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I often wondered, when I was a young man going to concert, what it took for the huge bands I saw to get the crowd going. Everything seemed magic: the music was great, the performance was energetic, the sound was impeccable and the crowd, oh Man! the crowd was with them heart andRead More

There are some cousins sounds on the drums, some sound sources that are exactly from the same family. Of course, the 2 crashes hanging from their stand on a regular drum set, would be a good example. But the toms, whether you have 2, 3, 4 or more, are also close cousins of eachRead More

In live situation, when the drums are not miked, here’s is what usually happens. We hear the bass drum and snare clear and loud as well as the hi hat if it is played with the shoulder of the stick on the side of the cymbal, or half open in a “whooshy” soundRead More

I am now at the third part of a blog on orchestration. And I want to talk about the idea of developing a beat. I have put as an example a single song sung by Stephan Eicher called “Est it alles”. The drummer for the song is Manu Katche. The whole tune is nothing elseRead More

The drummer is in charge of time keeping. That is the accepted version of the drummer’s role in a band. But the successful drummers understand something else: colors, taste and tone attached to feelings. Orchestration is directly related to that. And tuning the drums is oneRead More

This is a video we did last summer. I already published the promo video and the video of Obladi-Oblada that my son Louis was singing. This one features my daughter Emmi in a fairly modern song that our family has been singing for the last 5 years.Read More

When we look at a drum set we are looking at an orchestra. A percussion orchestra. This blog in several part will be talking about orchestration. The orchestra of the drum set. Let’s start with the snare drum. It is, for the drummer the beginning of everything. We developRead More

Steve Gadd, says composer extraorinaire Paul Simon, has a particularity: while he improvises he can recall a pattern that he just played and play it again exactly the same. It sounds like an obvious thing to do, but when you have the technique that he has, it becomes a veryRead More

I had many blogs on the subject of listening. You can go through some of them if you wish. Let’s put it in a social contest. I have learnt that when someone tells you his problems, it doesn’t mean he wants you to fix them. He might just want to say out loud what isRead More

Change is in the air. The light has changed. The brightness of summer has faded to a warm auburn color. Rain is here. And staying. But people’s lives is also subject to change. A lot of changes. A lot of dramatic changes for some. I know a few people that are struggling.Read More