Listening/Practicing/Playing
From our first lesson to our last performance, a subject in which all drummers share an interest is musical self-improvement. Implicit in this desire is a fundamental question that is rarely considered consciously and whose answer is far from self-evident: by what means does one achieve the end of musical excellence?
A dangerous assumption, particularly among students, is that practicing is the primary means of musical self-improvement. Although practicing is an essential means, it is not the only or even necessarily the primary one, and when pursued in isolation from other means, it can actually produce as much musical harm as good.
Likewise, there is an assumption among unschooled, "natural" drummers that one learns primarily through doing rather than studying, or playing rather than practicing. Others put their primary emphasis on studying tradition, i.e. on listening to and learning from what has been played by the great drummers of the past.
The problem with all these approaches is that they either attempt to deny theoretic knowledge, or to sever it from its application to music. In contrast, the proper method of learning to play music on the drums involves an integration of each these three approaches, i.e. an integration of theory and practice. It involves an equal and simultaneous devotion to playing, practicing, and listening.
To illustrate this idea graphically, I have used the figure of a triangle to help convey that these activities are (1) equal in importance, and (2) interrelated - the level of skill attained in each area directly affects the level of skill attainable in the others.
Although each of these activities are equal in importance, the first which should be considered is listening, because (1) before we can set our goals (which will determine what we will practice), we must first be aware of all the musical options from which we will be choosing, and (2) music is an aural art form, the subtleties of which can only be grasped first hand, i.e. aurally, through listening. As drummers and musicians, listening directly to music - not practicing - should both set our goals and provide our main source of information about music and our instrument. Furthermore, for the purpose of learning, it is important that we learn to listen analytically, to grasp clearly what we are hearing and how it is being produced. When attending live performances, the visual element is helpful in this respect. Recordings, on the other hand, offer the opportunity to listen to a single passage repeatedly, in order to memorize it or write it down, a process known as transcription.
To execute what we would like to play, most of us need to do an extensive amount of practicing. In drumming, the material we practice can be divided into three general areas. The first are the purely technical patterns which we must learn to physically play our instruments, sources of which include Stick Control, the rudiments, or Drumming Patterns, the latter which identifies the system underlying (and relating) snare drum, drumset and rhythmic patterns. (It is essential, however, that one always chooses the technical patterns one practices in order to achieve a consciously chosen musical end, that one never treats the mastery of a particular technical pattern as an end in itself.)
The second area of practice involves learning both the specific vocabularies of the musical styles we enjoy, such as the ostinato patterns associated with styles such as jazz, rock, bossa-nova, etc. (also detailed in Drumming Patterns), and the specific vocabularies of the particular drummers we admire (which may be grasped through a combination of analytical listening, the study of live performances, and transcription).
The third area of practice involves developing music reading skills, sources for which include Ted Reed's Syncopation, the various classical and rudimental snare drum etudes available, and the interpretative reading of drum "charts" for large groups or unusual compositions.
The third means of musical development, playing, may at first seem to be the final goal. It is, however, both the end and an essential part of the means. Playing provides a barometer of our progress, and develops the essential skill of integrating all of our knowledge into a personal style. Most professional drummers consider their playing to be a process as well as a product, and the bandstand to be their main learning ground. Many famous musicians developed their innovative styles as a creative response to the musical ideas initiated on the bandstand by their band mates. The earlier in a musician's development this process begins, the better.
To link theory with practice should be every drummer's constant goal: to analyze and synthesize the differences and similarities among technical patterns, rhythmic patterns, and musical styles. By interrelating the knowledge and skills gained from listening, practicing and playing, each activity will not only bring about its own direct results, but will reinforce and make possible the results achievable in the others, and in combination will lead inevitably to our final goal: the making of the best music of which we are capable.
(This article is adapted from Appendix 3 of "Drumming Patterns," a 176 page book detailing the system underlying rhythm and technique, available for $28 postpaid through Drumstroke Publications, PO Box 856-C, New York, NY 10014-0856, or through Jamey Aebersold Jazz Aides.)