Scarecrow Press
Pages: 172
•
Trim: 7¼ x 10
978-0-8108-8695-7 • Paperback • December 2013 • $66.00 • (£51.00)
978-0-8108-8696-4 • eBook • December 2013 • $62.50 • (£48.00)
Matt Dean is a professional drummer who records and tours with artists in numerous genres, as well as writing for music publications around the world. He is author of The Drum: A History (Scarecrow Press, 2011) and publishes a blog through his website, www.mattdeanworld.co.uk.
Preface
Acknowledgments
1 Practice Strategies
Secret 1: Time Management
Secret 2: Practice Diary
Secret 3: Record Yourself
Secret 4: Rhythm Then Orchestration
Secret 5: Add a Note
Secret 6: Looping
Secret 7: Don’t Forget to Breathe
Secret 8: Best Sticking
Secret 9: Avoid the Rut—How to Find Inspiration
Secret 10: Play More with Less
2 Technique Strategies
Secret 11: Play without Tension
Secret 12: The Bounce
Secret 13: Which Grip?
Secret 14: Fundamental Bass Techniques
Secret 15: Nature’s Way
3 Timing Strategies
Secret 16: Developing Your Internal Metronome
Secret 17: Master of the Metronome
Secret 18: Find Your Achilles’ Heel
Secret 19: Swinging
Secret 20: Odd Time
4 Accuracy Strategies
Secret 21: Locked Limbs
Secret 22: Speed Bursts
5 Equipment Strategies
Secret 23: Choosing Drums
Secret 24: Choosing Cymbals
Secret 25: Choosing Drumsticks
Secret 26: Tuning—The Black Art
Secret 27: Eliminating Snare Buzz
Secret 28: Getting the Right Snare Sound for Each Song
Secret 29: Essential Equipment
Secret 30: Embracing Technology
6 Health Strategies
Secret 31: Protecting Your Greatest Instrument
Secret 32: Looking After Your Back
Secret 33: Optimizing Setup and Seat Position
Secret 34: Potential Health Risks
7 Preparation Strategies
Secret 35: Writing Charts Quickly
Secret 36: Nailing the Audition
Secret 37: Financial Planning
8 Marketability Strategies
Secret 38: Learn All Styles to a Passable Level
Secret 39: Focus Your Efforts
Secret 40: Promoting Yourself
Secret 41: Maximize Your Employability
Secret 42: Keeping the Gigs—Beyond Drumming
9 Recording Strategies
Secret 43: Play Less
Secret 44: Playing for the Song
Secret 45: Achieving a Great Tone
Secret 46: Mix Yourself
10 Performance Strategies
Secret 47: Warm-up and Gig Preparation
Secret 48: Stage Fright
Secret 49: Believe in Yourself
11 Soloing Strategies
Secret 50: Soloing with a Theme
Secret 51: Odd Numbered Groupings
Secret 52: Jumping into the Abyss—Improvising
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
A professional drummer, Dean offers a practical, succinct guide for drummers and other instrumentalists, and also for educators, composers, arrangers, and recording/production professionals. This book is part of the 'Music Secrets for the Advanced Musician' series, which has also dealt with clarinet, oboe, and saxophone. In the present volume, most of the 52 'secrets' (a chapter is devoted to each) pertain to drumset-specific concepts: practicing, techniques, accuracy, equipment, recording strategies, and soloing. Other chapters will be helpful for non-drummers as well (though the author approaches the subject through a percussive lens). Topics here include timing strategies, health strategies (posture, hearing protection, relaxed playing), career planning and preparation (finances, audition tips), marketability and entrepreneurship (self-promotion, versatility), and various performance-related issues (e.g., stage fright). Dean has a knack for explaining techniques, concepts, and methods in a style that is accessible, concise, and to the point. For example, he describes effective practice methods in terms of 'SMART' goals, i.e., goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based. Other helpful topics include chart-writing skills and fluency, techniques for balancing/aligning the hands and feet ('locked limbs'), and concepts/methods for creative metronome usage and inspired phrasing. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers.
— Choice Reviews
To give it its full title, 52 Performance Strategies For the Modern Player. However, 'Advanced' drummers can always learn something, but actually the book has a much wider reach to intermediate or even beginner drummers. . . .Dean touches on a surprisingly wide range of subjects from grips, strokes and technique to good time and taste, from choosing gear, writing charts and auditioning to business and self-promotion, from health and well-being to psychological issues, finishing up with strategies for effective soloing.
— Rhythm Magazine