Motivic Drumset soloing. Book/CD.

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Motivic drumset soloing.
Author. Terry O'Mahoney.



Recently I have begun using this book in order to teach students how to build creative solos based on ideas such as phrases played and built upon, call and response, logical construction etc etc. The above book has been useful in helping my endeavors.

The book is not for the basic beginner. I'd recommend at least a full 2 years of instruction or more before presenting it to the new drumset student. Intermediate drummers will benefit from this book having developed a degree of technical ability but unsure how to put it to use in solo form. More advanced working drummers may also find this text useful.

Although O'Mahoney plays the ideas on the CD in a jazz context, this should not limit the text to this or any one style. For example, rock drummers can use this text without any problem.

I highly recommend this book.

Possibly the easiest way for me to describe the contents is simply to list the contents chapter by chapter.

Chapter 1. Motivic development concepts.
1. Rhythmic motives.
2. Repetition.
3. Sequence.
4. Fragmentation.
5. Extension.
6. Augmentation.
7. Diminution.
8. Retrogade.
9. Inversion.
10. Embellishment.
11. Simplification.
12. Rhythmic displacement.
13. Summary.

Chapter 2. Musical concepts.
1. Orchestrate the melody.
2. Through-Composed solos vs. Motivic development.
3. Filler material.
4. Rolls.
5. Special effects.
6. Soloing over ostinato patterns.
7. Call and response.
8. Quoting.
9. Musical landmarks.
10. Odd groupings.
11. Polyrhythms.
12. Double time feel.
13. Varying rhythmic density.
14. Soloing in odd time signatures, (3/4, 5/4, 7/4)
15. Pick ups.
16. Ending solos.
17. Soloing over long musical forms.
18. Maintaining place in a song form.
19. Time solos vs. Outright solos.

Chapter 3. Additional concepts.
1. Abstract concepts/ideas.
2. Analyzing solos.
3. Sample drum solos.

Discography of motivic solos.
 
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Yes! I have had this book over an year and it's truly a great one. If you can't play an improvised solo after going through it, I don't know if you ever can. And it gives you a lot of ideas for non-soloing improvisational situations too. And if you aren't familiar with motivic development concepts, this book can be a true life changer.
 
I have worked on this book for several years....it's very very very good!!!!! Lots of concepts....Denis
 
It's a good book for translating common composer's tools into drum language, and anything that gets drummers thinking more like musicians is a good thing. It does seem like applying the method too religiously could lead to over-intellectualizing- just seeing the word "retrograde" conjures all kinds of images of the worst of college level music education. I believe in keeping mental processes nice and simple during playing, and think just being aware of the concepts is enough. I don't think it's necessary to work through the book in any kind of systematic way.
 
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