Cancel today

I need to cancel the meet-up today while I work with a youth orchestra summer camp in Poulsbo. You probably aren't disappointed anyway since it is raining. We'll try again next week.

meeting tomorrow

We will meet at the Silverdale Waterfront Park gazebo at 3:00 on Friday. I already know of a couple who can't make it this week. If you need to come late, something is better than nothing, right?
I have decided to just go with Crazy Army to start with. Read through it, simplifying it as needed so you can learn the heart of the piece.

Let the Beatings Begin!

You are asking yourself, "is this for me?"

Minimum: You need a basic sense of rhythm; if you have done band or piano for a couple years, that is probably sufficient.

Maximum: If you can already play Corps level music, this is not for you.  If you can play all the fundamentals - place diddles and flams at any point within a phrase, paradiddles and other double and triple sticking, shift between sextuplets and 16ths, drags, ratamacues, etc. this is not for you.
Equipment: Bring a concert snare with snare stand, drum pad, sticks, and music stand (with built in pins or bring clothes pins). In addition, every musician should own and regularly use a metronome at home. You do play at home, don't you? If you do not already have a drum, pad, or sticks, please let me know and I can bring extras.

How to handle the diversity in playing level:
I am writing music with multiple parts, just like wind instruments get. The hardest parts will include flourishes (like flams, drags, alternate sticking patterns, stick flashes). The 2nd part will be a simplified version of the 1st, and so forth down to the easiest part which will compliment the accents and flow of the music. As you master each part, step up to the next level. Just make sure that you know where the beat is! I plan to post the parts here on this blog.

The top picture above is of the Show Drum Line called Top Secret from Basel, Switzerland. I borrowed the picture from http://www.drummerworld.com. Check out some of TS's videos, like Edinburgh 2006 and Next level 2012. The picture of the waterfront is from WestSoundLive.com, a local realty company.

I plan on meeting at the gazebo to start with. If you need a ride, give us a call; we will have room for three more.

Depending on how things go and if we can get ahold of enough instruments, we might do some latin rhythms later.

Keep it frosty!

Try this. Throw in some back sticking and similar cool flashes and turn some of those triplets into swiss triplets - you have a decent 1st part here. The piece as written could be 2nd part. 3rd part - simplify it by taking out the flams. 4th part - drop the five strokes, probably making them 16ths, and drop the paradiddles. 5th part - just 8ths and 16ths. Accents remain the same for all parts.

Crazy Army is a rudimental solo written in 1934. Actually, I think 7 strokes make more sense for this piece and that may have been how it was originally written. The solo has plenty of off beat accents which gives it more groove, less of a pounding march feel. It is for soldiers with soul.

You can do a Google image search for a more printer-friendly version.