5:17 We’re just now sitting down into the hall! Why are these last clinics always so late?

5:22 DW rep comes out for intros.

5:23 Zoro comes out on the mic and pumps up the crowd. Thank yous.

5:24 Daniel Glass takes the mic. They play Rock and Roll by Led Zep.

DG: who recognizes that? He didn’t write that! It’s from little richard’s Keep a knockin’. (it’s the same intro!). What you listen to today may have a lot more to do with things from the last.

Z: This clinic is about the lore of American music. It all has the swing pulse!

DG: Louis Jordan was a huge artist who was in the charts longer than Michael Jackson, Aretha Frnklin. He played jump blues which was the connection from big band to rock and roll. Here is “Choochoo Cha Boogie.”

5:31 Z: Here’s a tune 40 years later. (plays slamming tune, I didn’t catch the artist).

5:33 DG: you’ll notice the Jordan tune didn’t have any backbeat. Rock and roll was the first style to use a back beat all the way through. Here is wynini Harris, good rockin tonight.

3:36 Z: here’s a groove that everyone knows. Green Onions. It’s a quarter note shuffle.

3:39 DG: so that was stax records out of Memphis. They brought R&B into the mainstream. It was greasy and laid back. The other label that brought R&B into the mainstream was Motown. It was very polished and pristinly produced. Here is “Heat Wave.”

5:41 Z: here’s a groove from the 70′s where shuffles got big and fat. Here is the Lido Shuffle that features Jeff Porcaro.

4:42 DG: now we’re gonna jump back a few decades. The other thing that made rock and roll different was the shuffle feel moving to a straight 8th feel. During this period there are a lot of various shuffles out there. Here’s one right between straight and shuffle. Here’s Jailhouse Rock. DJ Fontana on drums n

5:45 Z: This is one of the anthems of funk – Stevie Wonder. Superstition.

5:47 DG: The next few grooves show how the shuffle started to creep out into other styles of music. New Orleans. Here is Joseph Smokey Johnson, “I Cant Help It.”

5:51 Z: this next tune is from James brown. Jabo Starks and Papa Dont Take No Mess.

5:53 DG: Another place where the swing pulse had an influence was Reggae. The main diff between American and Jamaican shuffle is the kick is on 2 and 4. Reggae is mix of rock steady and ska.

5:56 Z: this last groove is the Purdie Shuffle.

5:58 DG: Check out the commandments of early funk drumming. Z: we’re gonna end with an improvised solo. (go into a half time shuffle. Each player takes turns trading licks.)

Go into an up beat and licks continue.

6:06 trading licks ala drum battle. Solos end in huge unison lick and a standing O.

That’s it for today’s PASIC coverage. Until tomorrow!

1:00 No one up yet. There are swag bags on all the seats. Mapex is a big endorser. Decent crowd, but scattered.

1:02 PAS guy is out and still insists on pronouncing it PASIC as in gas-ic. Lol. More intros from Mapex guy.

1:04 CP takes mic. Thank yous. Gives brief history. Studied at Berklee for 2 years. Facinated by music technology. From there formed band called Dillenger Escape Plan. Played lots of shows. Threw in lots of styles into DEP. Cut to now. I wanted to change. DEP is fast and free, but I wanted to step away from that where there is a lot more space in the music. Coheed and Cambria allows that. Also in other projects including a production company that does scoring and electronic music. CP: I’m just gonna play now bc I don’t get the opportunity that much in a band setting.

1:12 Solo. Big rolls on the snare drum with Tom and kick accents around. Moves to floor tom. Lots of metric modulation. 3 over 4 over 2. Breaks out into Fool in the Rain groove. Plays different subdivisions over it. Lots of double kick action. Wow, the verb on the snare sounds like it’s in a sewer. Breaks out into quick DnB sounding thing. More heat around the kit. The solo is devolving into a bashfest. Lots of triplets and 16ths around the kit between kick and toms/snare. Solo ends with huge snare drum roll

1:29 Takes mic. CP: I like to deal with modulating and polyrhythms. If I’m doing an ostinatos with me feet or hands, I’ll keep something the same and shift the accents on another part. (demonstrates).

One other thing I like to do is to take doubles and creat polyrhythmic ideas by accenting different parts.
(demonstrates by accent every 3 or 5 or 7). Any questions?

