My college research task...

xsarith

xsarith

Senior Member
Hey, I started college doing music tech this year and one of the tasks is an individual research task of the nearly any subject we want, it just has to be related to music.

So as a drummer I thought well I should do it about drums, it's something I love, my college said that we have to think of 3 ideas to research and then pick one to develop a research proposal for, then present it and if they accept it I've got to research it.

I've got to take into if it's researchable, how can I research something that there's no information on, I've also got to use multiple ways of getting information such as questionnaires and focus groups, etc.

There's also a few constraints that effect what and how we research such as presentation time. So they've recommend that we keep it a precise question rather than a broad open ended question.

It'd be great of you could all could look at my ideas and give like feed back :)

Unfortunately I've only managed to think of one idea:

1. The development of metal drumming techniques.
Eg, flat foot, flying fingers. But a lot of the techniques was invented before metal of course, but rock and metal drumming helped develop them. A good thing I could do for evidence would be an interview with metal drummers, such as Derek Roddy although that might be hard to get.


Any input would be great :)

Cheers everyone.
 
well, i can't speak specifically for metal techniques (as i can't actually do any of them), however there are very simple principals that i follow for practicing something new, and i learned them whilst learning 5-way co-ordination (thanks the new breed!)

1) get a metronome - a very very important thing in drumming (and specifically metal drumming i suppose) is having an extremely good sense of time. you have to be able to play slow, medium, fast, at any tempo between 40 and 260 (or faster for speed metal i suppose). if you can do that i'd say you've come close to mastering whatever it is you're practicing!

2) practice often. everyday. a minimum of 30minutes a day, but if you can stretch it try for at least an hour. my general rule is every hour have about a 5minute rest or you'll get too frustrated and wont see results.

3) start slowly - learning something new? try doing it very very slowly without a metronome to actually get the movement correct.... after you are used to it, set your metronome to a slow tempo (lets say between 60 and 70), and keep performing whatever you are praciting for 10 minutes minimum.... increase tempo 5bpm every 10 (or longer if you choose) minutes.

if you hit a speed barrier thats okay. try again the next day... try push whatever your limit was 2 or 3bpm quicker.... if you dont see at least a small result within a week or fortnight you may not be practicing enough!

hope this is insightful somehow.
 
1. The evolution of the drum set since 1960's.
2. The cost/workmanship of drums with respect to outsourcing to Asia.
 
I know Derek Roddy posts on this site, I saw him online only a few weeks ago while looking at the users online at the bottom of the page.

Surely worth a go in trying to contact him through here?
 
Those are all great suggestions for researching, I liked the one about the cost of drum manufacturering, but I fear that may be hard information to obtain as I'm sure manufacturers don't want buyers to know how much profit they make from you, how ever I think someone on this forum might help, especially custom drum builders.

I suppose that's a great thing about the forum, there's somebody on here who can help in some way, including famous drummers like Derek Roddy. How would I be able to contact Derek Roddy by the way?

Cheers for the help guys. :)
 
xsarith said:
Those are all great suggestions for researching, I liked the one about the cost of drum manufacturering, but I fear that may be hard information to obtain as I'm sure manufacturers don't want buyers to know how much profit they make from you, how ever I think someone on this forum might help, especially custom drum builders.

I suppose that's a great thing about the forum, there's somebody on here who can help in some way, including famous drummers like Derek Roddy. How would I be able to contact Derek Roddy by the way?

Cheers for the help guys. :)
Click to expand...

Try private messaging him on his forum profile page, he has his own thread in the drummer section. Might be a good idea to send him a public message on his profile first if you are able to do that on this site. Just to let him know.
 
I genuinely think a piece about how Metal has influenced drum manufacturing would be interesting. I surprise myself as I don't like Metal, but its influence on modern kit design is undeniable. You could even encompass noticeable marketing trends among manufacturers as further evidence.

Another angle to incorporate would be to look at the 'counter-culture' within the drum-making community. Small firms providing niche markets that get away from the Metal thing (again, all this ties into the influence of Metal drumming).

In a very general way, you could look at social changes that have led to some of the more aggressive styles of Metal. That must have had an impact on drum design. Everything is inter-related. Simon Napier Bell wrote a book about the history of British popular music. His angle was to look at it from the perspective of how it was influenced by what drugs were available to each generation. It wasn't the best read, but very original. I also remember Wavy Gravy almost in tears when Woodstock was revived, saying "Why are all the young people so full of hate?!". Clearly something has changed...
 
Longfuse thats a pretty good idea to be honest, maybe not just metal, but rock drumming too, i think its pretty obvious that drums and drum adverts are aimed at the more metal and rock genre and at a age range of about 13-30ish so thats kind of a way on how its influenced manufactures.

plus theres the actual designs and concepts too, like the power toms, and "speed" double bass pedals (eg. Speed Cobra)

I think it might actually be an interesting topic to research and I agree on everything be inter-related, if one punk wasnt created, we wouldnt have the Paiste Rude Series or thrash metal which means no extreme metal and no "speed" double bass. No need for fast double bass then some techniques wouldnt of been developed.

I think researching in the inter-relation of everything and how it effected drum manufacturing would be really intresting too.
 
The evolution of drumming in modern western civilazation.

Examples:

Military drumming in Europe gave rise to the rudiments and the fact that armies could time their arrival on the battlefiled because of the tempo of the cadences. Double strokes were probabaly invented by tired drummers......my guess only, a point to research.

