Drumming terms i like
Pocket - The best drummers can anticipate the areas where they may be tempted to rush or slow down based on how busy the beat is, and actively counteracting that. That intentional effort to stay on tempo while bringing style to the groove, is playing in the pocket.
Dancing - ‘dancing’ on cymbals is a skill used more in the gospel drumming world. A player will introduce rhythmic ideas across their cymbal rack before playing the main beat. Cymbal dancing requires a lot of attention to detail on accents and cymbal selection, to help bring out the most important ideas of the next big beat.
Ghosting - Ghosting is when a percussionist, or any player really, moves their body as if they were playing the full beat but only actually plays a few notes. Playing ghost notes on a drum set requires the ability to focus on the initiation and pausing of the muscles in your thighs and shoulders.
Misconceptions -
One thing that can sometimes bother me, is when people say that drummers can’t play anything else and that’s why they play drums….When in actuality, percussionists can play many different drums and accessory instruments. Drummers have to learn how to apply so many techniques across the board its insane.
I remember in my Middle School band class, my director moved all the kids who couldn't play their wind instrument to the percussion section because he thought it would be easier for them. Now that I do drum corps and spend my entire summer around high-level percussionists, I recognize that drumming requires some of the most discipline and focus out of all the instrument families. Good drummers are certainly nothing to scoff at.
ReplyDeleteI'd say the notion that drummers can't play any other instruments just because they are drummers is definitely laughable. In terms of "ghosting", I have also seen this practice used when performing on MPC-like hardware ("drum machines").
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