Thomas Lang matrix sheet

[the skin man]

Has anyone been picking up these matrix sheets that they've been passing out at the Thomas Lang clinics? It seems like dimension 1 is the same as dimension 2. Dimension 1 is all the hand patterns paired with all the foot patterns and dimension 2 is all the foot patterns paired with all the hand patterns. So it seems like it's the same thing for those two groups of exercises.

[komodo]

Not really,as in one the hands keep a constant ostinato and the feet change what their doing,and in the other its the reverse with the feet playing say doubles while the hands change from singles to doubles to paradiddles etc. The second one is much harder in my opinion :P

[the skin man]

Now it makes sense. The third dimension makes no sense to me though, because it diagrams a pattern with pictures of left and right hands and feet but says to play them with a hand ostinato, but it seems impossible to play the hand ostinato if the hands are already involved in doing the hand and foot pattern from the diagram.

[Class A Drummer]

I have never heard of these. Would you be able to post it up here on the forum?

[the skin man]

Would you be able to post it up here on the forum?

I don't have a scanner. Maybe someone who got one of those hand-outs at a clinic can scan it and post it. I'll check and see if I can find a scanner to use.

[Class A Drummer]

I once took a picture with a digital camera and put it up. You should be able to do it too.

[djp132]

Now it makes sense. The third dimension makes no sense to me though, because it diagrams a pattern with pictures of left and right hands and feet but says to play them with a hand ostinato, but it seems impossible to play the hand ostinato if the hands are already involved in doing the hand and foot pattern from the diagram.

This means to play an ostinato with a hand and foot, and then play your groove or other grouping patterns with the remaining limbs.

Example:

right hand on ride
left hand on snare
right foot kick
left foot hat

1. Play single alternating 16ths (grouping one) with the right hand and left foot.
2. Now play paradiddles (grouping 4? dont have the sheet in front of me) with the other two, the left foot and right hand.
3. Now go through ALL of the groupings and combinations

Every "level" adds a new way of combining limbs for full 4-way interdependence. That is if you can get through the whole thing without wanting to rip it up out of frustration. I'm ready to do that and I'm only on the level thats after the one you were referring to before. Layering odd time signatures using the sticking and combination groupings. GRRR!!!

But I will admit, when you finally do get one of those exercises down after struggling with it for so long, its a great feeling.

Derrick

[EternalArcadia]

i little of topic, but was the clinic any good?

just wonderin cus hes gonna be here the 11th.

[the skin man]

was the clinic any good?

It's worth it to see him play. In terms of improving your playing, I'd say there's better ways the spend your time.

[EternalArcadia]

It's worth it to see him play. In terms of improving your playing, I'd say there's better ways the spend your time.

haha, thats pretty funny. but sort of true

[the skin man]

http://img148.imageshack.us/my.php?image=scan0001as5.jpg

I scanned the sheet with a scanner, so hopefully this is legible. How do I get the actual image to appear on the page instead of just a link?

[the skin man]

This means to play an ostinato with a hand and foot, and then play your groove or other grouping patterns with the remaining limbs.

But then, why does the diagram on the left side of the column have pictures of hands and feet in the following order:

LH LF LH RF RH RF RH LF

and on the other side we have following diagram:

RH RF RH LF LH LF LH RF

I guess if you broke it down into four groups, that would be consistent with what you're saying. So, the first is an ostinato with the left hand and the left foot and the patterns in the exercises are played with the right hand and the right foot. And then try all the combinations, I guess.

[the skin man]

Now the 4th dimension makes no sense. What do they mean by hand/foot ostinato? I thought that the 3rd dimension was using a hand/foot ostinato. The 4th dimension seems just like the 3rd dimension except it's adding some stuff from the 2nd and 3rd dimensions.

[djp132]

The 4th dimension is really the same as the third in terms of which limbs are used, you are correct on that. The difference is, in the 4th dimension you start to add different note values. For example:

Right hand and left foot play 16th note singles (1st ostinato) while the left hand and right foot play double paradiddles, but in sixtuplet form. Before all the note duration values were the same, everything was layered 16th notes, just the time signature of the ostinatos changed. Here the actual duration values change.

So in this dimension you'll be playing fivelets, sixtuplets, sevenlets, etc against the original 16th note ostinato.

The fifth dimension is when you put everything together. Groupings, note durations, time signatures, everything.

At least I think this is the way it works, I could be wrong.

Derrick

[Pat Petrillo]

Ah, yes..The Fifth Dimension..!

