Friday Feature: Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez

This video was my first introduction to Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez. You'll want to watch the whole thing.....multiple times.

The very first time I saw this I had no idea who any of these musicians were. I was completely floored (still am!) by their virtuosity, musicianship and flat out heart. I had to know more. I started looking for everything I could find related to any of these three, and became fascinated with their musical careers and backgrounds.

Luckily for me, Michel Camilo visits Salt Lake City on a fairly frequent basis, so I've had the opportunity to hear and see him several times, once with Anthony Jackson and Horacio Hernandez. We also have one of the best drum shops in the world, and they brought in Horacio to do a live clinic several years ago. 

At the clinic, he came out on stage and, without a word, began playing. His opening solo/performance was over 45 minutes long. And nobody got bored. Nobody even breathed! His playing was (and still is) so exciting, engaging, unique and - above all - musical, that I think the whole room was disappointed when he got done playing.

Hernandez is a great example to me of how one pursues a goal - at all costs! He gave up his home country for a chance to make music at the highest levels and become the best version of himself. He has also given countless hours to practice, study, listening and experimenting to become one of - if not the - leaders in the afro-cuban drumming world.

Hopefully you'll take the time to do some studying and listening, and let "El Negro" influence your musical world. 

Happy drumming!

Bag of Tricks: 12/8 Funk Groove

Another fun groove from the great Jay Lawrence. This might be a repost, but I came back to it this week and have been having a lot of fun with it. Lots of variations and orchestrations are possible, so experiment with it and make it unique.

Happy drumming!

Beyond the Kit: Should you fire your doctor?

There is a certain discussion that I have with some of my students from time to time. I have jokingly called it, "Lecture 38A," because it's one of the little speeches that I've given many, many times and I have it memorized, including the usual responses from the student.

It starts something like, "Hey, have you ever thought about firing me?" The usual response is, "Huh?"

In a nutshell, here's the analogy I use:

Imagine that you go to a doctor to solve a problem. The doctor gives you an outline of the treatments and therapies you need, and a time frame. You should expect to see an improvement within, say, a month. Well, the month goes by and you don't see any change.

Why don't you see any change? There are at least two possible reasons:

1. You aren't following the recommendations of the doctor. You're not taking the medication, following the diet, doing the exercises - whatever it is.
2. Or, the doctor is wrong. They could be wrong about their diagnosis, the effectiveness of the treatment or something else. 

So what do you do about it? 

1. Do what the doc tells you to do! If you're not following his instructions, can you really blame him for your lack of improvement?
2. If you are following what the doctor tells you to do, and you're still not seeing any results, you either consult with the doctor about another course of action, or you get a second opinion. At some point, you may consider going to another doctor completely. 

In short, if it's not working, something needs to change. So, to my students, if you're not getting what you wanted/needed/expected, fire me! I'm okay with it, I really am! Because if you're not making progress, you're wasting your time, my time, and your parents' money. Not to mention the fact that we're both frustrated.

But make sure you're doing what I ask of you first. If you want to lose twenty pounds and the doc tells you to eat a certain way and exercise a certain way - do it! You can't sit on the couch and eat ice cream and then complain that this particular doctor "isn't working out."

You can't just show up for a lesson every week and expect to get good, no matter who the teacher is. 

Fact of the matter is - a teacher is just a coach. LeBron James can't blame his coach when he loses unless he did everything the coach wanted him to do. 

Look, if it's my fault you're not getting better, I can take that. But if it's your fault you need to own it, accept it, and decide if you really want what you say you want enough to do what it takes to get it.

I'm paraphrasing here, but I saw a tweet earlier this year from Nike that read something like:

Decide what you want. Then decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities, and then go to work. 

I have that written on my bathroom mirror where I can look at it every day. Because, ultimately, my success is up to me.

And your success is up to you.

Happy drumming!

The Weight Room: Breaking down the Flam Tap

The rudiments are a great tool. They can also be a great challenge. I find that when I plateau or "hit the wall" with a certain rudiment, I need to break the figure down to its basic elements and figure out what's holding me back.

For example, last summer I hurt my knee really bad. It felt awful and didn't bend right, and I was absolutely certain I was going to have surgery. But when I visited the doctor, he gave me a thorough checkout and put me through a bunch of tests before declaring that the problem had nothing to do with my knee, but started with my hips and my hamstrings. What? If that was the case, then why did my knee hurt so badly?

Turns out that weak hip flexors and hamstrings, in conjunction with stiffness or inflexibility, manifests itself as knee pain. So I spent about eight weeks in physical therapy working and stretching my hips and hammies, and my knee pain magically went away.

In music, this idea plays itself out in many ways, but we'll look at just one specific rudiment to demonstrate the concept of breaking it down to its key elements.

So, the Flam Tap. It looks like this. (It goes without saying, but the grace notes are played by the hand not playing the main note.)

As you can see, this is a double stroke exercise, right right? (Bad drummer joke, couldn't help myself...) Actually, it's a triple stroke exercise. You see, the right hand will play a main note, a tap and then a grace note before the left hand plays a stroke, and so on.

