Tweak. Adjust. Edit. Manipulate

Tweak. Adjust. Edit. Manipulate.

by Mark Shelton

Although you are playing the exact rhythms and pitches, a percussion part might need some fine-tuning before it conforms properly. Whether a part comes from a carefully notated score or a rhythm pattern sung by the director, it is your responsibility to endeavor to weave assigned parts correctly into the entire musical fabric.

Correct Instrument 

Tambourine, tamborim, tambour, tam-tam. Although the spellings are similar, each of those ‘tam’ words refers to a different percussion instrument. Your seemingly out-of-place part might not be fitting because you have chosen the wrong instrument. Percussion names can be confusing. For example: timbales is the French term for timpani, while timbales also refers to the single-headed, shallow-shell drums commonly played in salsa music. A quick search of the web or consulting a dictionary of percussion terms will steer you to the appropriate instrument.

Proper Tone 

German silver or beryllium copper jingles? Wooden shell or metal? Wire brushes or nylon? Percussionists are blessed with the ability to change tones to better fit our sound into a musical passage. It can be as easy as striking a snare drum in a different area of the head or using a harder timpani mallet to produce the appropriate timbre. Allow your ear and musical instincts to guide you as you search for that 'just right' tone color. I will often 'audition' different timbres during a rehearsal to determine which one works best for a particular musical moment.

Ideal Dynamic

Finding the appropriate volume level so that your part fits into the overall balance of instruments requires a critical ear along with dynamic control of your instrument. Listen to the total sound of the ensemble and imagine the ideal volume for your part BEFORE you enter. Try to play at that level and evaluate if your dynamic is blending correctly into the mix.  

Accurate Note Lengths

Notated percussion parts are sometimes written with imprecise note lengths. If your part was conceived to double rhythmically with another instrument, the parts might not be matching due to inaccurate notation. This problem is most obvious with percussion instruments that are capable of long sustain such as concert bass drum, crash cymbals, timpani, and triangle.

If you suspect this problem, you can either figure out the proper note lengths by listening or by taking a look at the correctly notated score.

Octave Placement

A number of the definite-pitched percussion instruments transpose to a different octave than what is notated. This practice is done to avoid excessive use of ledger lines. Timpani sound an octave lower than written, while the xylophone soars an octave higher than notated, and the glockenspiel rings two octaves above the written notes. It is possible for a composer or arranger to unknowingly score these instruments in the wrong octave. Experiment with adjusting octaves to place a part in a characteristic register.

Effects

A big dose of elevator-shaft reverb on a single woodblock shot can be super tasty, but the same instrument without the effect can sound awkward in the same musical passage. Acoustic sounds can be transformed significantly with audio signal processing. Without the proper effect, an acoustic instrument might seem out-of-place. If your 'dry' acoustic instrument tone isn't making it in the mix, consider playing an appropriate digital sample.

The Last Resort

On rare occasions, you will encounter percussion parts that seemed like a good concept in the head of the writer or producer, but the idea just doesn’t work when played in context. Such a part will defy your best efforts to make fit. Consider rewriting or deleting.  

Whether you are assigned a lead line or a simple background rhythm, use your critical listening skills to evaluate your part and apply the treatments that will best serve the music.  

(c) 2020  Mark Shelton Productions / Percussion For Worship

This article previously appeared in Worship Musician magazine www.worshipmusician.com

Get Creative!

 Get Creative!

by Mark Shelton

The Creator of the universe placed creativity within mankind and God expects us to use this amazing gift. Are you exercising your creative musical skills? Do you have a growth plan? The following music creation projects are designed to challenge and sharpen your improvisation and composition prowess.

Generate

If you are new to creating personal music, you might wonder how to get the initial material that you can develop further. One method is to simply improvise. If you've allowed yourself to make up music in the moment, you are an improviser. 

Take the freedom and fun of improvisation into your practice session. Experiment with different time signatures, make up melodies built on exotic scales, create a polyrhythmic pattern, play outside of metric restrictions, or you can improvise within your comfort zone. Just get your autoschediasm going!

Pay attention to your noodling and when one of your spontaneous snippets of sound strikes you favorably, STOP!  Try to recreate it immediately. When the musical tidbit can be played to your liking, capture the brilliant fragment by notation or on an audio recording. As you continue to collect musical gems from your improvisations, you will accumulate a lick library with material for potential development.

Now that you're generating original musical ideas, it's time to move further with these next creative exercises.

Create A Groove

As a percussionist, you’re probably experienced with weaving your parts into the rhythmic ideas of your groove colleagues. Armed with that background, try creating a multi-part groove. If all the parts suddenly pop into your brain at the same time, that’s a blessing and a time-saver. If that doesn’t always happen, here’s  an exercise to guide you:

1. Decide on the number of parts for your groove. (You can add or delete during the process.) My example contains four parts.

2. Compose or choose a main skeletal rhythm—maybe one from your lick library. 

My example main skeletal rhythm is notated in Figure 1. The skeletal rhythm is split between two parts in Figure 2.

3. Experiment to add other parts to complement the skeletal rhythm. See Figure 3.  

If you have access to a sequencer, you can enter the parts to hear how the rhythms interact. Keezy Drummer is a simple sequencer app that I use. 

4. Once you are satisfied with how the rhythms interact, assign the parts to various timbres. Consider spreading the parts across a broad spectrum of frequencies and/or contrasting timbres. Check out Figure 4 to see my example. My groove is orchestrated for one person playing cajon, maraca, and foot tambourine.

Re-orchestrate  

Continue your creative fun by re-orchestrating your groove. Reassign timbres within a single instrument or assign the parts to a completely different set of instruments.  

In my first re-orchestration example, I have reassigned parts by simply flipping the cajon bass and corner slap rhythms. See Figure 5. The switch makes a big difference.

The cajon-based groove is orchestrated for drum set in Figure 6.

A Little Variety

Develop your ability to create variations on rhythmic themes.  Start with a short rhythm pattern as your theme and create variations around the theme. The ideas below will get you started:

• The main rhythm of a song’s melody or a rhythm pattern from your lick library can be used as your theme.

• Merely changing dynamics can create a variation.

• Shift your theme suddenly (or subtly) to a different time signature. Using my cajon groove as my theme, I created a variation in 12/8 in Figure 7.

• If your theme contains multiple parts, consider dropping some notes to create a linear variation. See example in Figure 8.

• Spice up the theme with ornaments and stroke types such as flams, drags, and buzz strokes.

• Add ghost notes to fill in empty spaces in your theme. 

• Inserting accents might transform your theme into a double-time or half-time feel.

You get the idea. Along with being a creative exercise, sharpening your ability to add variations is a powerful tool when called upon to improvise a solo or to respond to the worship leader's request to "do something to change up the groove."

Use your musical creativity to create something musical.  Frequently.  And have fun.  

Sing skillfully to Him a new song. Play skillfully with a shout of joy.   Psalms 33:3 WEB

Catch a weekly minute of percussion education from Mark's ‘Percussion Tip Tuesday’ on Instagram  www.instagram.com/marksheltonperc

Suspended Cymbal

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