bjparadiddle
08-19-2008, 08:19 PM
“Mastering the Tables of Time:” It’s About Time
by Bill Stieger
Let’s say you’re a knowledgeable, fairly competent drummer. You’ve got a decent sense of groove, can read a chart, know your rudiments, and have an overall grasp of the basic techniques needed to become a professional. However, there is something about your playing quite where it needs to be.
You have the chops. You have a blistering double stroke roll, fast feet, plenty of power. But you can’t seem to translate that knowledge into fluid musical expression on the bandstand. Despite spending all that time in the woodshed, you can’t seem to find a musical way to utilize the extensive drumming knowledge you’ve attained.
For any drummer with the aforementioned problems, I would emphatically recommend the drum book “Mastering the Tables of Time,” by David Stanoch (Of course, I’d also recommend a massive collection of recordings by the masters of American music, both serious and popular).
Stanoch, who teaches drums at McNally Smith college of Music in St. Paul, Minnesota, matriculated with some of the finest drum instructors in the U.S.: Elliott Fine, Marvin Dahlgren (both from his home state of Minnesota), and Alan Dawson, the teachers whom he freely admits as influences in his book.
Stanoch’s concept in “Mastering the Tables of Time” was spawned from a quote he read by drumming great, Tony Williams, which Stanoch repeats in his introduction:
“It’s all in time. Don’t do things faster; faster doesn’t get you anywhere. You have to play in time, in context. Pick a meter and play it, double it, then triple it. Do it in eighth-note triplets, sixteenth-notes, sixteenth-note triplets, thirty-second notes, thirty-second note triplets. Don’t play arbitrarily faster or slower. It has to be in time…”
Every journeyman drummer born to humanity ought to have Williams’ dictum tattooed backwards on his forehead in order to be reminded each morning in the mirror while brushing his teeth. It’s the application of percussive technique within time that is the hallmark of a masterful, musical drummer.
Rudiments, accents, rock and jazz and Latin rhythms, independence, polyrhythms and dynamics are addressed thoroughly in Stanoch’s treatise, which is also packed with many of the “secrets” found in the finest drummers of yesterday and today. Found in “Mastering the Tables of Time” are figures commonly used by Max Roach and Art Blakey, Philly Joe Jones, Elvin Jones, Bernard Purdie, Clyde Stubblefield and Stanton Moore. Better still, the student not only learns these figures, but—thanks to “running the table”—learns how to apply them within any given tempo or style.
An example would be in the chapters on playing the drum rudiments. Stanoch demonstrates how to run each rudiment through the through the “Table of Time,” which places each figure in the context of its expression, in quarter notes, quarter note triplets, eighths, triplets, sixteenths, etc. These permutations insure that the student will find each rudiment applicable within any tempo or style of music (no more of this “open” and “closed” business, where the student speeds up each figure, but learns no context for its use). The permutations of each exercise are what makes Stanoch’s book a standout in the genre of drum methods.
There is a single caveat about “Mastering the Tables of Time,” however. The book, like any instructional method worthy of purchase, requires serious effort on the part of the student. Those who like to gnosh dagwood sandwiches as they watch dvds of a drum star whipping out trademark licks ought to save their money and lie back down on the couch.
A fine drummer must have talent. And musicality is the goal. Musicality is difference between a great drummer and a paradiddle clown. The application of technique, applied within a musical context—no matter the style of song, or its tempo—is what separates the first example from the second. Though no method book can promise to make a drummer musical, “Mastering the Tables of Time” offers a method that enables the drummer to do it “all in time.”
“Mastering the Tables of Time” is published by Rhythmelodic Music for $24.95, and can be purchased by contacting www.rhythmelodic.com
Bill Stieger is a freelance writer and drummer who lives in River Falls, Wisconsin.
by Bill Stieger
Let’s say you’re a knowledgeable, fairly competent drummer. You’ve got a decent sense of groove, can read a chart, know your rudiments, and have an overall grasp of the basic techniques needed to become a professional. However, there is something about your playing quite where it needs to be.
You have the chops. You have a blistering double stroke roll, fast feet, plenty of power. But you can’t seem to translate that knowledge into fluid musical expression on the bandstand. Despite spending all that time in the woodshed, you can’t seem to find a musical way to utilize the extensive drumming knowledge you’ve attained.
For any drummer with the aforementioned problems, I would emphatically recommend the drum book “Mastering the Tables of Time,” by David Stanoch (Of course, I’d also recommend a massive collection of recordings by the masters of American music, both serious and popular).
Stanoch, who teaches drums at McNally Smith college of Music in St. Paul, Minnesota, matriculated with some of the finest drum instructors in the U.S.: Elliott Fine, Marvin Dahlgren (both from his home state of Minnesota), and Alan Dawson, the teachers whom he freely admits as influences in his book.
Stanoch’s concept in “Mastering the Tables of Time” was spawned from a quote he read by drumming great, Tony Williams, which Stanoch repeats in his introduction:
“It’s all in time. Don’t do things faster; faster doesn’t get you anywhere. You have to play in time, in context. Pick a meter and play it, double it, then triple it. Do it in eighth-note triplets, sixteenth-notes, sixteenth-note triplets, thirty-second notes, thirty-second note triplets. Don’t play arbitrarily faster or slower. It has to be in time…”
Every journeyman drummer born to humanity ought to have Williams’ dictum tattooed backwards on his forehead in order to be reminded each morning in the mirror while brushing his teeth. It’s the application of percussive technique within time that is the hallmark of a masterful, musical drummer.
Rudiments, accents, rock and jazz and Latin rhythms, independence, polyrhythms and dynamics are addressed thoroughly in Stanoch’s treatise, which is also packed with many of the “secrets” found in the finest drummers of yesterday and today. Found in “Mastering the Tables of Time” are figures commonly used by Max Roach and Art Blakey, Philly Joe Jones, Elvin Jones, Bernard Purdie, Clyde Stubblefield and Stanton Moore. Better still, the student not only learns these figures, but—thanks to “running the table”—learns how to apply them within any given tempo or style.
An example would be in the chapters on playing the drum rudiments. Stanoch demonstrates how to run each rudiment through the through the “Table of Time,” which places each figure in the context of its expression, in quarter notes, quarter note triplets, eighths, triplets, sixteenths, etc. These permutations insure that the student will find each rudiment applicable within any tempo or style of music (no more of this “open” and “closed” business, where the student speeds up each figure, but learns no context for its use). The permutations of each exercise are what makes Stanoch’s book a standout in the genre of drum methods.
There is a single caveat about “Mastering the Tables of Time,” however. The book, like any instructional method worthy of purchase, requires serious effort on the part of the student. Those who like to gnosh dagwood sandwiches as they watch dvds of a drum star whipping out trademark licks ought to save their money and lie back down on the couch.
A fine drummer must have talent. And musicality is the goal. Musicality is difference between a great drummer and a paradiddle clown. The application of technique, applied within a musical context—no matter the style of song, or its tempo—is what separates the first example from the second. Though no method book can promise to make a drummer musical, “Mastering the Tables of Time” offers a method that enables the drummer to do it “all in time.”
“Mastering the Tables of Time” is published by Rhythmelodic Music for $24.95, and can be purchased by contacting www.rhythmelodic.com
Bill Stieger is a freelance writer and drummer who lives in River Falls, Wisconsin.