Derek Roddy here!

Hey there Derek, i'm a little confused because there are still websites saying you play Sonor and on your website I see you are now playing DW. Could you clarify which one you are currently playing for? Thanks!

Cheers!
 
Well, "running on the pedals" is what I do....but, doesn't mean that it will work for you.

You have to do and progress.... with what you are already doing.
Stopping to learn all these different "techniques"....is what is keeping players from progressing as quickly as they'd like.

You still have to put just as much time into learning a new technique...as you would have the "old" technique.
So, really....it's all a moot point.
The only thing that makes a real difference......is practice, persistence and consistency.
If you change any of those things.....you add more time to your progress...thus slowing you down.

That said....I don't have material out about technique. I have watched so many drummers....hold themselves back in order to search for the perfect technique....that I feel it's a waste of time.

Practice, you'll get there one way or another. Neither of which...is better than the other.

Cheers,
D.
Being someone which speed was never a strength, the reason I continue to search is the failure. After years of doing it one way and it not working, I now noticed that there are so many younger players playing much faster than even the speed demons did while I was growing up. I cannot help myself but want to try what they are doing.

That said, I will always be an experimental and feel based drummer. That is just my whole approach but I am open enough to see the musicality in what players like yourself are doing. I would just love to be able to pull out a a few measures of half the speed some of you all are doing for emphasis/energy sake.
 
Being someone which speed was never a strength, the reason I continue to search is the failure. After years of doing it one way and it not working, I now noticed that there are so many younger players playing much faster than even the speed demons did while I was growing up. I cannot help myself but want to try what they are doing.

That said, I will always be an experimental and feel based drummer. That is just my whole approach but I am open enough to see the musicality in what players like yourself are doing. I would just love to be able to pull out a a few measures of half the speed some of you all are doing for emphasis/energy sake.

Yeah I've had to do a lot of searching and re-learning as well, this stuff doesn't come naturally to all of us like it did for Derek. I did the whole 'do what my body wants to do' thing for a year or so and I nearly ended up injuring myself because I was doing it all so wrongly, I had to hit the forums and whatnot to figure out what I was doing wrong and re-learn a lot of things.

Tried and tested techniques are there so we learn from mistakes made previously, whats the harm in paying attention to them? There is definitely harm in spending too much time on them, but certainly no harm in investigating them and incorporating what you find to be useful and relevant to you.
 
Hi,

Does anyone know if Derek has posted any videos of his new DW kit? I've been looking around and can't can't find any videos. But weeks ago he said they'd be posted soon.

Anyone know anything?
 
Hi,

Does anyone know if Derek has posted any videos of his new DW kit? I've been looking around and can't can't find any videos. But weeks ago he said they'd be posted soon.

Anyone know anything?


As far as I know, he doesn't have any DW videos up yet. I think it's still in the works.
 
Hey there Derek, i'm a little confused because there are still websites saying you play Sonor and on your website I see you are now playing DW. Could you clarify which one you are currently playing for? Thanks!

Cheers!

Not to answer FOR Derek, but I know that he is no longer with Sonor and is with DW.
 
Sorry to be a bother, since I know your'e a busy man and have had some crazy stuff going on lately...

But do you know even roughly when any of the Serpents Rise stuff will be released?
 
Hello Derek!

So a few months ago I broke a toe on my left foot and I was unable to work on and double pedal-ing for 6 weeks. I'm finally getting back into it but a problem I've been having is starting a double kick pattern (single strokes leading with the right). I practice slowly to a metronome (to build evenness) but I always seem to stumble the first few notes. What do you suggest I do to remedy this?

-Jonathan
 
I'm obviously not Derek, but what I did was do a LOT of practice with stops and starts. Simple four bar patterns of 8ths and 16ths, so you're constantly alternating between them. I had the same problem, now it's mostly remedied because the repetition just forced my body to figure out how to do it.
 
I'm obviously not Derek, but what I did was do a LOT of practice with stops and starts. Simple four bar patterns of 8ths and 16ths, so you're constantly alternating between them. I had the same problem, now it's mostly remedied because the repetition just forced my body to figure out how to do it.

Thanks! I'll try that for sure!

I'd still love to hear what Derek has to say on this topic as well!!

-Jonathan
 
You're an inspiration Derek. Make another DVD!

I'm actually working on one now! Haha.

Hey there Derek, i'm a little confused because there are still websites saying you play Sonor and on your website I see you are now playing DW. Could you clarify which one you are currently playing for? Thanks!Cheers!

Yep...moved to DW and I'm very happy there. Great drums...Great people.
Yeah...websites aren't the quickest to update sometimes. Haha.

Being someone which speed was never a strength, the reason I continue to search is the failure. After years of doing it one way and it not working, I now noticed that there are so many younger players playing much faster than even the speed demons did while I was growing up. I cannot help myself but want to try what they are doing.

That said, I will always be an experimental and feel based drummer. That is just my whole approach but I am open enough to see the musicality in what players like yourself are doing. I would just love to be able to pull out a a few measures of half the speed some of you all are doing for emphasis/energy sake.

Having read this... I'd say your best bet is to buy a physics book and work with motion.

The reason you're not getting there isn't because of "technique" it's because your body doesn't understand what you want it to do. Many techniques can get you to this point and, I find that you need all of them.... to get there. So, it's not a verdict of "one or the other".

