I knew a few months ago that I was going to have to travel to NY for business for a week in December. Last time I traveled I was near Chicago and got to hang with Rick from the boards and we even got to play a bit together at his place on his lovely DW’s. (thanks Rick!).
This time around I was on a quest to find a way to make the travel ‘suck less’. One of my all time most inspiring drummers is Billy Martin from Medeski, Martin & Wood. While studying his playing over the last 10 years, I’ve been able to overcome my old Rock instincts to play at FFF all the time. I’m consistently inspired by his playing and his approach. I decided that the best case scenario would be to get a lesson with Billy Martin. I dropped him an email and didn’t really expect to hear back. About 3 weeks later I get an email from his student list posting times available in December between tours and things. Sure enough one day worked for me and I grabbed up 2 hour long slots back to back. I was thrilled!
Gracious host
Billy was a gracious host and was warm and welcoming. My goals going in were to be challenged and to get new perspectives on my playing and approach. I wanted to try to identify the conceptual blockers that are between me and more enlightened playing. It’s not about chops for me (though I could always us more tools in the bucket) but more about how to apply myself and to play more organically and more musically.
After arriving and getting a warm greeting, we went back to his practice room in an outbuilding behind his home. It’s December so he had a lovely wood burning stove stoked up and keeping the space toasty. The room was minimalistic and earthy with a slightly Asian aesthetic. In the center of the room was a 4 piece set of drums. High-hats and one cymbal. The snare(14), rack (12), floor(16) were old Rogers drums, and the bass drum was an amazing primitive drum of some type, though certainly not a regular kick drum. It was a clean and inspiring space.
Wrong and strong
After taking a minute to say hello to his drums and warm up a bit. Billy asked me to improvise a 5 minute solo. “Say something with the drums. Don’t be shy. I don’t care if you play something wrong, play wrong and strong, there is no wrong.“ This reminds me of T Monk. Much of what Thelonious played could have been considered bad playing or just mis-formed chords. But of course in the context of what he did, it was perfect. His wrong notes were the new ‘right’ notes. Wrong and strong baby, play with conviction.
Drum tuning
I always thought that I was comfortable playing with a broad range of tunings. Billy’s snare drum was tuned very low, almost floor-tom range, with the snares very loose. If I would have played this drum anywhere else I would have thought that the owner didn’t know how to tune the thing. I was pleasantly surprised when I played it. It had a meaty ‘clonk’ rim shot but was also very sensitive and pleasing when played with just the tip. It was certainly a drum that you wouldn’t waste your time playing dead center. It’s real tone came out when playing halfway between center and the edge, and from there out to the hoop. I found his kit generally comfortable without any modifications, though this surprised me because I’m usually very picky about my setup.
Since, I’ve spent some time trying to recreate his snare sound on a few drums in my studio while the sound was still fresh in my mind. I have to say I’m getting really hooked on the sound. Though not quite as loose as his. I’m certainly hooked on the feel and overtones. I found it was also easier to play this drum without ear-plugs. I’m a hearing protection junkie, since my days slamming punk rock at obscene volumes, and I have some tinnitus in my left ear so I think I have a natural tendency to crank my snare up past where it should be in order to ‘cut’ through my hearing protection. Playing Billy’s snare, tuned in the extreme, and still sounding awesome has opened my ears to this.
Thinking compositionally
We discussed how I practice improvising and how I usually break my routine up. One big insight was that I tend to practice too long on something. I would improvise for 45 minutes to an hour. Sure in an hour of improvising there’s going to be some cool stuff in there, and some junk. But the goal is to be able to conjure a meaningful composition within just 5 minutes. Something with an identifiable structure to the listener. Then work into longer compositions after I can consistently create in a 5 minute space.
We decided to focus on my structure and composition, where I needed the most work. We worked on soloing in a simple ABA form, where the B section was completely different from the A section.. .not just a subtle change but a 180 degree change. And then back to the A section in approximately a 5 minute canvas of time. I struggled a bit remembering what I was doing in the A section when I was trying to return. Billy’s suggestion was to remember the ‘feeling’ of what I was doing and not the exact notes or groove. It’s something that I’ll be working on for a while I’m sure.
Billy’s book
We spent the last half hour or so working from Billy’s book Claves of African Origin. I had been working through some parts of the book on my own. I’ve been especially intrigued by the clave notation which can be used to transcribe a clave pattern with associated lead foot (bass) secondary foot (high hat) and with high and low counter rhythm elements with the left hand. It’s a deceptively easy notation system which is equally effective at notating a general groove as well as it is clave rhythms.
The claves in his book (there are hundreds) are really sensual when thought of more as rhythmic harmonies than as ‘exercises’. I can see how internalizing them will expand my internal core rhythmic palate. I think there can be a tendency to try to ‘get through’ a book. This book is more of a grab bag, that I can tap into and pull something out to examine and internalize. I’ve found much pleasure since working on just one clave rhythm for an entire practice session.
Going forward
Billy really loaded me up with stuff to do, since we both knew it may be a long time till I get to go back. I’m feeling energized and excited about the things I need to work on. I’ve started transcribing some clave rhythms from selected tunes into the new notation and finding connections. I’ve been working on recording 5 minute improvisations and am seeing progress every time. I’ve also been able to think more critically about what I need to work on to get where I want to go. It some sense the main thread is ‘just go do it’ and ‘trust your ears, follow what’s good’. I always knew that I could be better at playing compositionally, but I kind of assumed that it would just come. I’m now realizing that if I can identify a gap, it’s worth working on that.
The journey never ends!
Here are some pics of my clave transcriptions using Billy's notation:
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