Punctuation for drummers

The Elephant Drums teaching method focuses on learning to play drums within the context of practical musical applictions for drumming. There is not much point in being a player of amazing drumming technique without being a player of fantastic musical ability too. We strive towards both of course, but musicality is the top priority.

Drums are best played within the context of other musical instruments. Solo drumming is good to a certain degree, but the drums really come alive when they are set in their proper musical context.

Music as conversation

In spoken or written language there are disctinctive characteristics – e.g. intonation, meaning, exclamations, phrasing, instructions, etc… The rich tapestry of language is very similar to music in many ways. We can think of music as conversation. Musical instruments interact with each other, they communicate, they tell stories. Sometimes they speak out on their own, sometimes they are a chorus of lots of intruments working together.

When we have a conversation we don’t just go on talking non-stop. There are natural pauses in speech. This can be used to emphasise a point, or to add dramatic effect, or simply just to let the listener know you’ve finished your sentence.

In written language these ‘pauses’ are notated in a physical form – punctuation.

Punctuation in drumming

This is an idea for the practical musical application of drumming exercises, such as rudiments.

The subject of punctuation in drumming is far more wide-reaching than the scope of this blog post will allow. We’ll revisit this topic again in a future blog to tackle the subject from a different angle. This is not the bigger picture (it’s just a hint at the possibilities)…!

The flam is one of the first rudiments you’ll come across. When you play a flam, the first note is a fraction of a second out of sync with the second note, creating a sort of double-hit. Play the second note as an accent (as shown below):

The flam can be played as a right-handed accent or the other way round. Both options are shown above.

Back to the idea of punctuation. Use the flam as an exclamation mark! Make an abrupt point on the drums. Say ! with a flam.

It works really well as a sudden stop, followed by a pause. Just like in conversation, if you make a key point you would pause for a reaction. It’s the same in drumming (although the ‘reaction’ is usually a planned one, rather than a spontaneous one).

Other ‘exclamation marks’ for drumming can include accents, cymbal chokes, press rolls and big sudden dynamics.

Have a go – see what you come up with.

Until next time…