Q: what’s your approach to polyrhythms.
A: approah it very slowly. Get comfy with feet, then add more in layers. My feet are on autopilot.

Q: Show us the hand patterns you were doing.
A: what it is is simply RRLL but I add accents every 3 notes. RrlLrrLlrRll. Eventually it resolves back.

1:41 CP: I’m gonna back seat that. I’d like to talk about a side project I’m working on. You should play with as many people as you possibly can. Everyone has something to offer. At the end of the day it’s all about commnuicating. It’s important for me to be creative. Writing. Writing orchestral music or another form of rock or metal. I’m always working on it to keep myself fresh. I’m going to play a track from the new project, Return to Tomorrow.

1:44 Plays to track. Sounds very Muse-y. Huge blast bear section!

1:47 CP: I want to talk about my sound. I always play a smaller kit. I keep it mixed up so I don’t get bored with playing inthe same space. (discusses gear I set up and thank yous.

That’s it for this clinic!

9:56 – Waiting for the masterclass to start. Beautiful red DW kit on stage. Maria is walking around the crowd saying hi! She rubbed me on the back and smells of clean soap. Too much info? She’s saying how she feels far away from the audience.

10:01 Not yet started. Still waiting. There is also a set of congas on stage with the kit. Pretty good crowd for a Thurs morning. She asks us questions. “I feel like a woman on an island up here. I wanted to make a personal connection with you.” this is why she walked around. She’s asking the crowd who’s comfortable with rudiments. Most of us here are drumset players.

10:09 MM: the rudimental way seemed so straight and narrow to me. The marching tradition is really very much a part of the music if today and the past. Musical styles came out of the marching tradition. Like ragtime. It was a piano music (sings the entertainer). Everything is evolving. Dixieland, jazz, boogie woogie. The drumset wasn’t what you see it today. The hi hat used to be on the ground. I’m gonna okay the pulsating roll concept of the hi hat.

10:12 Demonstrates the New Orleans roll concept. Very maching sounding. Like a second line thing. Adds hh on the off beats.

10:13 MM: You can hear how marching influenced drumset playing. Like the second line and the 3-2 clave. (demonstrates)

10:17 MM: it’s the accented and unaccented notes that communicate the groove. It’s all about the groove. Not about protools or just techique. Touch sensitivity awareness. Like the drumstick. It makes a difference. Also, how you play your bass drum. Are you burying the beater. Also, where are you hitting the cymbal. As you play, have an awareness of what sound you are producing. Are you playing the snare in the middle? On the edge? What’s appropriate for the style you’re playing? That’s what I’m talking about. Sensitivty aawareness comes fro you, not the equipment. Like k owing vocabulary. It’s food to know words, but can you comminicate. It’s now what you play, but HOW you play that matters. Like Steve Gadd. It’s nit just the rudiment. It’s nit just the accents. It’s nio just the space between the notes. It’s ALL of this that matters.

10:23 Points us to handout. It’s a page of 16th note rudimental patterns with 3 diff kick patterns. Demonstates putting the flam on each note of a 16th pattern. It has alternate sticking. RRRL RRRL with flams on the downbeat.

10:26 MM: you never want to hear both notes of the flam. Th lifting of the full stroke is not for looks, it’s to get the best sound. (demonstrates) Use a mirror and watch your full strokes. The other thing, don’t lift your arms when you play a flam. Use wrist strokes. I want to demonstrate some things for you.

10:29 Demonstrates some of the patterns from the page. She puts the sticking across the ride and snare and some really cool patterns emerge!! I think she just blew everyone’s mind!

10:34 Question from the floor: It seems like your accenting parts of the left hand. MM: yes. You have to translate from the page. (demonstrate also on cowbells)

10:35 Solo. The kit sounds great. The solo is a mix of foot ostinatos with heat. In and out of time. Mix of Latin and groove. You can hear a clear Gadd influence in her playing.

10:40 Asks several people to come up and play. Little goes up and rocks it

10:50 Plays the exercises with the other 2 ostinatos. Slow then fast. She has a very nice, light touch! My brain hurts!! Another audience member goes up to play. An audience member asks if she can play with a clave in left foot. MM: Unless you’re Horacio Hernandez, you can’t. Lol.

That wraps up our first clinic! Mad props to PAS for having a woman drumset player kick off the drumset clinics. Maria is a good educator and a very smooth player.