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An interesting article to share:
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The Art of Transcribing by Steve Fidyk
Transcribing can improve your reading, dictation skills, and help stimulate creativity
A few years ago, I was frustrated because I was aspiring to be a jazz drummer but I had no focus. I was coming from a very structured "method book intensive" background. I knew the language, but I didn't understand how to bridge the information to the music. The turning point came when I was on a gig and the tenor player turned to me and asked for an "Elvin feel" on the next tune. I was struck with horror because I didn't have enough conceptual knowledge about Elvin Jones to capture the spirit of his style. At this stage of my development, I lacked conceptual knowledge concerning many master drummers.
In order to evolve as musicians, it is essential to digest concepts and techniques of the great drummers. Transcribing, analyzing, listening to recordings, and practicing transcriptions can help increase your understanding of a particular player's style in greater depth. For example, when listening to a piece of music for the first time, you might extract one lick or groove from it with the human ear. Through repetitive listening, you may extract two or three. By transcribing the piece in its entirety, you can begin to juxtapose any phrase on the page.
By drawing on influences and assimilating this information, you will begin to realize how and why these ideas are played. Let us compare this concept of learning from transcriptions to that of an archeologist who studies material evidence of human life in past ages. An archeologist who has found the skeletal remains of a person from three hundred years ago can only learn so much about that person's life and culture. If the archeologist found the body with its skin in tact, he would have more information about that person to study and research. He would have even more information if of course the person was alive to talk to and learn from. This analogy makes sense when compared to studying transcriptions.
A transcription alone represents 25% of the puzzle. It is a document for us to practice and digest at our own pace. A transcription with recording represents 50% (Aural aid). A transcription, recording, and video represents 75% (Aural and visual aid). Experiencing the player in a live situation is the best source for information stimulation. Below are three four measure solo examples rooted in the bebop tradition. Immediately following these examples, I included various solo applications to apply to each four measure phrase.
Solo Applications:
1. First, practice each example on a single plane (ie. a drum pad or snare drum to ensure accuracy of note values).
2. Play each four measure example as written adding the following hi hat ostinatos.
3. Next, try juxtaposing each example by starting the four measure phrase on beat one of measures two, three, and four. This is the way example two looks when the four measure phrase starts on beat one of measure two.
Shifting the departure points for each example makes the four measure phrase sound and feel completely different. Each example has a total of sixteen departure points to choose from: four beats in each measure X four measures = sixteen beats. This "circular fours" approach will allow you to come up with new solo phrases based on the original example, sixteen possibilities in all! Now try playing example two starting on beat one of measure three and then beat one of measure four. Next try incorporating the hi hat ostinatos from above.
The next tier is to combine examples: Example one, measures one and two, with Example three, measures three and four.
Finally, you can expand each note value within the four measure phrase. For example, written quarter notes would become half notes, eighth notes would become quarter notes and eighth note triplets would become quarter note triplets. By expanding each note value, the four measure phrase now becomes an eight measure phrase.
In addition to expanding the phrase, you can also compress the phrase. For example, written quarter notes would become eighth notes, eighth notes would become sixteenth notes, and eighth note triplets would become sixteenth note triplets. By compressing each note value, the four measure phrase now becomes a two measure phrase.
The combination possibilities are endless! Mix it up and have fun. Try devoting a portion of your practice time to transcribing and playing those transcriptions with the recordings. Do not limit your listening or transcribing to one style of music. The more musical experiences you have to draw from, the more you will be called upon to play. Try combining transcriptions from different idioms to come up with a completely unique style, your own! To approach transcribing from this angle serves as a tool to develop a better time feel and a sense of that drummer's phrasing. It can also improve your reading, dictation skills, and help stimulate creativity. In essence, you are using that particular drummer's ideas (based on the transcription with its modifications), to orchestrate your style. Good luck!