So, if you want to make your Flam Taps faster, make your triple stroke faster, like so:

Play the first two measures all with the right hand, then repeat with all left hand. I like to do the exercise a total of four times - right, left, right, left (Coldplay, anyone?) - then end with a right hand downbeat in the last bar. 

As always, start slowly and gradually increase the tempo. Stay relaxed, especially as the tempo climbs. Remember that tension is the enemy of speed and control.

There are a lot of ways to approach this exercise, so I'll give you a few ideas.

• Keep all notes the same height and dynamic
• Accent the first note and play the last two the same
• Play the first two notes down, and accent the last note
• Play all three as a diminuendo
• Play all three as a crescendo

After you work on this for a while (a week or so), you should notice an increase in your Flam Tap speed and control.

Happy drumming!

Gear Up: Hardware Maintenance 101 (Repost)

Originally posted on December 6, 2011.

I have always been proud of how I take care of my gear. I have some hardware that is more than a decade old and is still in good working order. In fact, I have a handful of Yamaha cymbal boom stands that I purchased in 1999, and I'm always looking to see if anybody else has stands that old that are still working. Mine are a little dinged up and have some scratches from living in my hardware bag, but all the moving parts, screws, etc. are all just fine.

Last week I mentioned that I played in the percussion section for AFCO's Christmas Concerts. There was also a drum set player, an amazing player by the name of Bobby James.  As I usually do, I took a look at his drums, hardware and cymbals. I was amazed (shocked, actually) to see him pull out Yamaha cymbal stands that were the model before the ones that I'm so proud of. These stands are easily 15+ years old, and they look and function like new.

It's my view that somewhere along the way, one learns to appreciate the equipment almost as much as the music. It's like a racer with cars or a jockey with horses, or a million other examples. If you want to do it well, your equipment must function at its best.

So, let's get down to it. There's probably one issue above all the rest when it comes to taking care of percussion gear: stripped out bolts, nuts, screws and ball joints (as in tom mounts). To fix this one issue is so easy!! Just follow these two simple rules:

1. ALWAYS loosen it before you move it. The place I see this abused the most is with tom-toms and cymbals. Students, if they don't like the angle or position of something, will just force it to go where they want it. This weakens the bolts, nuts, etc. that hold it in place, so they have to be screwed even tighter next time to hold the instrument in place. Over time, this forcing and over-tightening will ruin the equipment so that it has to be repaired or replaced. Not fun, and usually not cheap. 
2. NEVER over-tighten it. For most things - cymbal stands, tom mounts, etc. - the difference between loose and tight is somewhere around a quarter of a turn. Try this one at home: Take a cymbal stand, snare stand or another piece of hardware (make sure it doesn't have anything on it like a cymbal or a drum), and loosen one of the joints just barely enough to move it freely. Then, slowly tighten it just barely to the point that it won't move easily. You want it just tight enough to do the job and no tighter. Especially if your gear is fairly new, you'll notice that there's not much room to turn the screw from "loose enough to move" to "tight enough to hold."

Really and truly, that's about it. Follow those two rules, and your gear will last a long time and serve you well.

Happy drumming!

Special Feature: Play Drums Like A Girl

I've been hesitant to address this topic, but there's just too much good stuff going on right now on this topic to ignore.

Before I dive into it, I do want to make one thing crystal clear: in my mind there are no limiting factors to being a great drummer in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, orientation, political leanings or soda preference.

The biggest indicator? How hard, long and smart you work.


Okay, now that we've got that handled, on to the good stuff.

There's been a huge push in the music industry over the last decade or so to try to convince girls/women that playing music is for them, too. While it's true that the vast majority of high-profile drummers are male, there are some amazing female players out there, and it seems like there are more all the time.

As a starting point, check out Drummerworld's list dedicated to "The Ladies." Earlier this year on the blog, I featured one of my favorite women of groove, Emmanuelle Caplette. And today, I ran across this website, the "Hit Like A Girl" contest.

From my personal experience, I've played with and taught many a girl drummer who could outplay any boy in the neighborhood with ease.

One quick story about a former student of mine. As a Sophomore in high school (15 years old), she was playing the timpani part on Jager's "Espirit de Corps." If you've ever played that piece, you know how important that part is. The day before our district band festival, she got her wisdom teeth pulled out. On the day of the performance, she told her mom not to give her any pain medication because she wanted her head to be clear so that she could play her best.

Be honest. Would you have even showed up after you had your wisdom teeth out? I probably wouldn't have. And don't even think about going without paid pain meds.

That night her example put a new sense of toughness and self-respect into our band, and we qualified for the state-level festival for the first time in school history. This girl set a new standard for toughness and dedication to her craft. Percussion - and her self respect - were of critical import to her. Awesome!

Anyway, girls rock. Go play the drums, or anything else you want to. Just let us boys play along, too!

Happy drumming!

Friday Feature: Peter Erskine

Okay, time for a jazz artist who has changed the course of drumming history and contributed a great deal to the art.

Start here.

Then go here.

Then watch this.

There. You're welcome. Don't say I never gave ya nuthin'.

As an added bonus, check out this little jewel I stumbled across.

Happy drumming!