My favorites are :

"Stone Soul Picnic"
"Aquarius"
"Up, Up, and Away"
Sorry guys...HAD to do it!!

Peace & Love!
Pat

[the skin man]

Right hand and left foot play 16th note singles (1st ostinato) while the left hand and right foot play double paradiddles, but in sixtuplet form. Before all the note duration values were the same, everything was layered 16th notes, just the time signature of the ostinatos changed. Here the actual duration values change.

The sheet uses the terms "full note", "half note" and "triplet". But it doesn't give the note values for the rest of the matrix. So for every "full note" are there 2, 4, 8, or 16 regular notes?

[mind_drummer]

http://img148.imageshack.us/my.php?image=scan0001as5.jpg

I scanned the sheet with a scanner, so hopefully this is legible. How do I get the actual image to appear on the page instead of just a link?

We cant have access to it :-(

[the skin man]

We cant have access to it :-(

If you click on the link it should give you access. And then all you have to do is right click on the image and save it to your desktop. Does it give some message explaining why you can't access it?

[djp132]

I was able to see the image. My only question is, is it legal to have that posted publically?

D

[thebrza]

http://img148.imageshack.us/my.php?image=scan0001as5.jpg

I scanned the sheet with a scanner, so hopefully this is legible. How do I get the actual image to appear on the page instead of just a link?
Oh man, I don't really get how to read that. Can anyone explain quickly? Thanks.

[thebrza]

I was able to see the image. My only question is, is it legal to have that posted publically?

D
When you're not profiting, and especially because it was posted in a drumming related forum with no intention (from what we see in this thread) to a) make money b) take credit other than having scanned it or c) used it in a negative context...then the grounds for legal action would be a joke. Especially since there probably isn't a notice warning not to copy the sheet, and it was handed out for free at a public event.

[the skin man]

My only question is, is it legal to have that posted publically?

it was handed out for free at a public event.

Yeah, that's why I assumed that it would be no big deal to post it, because they passed it out at the clinic to people who hadn't bought the whole package yet. For what it's worth, everyone did pay $10 to see the clinic, so in that sense it's not free, but I figure the whole point of passing it out would be to get people to buy the whole instructional video after they had just gotten a little taste. So now, after posting it here, even more people can get a little taste. If someone knows for sure that it's illegal feel free to chime in. I assumed that it was legal.

[thebrza]

There's something called FAIR USE. In short, you're not doing anything wrong, you're using it for its purpose and educational, and you're not making money from it.

The law is SLIGHTLY bendy like that.

[the skin man]

Oh man, I don't really get how to read that. Can anyone explain quickly?

It looks like you play the first dimension with the hands playing one of the patterns steadily and the feet playing all of the patterns but switching to the next one as you progress through the list. The second dimension is the opposite: the feet remain steady, but the hands change. I didn't post the first two dimensions, but they use the same left/right patterns. In the third dimension, a pattern is played between one hand and one foot and held constant and the other patterns in the list are played over that with the remaining hand/foot combination. I guess you'd have to go through each pattern a bunch of times to get it to the point where it repeats. For example, when playing 3's against 7's, you'd have to play a total of 84 notes to get a complete pattern - 7 times through the 3's pattern or 3 times through the 7's pattern. I still don't really get the 4th dimension.

[thebrza]

skin man, it could be that i just woke up, but i don't understand. dang.

[the skin man]

skin man, it could be that i just woke up, but i don't understand. dang.

The left/right patterns are all the same for the first three dimensions. The only difference is that you play them with different limbs. I didn't post the first dimension, but here's how I think it works: For the 1's part, play this pattern with the hands: RLRLRLRL. Keep this going, but play all the other exercises with your feet. That would including the 1s, the 2s, the 3s, the 4s, etc., etc. But while moving through the 1s, 2s, 3s, and 4s and all the others keep the RLRLRLRL pattern steady with the hands and don't stop. Then change the hand pattern to the 2's pattern which is: RRLLRRLL. Go through all the patterns listed on the feet, but as before, keeping the hand pattern steady. Then do that for all 8 patterns. For dimension 2, do the same thing, but switch the hands with the feet. For dimensions 2, keep the foot pattern steady and go through all the patterns with the hands. For dimension 3, do the same thing but instead of using hand patterns played against foot patterns, use hand/foot patterns played against other hand/foot patterns. For example, on the 1s part play the following pattern: right foot left hand right foot left hand right foot left hand right foot left hand. While that's going on, play the 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s, etc. with the left foot and the right hand and do that for all the combinations. I still don't get the 4th dimension and the fifth dimension isn't listed on that sheet.