Latin and jazz drumming both came from african slaves. The difference was the Spanish allowed their slaves to use instruments like they had in Africa. Slave owners here took all of the instruments away. That's one reason jazz and latin are so different, but still feel grat together................. a point to research as well.


Etc.
 
There you go.The Mohler technique was invented to give marching/military drummers more power,which allowed the drums to heard at greater distances.It was only applied to the drum set in the early 30's. Drumming techniques were developed in response to a need,the same as drumming equipment,.Such as the double pedal,multi ply heads,the mylar drum head,pressure laminating shell construction,multi clamps,those ridiculous square bass drums(actually they were invented in 1947,but don't tell the young guys)

Just use your imagination.There's plenty of material out there.

Steve B
 
tamadrm said:
Drumming techniques were developed in response to a need,the same as drumming equipment
Click to expand...

You just raised a good point for a technique based research task, its like nearly anything really, someone(or some people) noticed a problem or that something could be improved in some way and went forward and did it.

Thanks to the replies I've started to get a few of my own ideas, plus everyone else's ideas, I've got a few proposals i can make already.
 
One of the difficult aspects of research is data collection; specifically, getting a sufficient sample to provide data. Therefore, think about who you can get data from, then think about what you might ask them. If you have access to metal drummers who are informed, then a metal-related grand tour research question is in order. However, if you are in Nashville and have access to session drummers and producers, then your topic question may be about session drumming or how the sound is created. Basically, there are millions of research questions; the problem is that the new researcher often does not have access to informed research participants.

Best wishes

GJS
 
Let me challenge you ... generally, people do not care about metal drumming. You think it is important, but most people do not. Can you prove me wrong??

Research Question
"How important is metal drumming and drummers to college students?"

Sub questions
1) Can you name 5 metal bands?
2) Can you name 5 metal drummers?
3) Would you rather have lunch with a metal drummer or with a grammy award winner? Why?
4) If a metal drummer quit the band and was replaced, how much difference would it make? Why?
5) If a lead singer quit the metal band and was replaced, how much difference would it make? Why?

Sample
100 college students (50 male, 50 female).
As their age and college year. Stick to undergraduates in order to have a homogeneous sample.

Data Collection Method
Random interviews
Sample of convenience

While this might not be about metal drumming technique, it does have the strength that you can quickly complete data collection and the rest of this research (e.g. data analysis and research write up). And, you can create graphs to illustrate your findings (e.g. bar chart using stacked tom drums!) The "why" component in the questions offer you the opportunity to explore in more detail some of the answers. The research question is narrowly focused so it keeps you on track.

You can also include a self-reflection component in the Conclusion where you discuss your bias and compare the research results to your own feelings about metal drummers.

My hunch is that you will find that very few in your sample will be knowledgeable about metal drummers and of those who do, will be male. Most people in the general population do not care about metal drummers. (However, if you sampled this forum, you would get different results; this could be a recommendation for future research in you conclusion section.)

Best wishes

GJS
 
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I just want ti clarify, I don't think it's important to everyone who it's just something that interests me, I also raised the issue of that people don't tend to care for metal to my college tutor who then replied "its not about what anyone else thinks or if someone's gonna care for the research your doing, it's about what you want to research."

This is simply because it's not a research that's going to go around the world in magazines or website, it's just a task to see if we can research well. Your point does still apply though, how can I research something no one cares enough about to have information. Lucky I live in place we're there is a metal scene with metal heads being about 35% of the local population, and how ever not all of them are drummers.

Luckily though there's a tool called the Internet, this give me a large data pool of actual people on a global scale, making my research for metal easier as I can contact metal drummers around the world.

I'm not sure if you would like me to take you up on your challenge as doing it might prove difficult since I've got my task to do, however I could also do your challenge as part of my task, you have definitely helped me structure how I'm going to do my research in a great way though.

Thanks for that skulmoski,
Steve :)
 
xsarith said:
I just want ti clarify, I don't think it's important to everyone who it's just something that interests me, I also raised the issue of that people don't tend to care for metal to my college tutor who then replied "its not about what anyone else thinks or if someone's gonna care for the research your doing, it's about what you want to research."

It is because it's not research that will go around the world in magazines or websites; it's just an assignment to see if we can study well. Your point still applies; how can I explore something no one cares enough about to have information. Lucky, I live in a place where there is a metal scene, with metal heads being about 35% of the local population. However, not all of them are drummers.

Luckily though, there's an Internet apparatus; this delivers me an enormous data pool of actual individuals on an international scale, completing my research for metal easier as I can contact metal drummers worldwide, even those with mental disabilities. So I could prepare to teach students with disabilities – explicit and intensive instruction like this site made publicly available at https://studyhippo.com/essay-teaching-students-with-disabilities-fl-pda-unit-five-explicit-and-intensive-instruction/ .

I'm not sure if you would like me to bring you up on your challenge as doing it might demonstrate tricky since I've got my task to do; however, I could also do your challenge as the domain of my job. You have helped me structure how I'm moving to do my investigation significantly, though.

Thanks for that skulmoski,
Steve :)
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What did happen to your research project? I wanted to work on the topics in the same area and needed some examples of the result. Could you share it? Thanks.

upd: @GretschedHive, oh, ok, so he will not respond then. Thanks!
 
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He stated music technology so I wonder why no one was giving him better direction for a proper topic? Maybe like history , evolution and improvements of double kick pedal or issues related to recording drums? Something “technology” related not technique.
 
caution: this thread is absently stumbling at you muttering "brrrainssss..."
 
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