Friday, May 04, 2012

HFS, part two

Last time I was moved to so eloquent a title I had just received the massive Paiste 22" 602 dark ride; today I received a massive library of 180+ dense pages in three volumes by Marvin Dahlgren, newly available from Really Good Music Publishing. I'm just trying to get my head around the enormity of what I'm dealing with here, but here's my immediate impression:


Drum Set Control by Marvin Dahlgren

This is the one I was looking for when I turned these up. It mostly consists of studies for getting around the drums in 8th notes, triplets, and 16th notes, in singles and rudimental stickings. It's sort of a Joe Cusatis' Rudimental Studies on steroids, with incorporated bass drum, and the distinct mathematical/logical bent you would expect.


One thing: I'm happy to report that Dahlgren's names for made-up rudiments are no better than mine; his 5-note paradiddle is called "par-e-a-diddle", which is arguably worse than my "paradiddle-a". I guess we could compromise and put the 'e' sound into mine, and call it "paradiddle-y". 






Variations on Three Camps, Book 1 by Marvin Dahlgren

I was never aware of this, possibly because it appears to have been pulled directly out of the author's personal library. Each page is notated by hand, signed by Dahlgren, many handwritten notes. 60ish pages of Three Camps rendered in a variety of different stickings, meters, and rhythms. It has a little bit of the feel of a Bhagavad Gita of drumming- many years of accumulated materials, gathered from many sources.

There's much too much here to summarize, but he applies a number of rudiments and stickings to the piece, and translates it into 3/4 and 5/4, in triplets and 16th notes.


Two more books after the break:






Complete Text for the Rock and Roll Drummer by Marvin Dahlgren and Elliot Fine

Another one I had never heard of, but evidently it's a classic in its own right. It's the most approachable of the three. It covers all sorts of practical coordination within a 4/4 and 12/8 rock feel, done in that familiar Dahlgren & Fine style. A huge amount of material here, but I would have to play through some of it to get an idea of its usefulness; I don't think it will replace more common rock texts, but it would make a good supplement.






This is a good time to mention this book, which I've been meaning to get to reviewing:

Moves and Grooves by Elliot Fine

I've had this sitting around for awhile, and have not had the nerve to crack it. It's sort of a more practical version of 4-Way Coordination. Most of the exercises are written in 2/4, with the idea that you combine them to make 4/4 patterns. Fine has developed the 4-limb drumset staff you probably are familiar with from 4WC, using different note heads to indicate different drums/cymbals. 152 pages.

Order from Pender's Music

1 comment:

Craig said...

Thanks for the posts about Marv's books. I just picked up the 3 Camps book and am thinking about the Drum Set Control book as well.

Side note: I saw Marv a month or two ago out at a jazz club in Minneapolis. He was there to check out a couple of his former students playing. The whole audience gave Marv a standing ovation when his presence was announced from the bandstand. It was a cool night.