Hutch! Again!

The alternate title for this post was, "Now watch Greg Hutchinson do everything better than I ever will".  Loyal readers of my blog know that I have a particular fondness for both Ray Brown and Greg Hutchinson's playing, so it should come as no surprise that I am bringing up this particular concert footage:

  

Hutch's solo in the first tune (starting around :57) is a tour-de-force.  A couple of elements that make this solo so great:

1.  Use of the melody

You can hear Hutch reference the melody throughout, but he really spells it out around 2:01 on the bass drum.  Besides these references to the melody, Hutch is also following the larger structure of the form, making this a melodic solo in every sense of the word. 

2.  Uptempo brushes

Hutch is one of the contemporary masters of uptempo brushes, listen to the clarity of his articulation and his really slick vocabulary throughout.  

3.  Dynamics

This solo has real dynamic variation, not always an easy thing to do when you are playing with brushes.  Listen to how far down Hutch comes around 2:42, I felt myself leaning in towards my speaker to hear more! 

4.  Band interaction

Not only does Hutch catch all the hits in the beginning of his solo, he also does a beautiful job transitioning to the half time feel at the end.  You may have also noticed how smooth his transition from brushes to sticks is at 3:10.  

Hope you are enjoying this footage as much as I am, and long live Greg Hutchinson!

Transitions 5: Dynamic transitions

Dynamics add tension

Today's post is going to focus on moving between dynamics to build tension.  In the video above (featuring Bill Heid on keys and Kris Funn on bass), check out how the transitions from loud to soft at 1:07 and again at 2:13 build tension by upsetting the expectation of a loud climax.  This upset expectation, and the tension that comes from it are one of the fundamental elements of almost any kind of music.  The longer you can delay resolving this tension, the more intense the emotional response from your audience will be.  In the video, the dynamic tension in the song doesn't really resolve until the very end. 

Will they get together or not?

It's just like a sitcom

Tension and release works in almost any art form.  One example of this that may help explain the importance of tension and release is the sitcom.  In order for a sitcom to work there has to be some kind of central tension that never gets fully resolved.  The reason people continue to watch and enjoy these shows is that they want to find out if and how this tension will finally be resolved.  As soon as the central tension is resolved, the story is over. In music the same principle applies, so waiting to resolve dynamic tension until the climax of a piece is crucial. 

As a drummer, your job is to set the dynamic range of the music.  If you play loud, everyone else kind of has to.  With that in mind, if you can exercise the restraint necessary to hold back the bashing impulse, you will find that when you do finally release that impulse, the effect will be dramatically heightened.  

Beginning Improvisation Part 2

Two new elements

In the first post about learning to improvise, I introduced the basic idea of improvising simple rhythms in time.  In the following exercise we will start to deal with two new elements.  The first element is the eighth note which will change the density of the rhythms you are playing.  The second element is dynamics which will allow you to change the volume of your rhythms.