Steve Fidyk has performed and or recorded with Michael Abene, Mark Taylor, New York Voices, Arturo Sandoval, The Capital Bones, Mike Tomaro, Chris Vadala. He is the director of drum set studies at The University of Maryland, College Park. Fidyk has written educational articles for Talking Drums Magazine, Percussive Notes, and Modern Drummer. Fidyk has contributed transcripts to the Hal Leonard Magazine, “Drum Standards,” and Peter Erskine’s book “The Drum Perspective.”
http://www.stevefidyk.com/education/edu-transcribing.php
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The Art of Transcribing by Steve Fidyk
Transcribing can improve your reading, dictation skills, and help stimulate creativity
A few years ago, I was frustrated because I was aspiring to be a jazz drummer but I had no focus. I was coming from a very structured "method book intensive" background. I knew the language, but I didn't understand how to bridge the information to the music. The turning point came when I was on a gig and the tenor player turned to me and asked for an "Elvin feel" on the next tune. I was struck with horror because I didn't have enough conceptual knowledge about Elvin Jones to capture the spirit of his style. At this stage of my development, I lacked conceptual knowledge concerning many master drummers.
In order to evolve as musicians, it is essential to digest concepts and techniques of the great drummers. Transcribing, analyzing, listening to recordings, and practicing transcriptions can help increase your understanding of a particular player's style in greater depth. For example, when listening to a piece of music for the first time, you might extract one lick or groove from it with the human ear. Through repetitive listening, you may extract two or three. By transcribing the piece in its entirety, you can begin to juxtapose any phrase on the page.
By drawing on influences and assimilating this information, you will begin to realize how and why these ideas are played. Let us compare this concept of learning from transcriptions to that of an archeologist who studies material evidence of human life in past ages. An archeologist who has found the skeletal remains of a person from three hundred years ago can only learn so much about that person's life and culture. If the archeologist found the body with its skin in tact, he would have more information about that person to study and research. He would have even more information if of course the person was alive to talk to and learn from. This analogy makes sense when compared to studying transcriptions.
A transcription alone represents 25% of the puzzle. It is a document for us to practice and digest at our own pace. A transcription with recording represents 50% (Aural aid). A transcription, recording, and video represents 75% (Aural and visual aid). Experiencing the player in a live situation is the best source for information stimulation. Below are three four measure solo examples rooted in the bebop tradition. Immediately following these examples, I included various solo applications to apply to each four measure phrase.
Solo Applications:
1. First, practice each example on a single plane (ie. a drum pad or snare drum to ensure accuracy of note values).
2. Play each four measure example as written adding the following hi hat ostinatos.
3. Next, try juxtaposing each example by starting the four measure phrase on beat one of measures two, three, and four. This is the way example two looks when the four measure phrase starts on beat one of measure two.
Shifting the departure points for each example makes the four measure phrase sound and feel completely different. Each example has a total of sixteen departure points to choose from: four beats in each measure X four measures = sixteen beats. This "circular fours" approach will allow you to come up with new solo phrases based on the original example, sixteen possibilities in all! Now try playing example two starting on beat one of measure three and then beat one of measure four. Next try incorporating the hi hat ostinatos from above.
The next tier is to combine examples: Example one, measures one and two, with Example three, measures three and four.
Finally, you can expand each note value within the four measure phrase. For example, written quarter notes would become half notes, eighth notes would become quarter notes and eighth note triplets would become quarter note triplets. By expanding each note value, the four measure phrase now becomes an eight measure phrase.
In addition to expanding the phrase, you can also compress the phrase. For example, written quarter notes would become eighth notes, eighth notes would become sixteenth notes, and eighth note triplets would become sixteenth note triplets. By compressing each note value, the four measure phrase now becomes a two measure phrase.
The combination possibilities are endless! Mix it up and have fun. Try devoting a portion of your practice time to transcribing and playing those transcriptions with the recordings. Do not limit your listening or transcribing to one style of music. The more musical experiences you have to draw from, the more you will be called upon to play. Try combining transcriptions from different idioms to come up with a completely unique style, your own! To approach transcribing from this angle serves as a tool to develop a better time feel and a sense of that drummer's phrasing. It can also improve your reading, dictation skills, and help stimulate creativity. In essence, you are using that particular drummer's ideas (based on the transcription with its modifications), to orchestrate your style. Good luck!
Steve Fidyk has performed and or recorded with Michael Abene, Mark Taylor, New York Voices, Arturo Sandoval, The Capital Bones, Mike Tomaro, Chris Vadala. He is the director of drum set studies at The University of Maryland, College Park. Fidyk has written educational articles for Talking Drums Magazine, Percussive Notes, and Modern Drummer. Fidyk has contributed transcripts to the Hal Leonard Magazine, “Drum Standards,” and Peter Erskine’s book “The Drum Perspective.”
http://www.stevefidyk.com/education/edu-transcribing.php
