5:09 Zildjian guy does intro and announcements. Everything we see is performed in real time.

5:11 AJ takes the stage and sits at kit. Smiles. Launches into a version of Bad by Michael Jackson, triggering all the harmonies and melody. This guy is so freaking happy. He’s totally toying with the audience. Launches into a triggered version of “Dont Stop Til You Get Enough.” Next up: “Rock with you.” then Thriller. I can’t believe he’s triggering all of this himself … In real time!

5:23 Free form solo. So fast! Now adds clave with left foot on jam block. Ends with huge finish and standing O.

5:26 New tune. World sounding. Wait, it’s the intro back into Thriller!nl big finish including the Vincent Price laugh.

5:28 AJ takes the mic. He’s so cute! Now he is talking about his gear. Zildjian Hybrids.

AJ: A coulple of years ago, I would take many cymbals to recording sessions but it was getting heavy. I wanted one cymbal with darkness and brilliance. I thought there should a cymbal with half lathing. Was originally just in Japan but sold out and was released worldwide. I use Yamaha oak custom drums with Akira Jimbo sig snare. (demonstrates trigger system and plays melody with sheep and bg harmonies with dog sounds! Lol). Next up, I dedicate this next medley to jazz.

5:37 Plays tune with walking line onkick drum. Take 5. Take the Train with slamming pop groove underneath. Next up, up tempo Latin tune. Caravan. Into solo section. Launches into Spain. Pretty tight! Big finish b

5:47 AJ takes mic. Thank yous.

5:49 Closes with Pirates of Carribean soundtrack. EPIC! Standing O to exit!

This concludes today’s PASIC coverage. See you tomorrow!

2:58 Kinda sparse crowd. But it looks like it’s filling up.

3:01 PAS-IC guy is out and intros Meinl guy.

3:03 BG takes the mic. Thank yous.

3:05 BG sits at kit tonplY 2 tracks from his record, Brass Band. Track one, a sloppy New Orleans groove with a big fat back beat. Very reminiscent of The Meters. Track 2 is a straight 8th funky upbeat thing. Imagine if Thomas Lang did covers of Stanton Moore, then you’d get this. HUGE drum break. Very tasty. Nice punches to get us back into the track.

3:17 BG takes the mic. Now he’s going to play a solo.

3:18 Free form solo. Starts with sd roll. Moves around the kit with a pseudo latin foot ostinato. He’s the cleanest player we’ve seen so far. Moves to just his hands keeping the kick pattern going. He’s hitting any and everything he can find on the kit. He’s even playing the click sound of toms touching! Back to sticks with a big rolling double kick ostinato. Solo ends with standing o.

3:33 BG takes the mic. Thank yous. Gives run down of gear.

BG: 2 things that are very important: groove and improv. We as drummers are mostly pattern oriented. We focus on the fill but not on how to play it. We often speed it up. Time is very important to us. (does a group clapping exercise – “football clave”). Now do a click sound and clap! Take things slowly and practice things with this internal click. A quarter note “chit” sound. I’ll take 1 question.

Q: How did a white boy from Germany get so funky?
A: I get that. When we listen to music – to the lyrics, to the way it was played and recorded. And listen for a long time! not this iPod, 12,000 songs. I tried and tried to listen to as much as I could.

3:53 Plays one last track. A piece from his first solo record, Grebfruit. It’s a band piece where BG has sung all the parts except for drums. Bass, horn stabs, etc are all BG singing. Lol!

1:02 Intro from Paiste guy. He keeps going on.

1:05 TR takes the stage. Dons headphones and plays to a drumnbass track. Man, this guy is fast! Blowing heat all around the kit, up and down the toms. Seems like there are drums on the track. Hard to tell what’s live or not.

1:11 Track morphs into chops solo. Moves in and around grooves. He’s doing this thing where he plays the hh with his right hand while making contact on the sd with the butt of the stick.

1:24 TR takes mic. Thank yous.

1:29 Demonstrates splitting up double strokes between surfaces. Then applies it to a groove. RLL sticking. Break it up between hh and snare

FP: now we’re gonna take that broken sticking idea and put it in a 16th pattern that creates a 3 over 4 feel. (demonstrated in various tempos). Before you get it fast, you want to make it feel good at a slower tempo. The whole thing is to keep people dancing. The other thing is what we call hh fill ins. Take the sticking of an inverted paradiddle and put any R and sub out the hh foot. The last concept is hand foot overlaps. When we’re playing with hh sd and bd, there’s a lot we can do. (plays overlapping rudiments across hh and sd)

1:45 Takes questions. One about seat height and one about double bass technique.

1:49 Thank yous

11:05 PAS-IC guy comes out and drums up applause for sponsors. Next up, Meinl guy. We’re in for a “treat”!

11:07 FP Takes stage. There’s a huge Yamaha kit on stage with more xymbals than I can count. Plays to a track. Starts with his back to us playing a djembe.

