What's New? ... 29th January 2012 ....
I've been busy and have posted some original works on YouTube. Over the last few days I have blown the dust off of music I've composed and recorded over the last four decades, spiffed them up with a bit of remastering and combined them with some art and photography. I'd love you to go have a listen :) ...
The Melbourne Musos YouTube Channel
The Composer Series
John Cage - four easy pieces!
This episode of The Drum Show discusses the the work of John Cage and the influence and legacy he has left on so many aspects of contemporary musical thought. The three main periods of his career are discussed which includes the Prepared Piano, the piece "Amores", Chance Music, (including Brian Eno's Bloom phone app) and of course his best known work 4' 33".
Cage 1 of 4
Cage 2 of 4
Cage 3 of 4
Cage 4 of 4
Did you learn something from this? Then a gold coin donation would be as cheap as a chip :)
The revenge of the attacking New Music !!!! - "The Minimalists"
This episode of the Drum Show deals with the Minimalist school of composers with a study and discussion on the two leading composers attributed to this style, Phillip Glass and Steve Reich. The techniques these composers used such as Phasing, Augmentation, Polyrhythms, Paradiddles, Hemiolas, Ostinato and the concept of "Notes within Notes" are all discussed.
Watch The Minimalists
A minimalist donation would mean that you agree with the principle of someone getting paid for their work :)
New Music Attacks Again !!!! - "Stravinsky"
This episode of the Drum Show is dedicated to not only one of my favorite composers Igor Stravinsky, but to one of my favorite pieces of music "Le Sacre du Printemps" ... The polyrhythms, polymetres, odd time signatures ... my God, what was this man thinking!!!??? I finished this on Xmas Day 2011 ... Merry Xmas Igor :)
Watch Stravinsky
A donation would mean that things you watch here are not worth-less! :)
New Music Attacks!!!! - "Varese"
Edgard Varese is often referred to as the "mad professor" of 20th Century Music. He coined the term "Organized Sound" and the famous quote ...
"The present day composer refuses to die!".
Widely regarded as the "father" of electronic music, I have prepared four pieces of drumset music in the spirit of and gleaned from studying Varese' work. A tip of the hat to "Octandre" "Ionisation" "Density 21.5" and "Poeme Electronique".
Watch Varese
Donate to prevent Drummerland implementing Austerity measures!
The return of the son of New Music!!! - "Debussy"
This show is about Claude Debussy.
Carrying on from using triggers on the tom toms to trigger notes and samples, I have used the technology to trigger the Whole Tone Scale that permeates so much of his work as well as tuning my piccolo toms to the G minor pentatonic scale, incorporating Polyrhythms, Polymetres and Double Bass Drum work to create a series of soundscapes that hopefully evoke the "atmospheric" quality of this influential composer's work.
Watch Debussy
Please make a donation in order to keep this work viable, useful and accessible to all; a dollar or two for each download would be greatly appreciated.
The Son of New Music!! - "Shostakovich"
I've made this show in dedication to Russian Composer Dmitri Shostakovich.
The show details his life, times and tribulations as well as talking about his four note motif which appears in so much of his work.
Carrying on from using triggers on the tom toms to trigger notes and samples, I have used the technology this time to trigger the four Shostakovich note motif to create drumset music in the spirit of one of the great composers of the 20th Century.
Watch Shostakovich
It's important to make a donation
New Music! - "Trigger Happy"
Trigger Happy is a series of nine musical vignettes that depict the clash between cultures, the futility and ultimate destructive nature of unresolved differences with a hope that peace can develop from acceptance and a determined effort to cure the virus of prejudice.
The title is a play on words used to describe the nature of the music as well as the way in which it is realized, the use of drum "triggers" on four of the tom toms to trigger specific notes and instrument samples.
Watch Trigger Happy, make my day!
A donation will rid the guilt and enhance the enjoyment :)
From Show 501, I've been going with a back to basics approach aligning the shows with my Drumset Manual Series, so ...
BUY THE BOOKS then watch the show and follow along ....
Snare Drum Book ... HANDS OF STEEL
... revised and updated!
The book deals with the full use of paradiddle inversions, the single tap, double tap and press, flams, drags, ruffs and rolls, full use of Moeller whip strokes, Gladstone finger control along with extensive use of dynamic levels along with odd times (27/8 ??) and odd note groupings as well as a collection of 16 orchestral snare drum solos for concerts and recitals.
I started out by writing a "homage" to a long out of print paradiddle book by jazz great Dave Tough, but then I went bananas! It has become an advanced book beginning at Grade Five level (VCE/HSC equivalent) and moving on to University and Tertiary levels.
Think of Stone, Morello, Tough, Wilcoxin and Cirone and your on the right track!
Click here for the Drum and Guitar Books page.
The DRUM SHOW Curriculum ...
I have updated, rejigged and augmented my Drumset Syllabus and Manuals and they are now available for sale on this website, everything you see on The Drum Show can be sourced back to these books.
Back in 1995, I wrote the first Australasian based drumset syllabus and book series with a graded approach ... this is how they work ...
Preliminary: Getting started with basic Reading, Rudiments and Rhythm
Grade One: The main beats and rhythms
Grade Two: Around the drums and stand alone drum solos
Grade Three: Getting Funky (equivalent to most TAFE Course levels)
Grade Four: Advancing Jazz, Latin and Rock Styles
Grade Five: Advanced Rudiments and Odd Times & Note groupings (equivalent to VCE/HSC level)
Grade Six: Polyrhythms, Odd Time, World Drumming (equivalent to VCE/HSC level)
Grade Seven: Advanced Hand, Orchestral and Drumline techniques (equivalent to University level)
Grade Eight: Melodic Drumset Music and Advanced Concepts (equivalent to University level)
Performer Level: The "Open End" of Melodic Solo Drum Music (Bachelor/Doctorate level)
The syllabus has been endorsed by Drumming greats Billy Cobham, Dom Famularo and the Australian Chapter of the Percussive Arts Society (PAS). The syllabus has been used throughout Australia, New Zealand and South-East Asia.
My Drum and Guitar Books
MUSIC
Symphony No.1 in C
4th Movement
"The Inner Child" - a ballet in three movements
1st Movement
3rd Movement
"Orchestral Oddities"
String Quartet 1st Movt.
Babel (for Orchestra)
Threnody (for piano)
Welcome to the website, come in and look around .... :)
Drop me a line!
