well. Really glad to have been under his tutelage.
And no shortage of 'Storytime with Uncle Donny'.
Cheers, Donny G.
On day 1 we were introduced to the wonder that is Digital Drumming. Going into the class, I didn't quite have a clue what it was going to be about. Turns out it's about playing in the world of modern music with backing tracks and loops and stuff. Perhaps one of the most important classes I've taken here at MI.
You listen to all those pop tracks that come out on the radio - even when there's live drums being played on it, there is still so much effects and loops that are going on in the tune. Essential information. So begins my struggle to play with a music loop and a backing track.
This was also the class where I began practicing my skill of identification. I've heard countless times of the idea of something 'ahead' or 'behind' but never quite sat down and made myself do it. So this is where the fun began and gosh it was hard.
But the greatest thing about this class was meeting my teacher for the first time - Donny Gruendler.
The man himself. No shortage in the amount of jokes told in class, no shortage of fun. He's an awesome instructor and gets the lesson across really well. Really glad to have been under his tutelage.
And no shortage of 'Storytime with Uncle Donny'.
Cheers, Donny G.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)