11:10 Plays drumset to slamming gospel track. Lots of sick fills and licks.

11:15 Plays another track. Half time 6/8 shuffle sounding thing. Gospel style. The snares sound good but the toms and kick sound dull and thuddy. This is the 2nd or 3rd clinic where the drums in this room sound bad. I’m starting to wonder if it’s the sound team in here. FP is starting to solo around time.

11:20 Takes mic. Thank yous. FP: I hope to encourage you today and inspire you to just play. (talks about tunes he just played). I’m developing this thing called the ones and twos of popular music. Maybe not know the beat for every single song, but I had to develop a way to keep songs in my head. One simple bd pattern can dictate what type of music it is. The ones and twos are the first quarter on 1. Wherever the 2nd 2 beats are changes the style of music. Wherever I put the sn and hh changes the music drastically. By changing the kick pattern.

11:32 Demonstrates new kick pattern. I’m having a hard time following what he’s trying to establish with the idea of ones and twos. It feels like something that makes perfect sense I his head, but isn’t quite fleshed out enough to try and teach it to others.

FP: whenever I learn a tune, I try and relate the groove to another tune I already know. (demonstrates a shuffle type groove)

11:36 FP: The next thing is called 4 on the floors. A good groove to know is the disco. (demonstrates)

11:39 Plays several grooves all with quarter note kick patterns. I’m missing his point bc he keeps mixing up the tempos. So the idea that they all sound diff gets a bit lost.

11:41 FP: so there are a couple of examples of ways to learn lots of different kinds of music. Questions?

Q: How do you start learning tunes?
A: First, listen to all the music. Then I try to relate it to other music. I then categorize it by style. Motown, rock, etc.

Q: Can you isolate the hh patterns you’re using?
A: In general, I try and keep it straight forward or what the artists wants. Accented 16ths and 8ths mostly. Or quarter notes. (demonstrates)

Q: Double bass?
A: my doubles are pretty straight forward. Right over left. (demonstrates)

11:48 FP thank yous. Plays one more track. It’s a medley of Lionel Ritchie songs.

10:02 Waiting for the clinic to start. There’s a slide on hlthe screen called “The Transcription Lab.”. A beautiful Ludwig bop kit is on stage. Pretty good turn out for a 10a clinic!

10:05 Intros from Remo guy. SF is on jazz faculty in Philadelphia.

10:06 SF takes the stage. Sits at kit very intently. Plays syncopated rhythms with hands around the toms. Plays the snares on the bottom of snare drum. Adds hh, cyms. Switches to mallets and plays around toms and cyms. To sticks. Jazzy type fills around the kit. The snare sounds amazing. Lots of Moeller strokes. Back to hands. Retrogression. Soft, delicate end.

10:12 SF takes mic. Welcome and thank yous.

SF: what I’m going to attmpt to do today is have every participate in transcriptions. We have a lot to do today. We’re going to look at solos, parts. You want to play musically, study music. Transcription also helps with form, reading, dictation. The tools: pencil, eraser, paper, patience. You don’t have to have manuscript paper. Every time I listen to a drummer, I tried to hear something new. I always talk about music WITH other musicians. It also helps to have something to help slow down the music. Headphones.

Method: listen to each limb independantly. The create a composite rhythm and read it on one surface. Finally, listen back to determine the voicing. We have to determne what texture the piece is.

Stevefidyk.com/fid-studio for transcriptions I’ve done.

10:23 Plays a piece with Tony Williams on drums. Slows it down to 75%. The tune is Nefertii by Miles Davis. SF goes to overhead and begins to transcribe the ride pattern. I really can’t hear the ride pattern here in the room though. He’s using the program, Transcribe. It’s loopoing the same 30 seconds of the tune. Looks like several people are starting to leave. Unfortunatly it looks like we’re just watching him transcribe the piece on the overhead. Like watching someone work on homework. Weird. He’s nit really explaining what he’s doing.

10:32 SF: That’s the easy part. Now we have to play it. It does no good to transcribe it and not play it. Do we have a volunteer who wants to play it? (guy goes up and plays it pretty well!)

10:36 SF gives tips to the player. They play it at speed.

10:39 SF: Lets move on to full kit. (the tune is Daytripper by the Beatles.). 3 textures-sd, bs, hh. This is a very simple beat. Drummers play beats for the benefit of the music. For the snare, incorporate some rim. On the hat, Ringo swung the hat hand like he was buttering a piece of bread.

10:44 Plays Art Blakey tune (Moanin) and claps out different parts of the groove and then puts it on the overhead. Can’t hear hear the bd, so he interprets his own thing. Asks for a volunteer. Gives tips and trys it again.

10:51 Plays groove Take 5 and transcribes it.

10:55 Plays Chameleon by Herbie Hancock with Havey Mason on drums.