What I mean is....if you're trying to play top tempos...with the same motion you use for show tempos....you'll never get there. Playing the same way for each tempo...confuses the body...and, that's how you hurt yourself.

Use your feet...with the same physical principles as your hands.

Hi,

Does anyone know if Derek has posted any videos of his new DW kit? I've been looking around and can't can't find any videos. But weeks ago he said they'd be posted soon.

Anyone know anything?

Waiting on DW for that. What we did wasn't part of the "It's a DW" campaign. So, I will be in a new series of ad's that will hit very soon.
I've been out of town for the last several months and just haven't had time to set up the camera's, etc.....I do have some free time coming up but, hey....better busy than not I guess! Haha.
I'll get to em' eventually. LoL.

Hello Derek!

So a few months ago I broke a toe on my left foot and I was unable to work on and double pedal-ing for 6 weeks. I'm finally getting back into it but a problem I've been having is starting a double kick pattern (single strokes leading with the right). I practice slowly to a metronome (to build evenness) but I always seem to stumble the first few notes. What do you suggest I do to remedy this?

-Jonathan

That stumbling you speak of is a balance problem. Just keep working your feet in equal time increments...and, you'll work yourself out of it.
There's also an exercise in my book that trains your mid section for this type of balancing.
You simply sit at your throne....and, lift your feet about 3 inches off the ground. (Without curing them under your seat or arching your back.)
That's a killer! Haha.

Cheers,
D
 
But do you know even roughly when any of the Serpents Rise stuff will be released?

Ask and ye' shall receive......
serpentsriselogo-1.jpg


Serpents Rise suggest downloading all the songs, THEN....listening to the entire recording.
The work is intended to be seamless....and, taken in as one body of music.

We hope you enjoy....and, interpret.



Serpents Rise....as you can hear....is an instrumental entity.
But, this does not mean that we are opposed to hearing what vocal possibilities exist.
With this in mind....Serpents Rise invites you to "be the vocalist".

Whether in your car, in your bedroom, on stage covering one of our songs, posting clips of you singing our tunes on youtube OR....in the event that we show up in your town.....you sing with us on stage! Have fun...create!

Serpents Rise



http://www.derekroddy.com/Dereks_Link_Folder/InitiationRituals.m4a
http://www.derekroddy.com/Dereks_Link_Folder/InvasiveSwahngi.m4a
http://www.derekroddy.com/Dereks_Link_Folder/Intertwine.m4a
http://www.derekroddy.com/Dereks_Link_Folder/TheGreaterEquanimity.m4a
http://www.derekroddy.com/Dereks_Link_Folder/Naja.m4a
http://www.derekroddy.com/Dereks_Link_Folder/SerpentsRise.m4a
http://www.derekroddy.com/Dereks_Link_Folder/Squarewave.m4a
http://www.derekroddy.com/Dereks_Link_Folder/SignsOfIdentity.m4a
http://www.derekroddy.com/Dereks_Link_Folder/Selfless.m4a
http://www.derekroddy.com/Dereks_Link_Folder/TheCataplexyEvent.m4a


Initiation Rituals...are rites of passage or ceremony marking entrance or acceptance into a group, society or religion. In an extended sense it can also signify a transformation in which the initiate is 'reborn' into a new role. A spiritual initiation rite normally implies a shepherding process where those who are at a higher level guide the initiate through a process of greater exposure of knowledge.
This may include the revelation of secrets, hence the term secret society for such organizations, usually reserved for those at the higher level of understanding. Initiation is considered necessary for the individual to be regarded as a full member of the tribe. Otherwise, the individual may not be allowed to participate in ceremonies or even in social rituals.
It was among the most important social institutions of early humans. The ordeal measures the initiate's worthiness to enter the new status. Initiation may mean the cessation of contact with those who have not been initiated. Seclusion, mutilation, symbolic representation of death and resurrection, the display of sacred objects, special instruction, and restrictions on the initiate are frequent attributes of the ceremonies.

Invasive Swahngi...Many Native American tribes believed that the physical body housed two or more souls, which became separated at death.
The seven types of souls:

1. a vital principle that resides in the brain until death, when it disappears;
2. the heart, the seat of the conscience, which inspires action during the life experience, but also disappears at the time of death;
3. the person's name, which achieves a kind of individuality after death;
4. the essence of the person, which perpetuates itself after death;
5. the active principle of the soul as long as the body lives;
6. the blending of shadow and soul;
7. the spiritual residue, which can appear to living humans as a ghost.

The legends of the dead told by ancient or tribal people are perhaps the most accurate indicators of their religious thought. And from what can be assumed from the burial rites of early humans, they pondered the same kinds of questions concerning the afterlife as humans do today. Where had their friends gone? What do they do and see when they disappear into the unknown? Will they live again? Can their spirits return to communicate? Or are they just gone—forever? Early humans could not answer these great questions, and so, to temper their fear of death, they created rituals, rites, and religions to comfort them.
Although the process of death and the reasons why the once animated body became lifeless were puzzles, aboriginal tribal societies understood that there was something in their departed friends and family members that survived somehow in another existence. The reason for this belief can be easily imagined. As they slept, early humans saw those persons whom they knew to be dead, alive and well in their dreams. Perhaps they themselves had witnessed their friends being killed in a dispute with another tribe or mangled by a predator, yet now they saw them and spoke with them, just as they had before their death. These vivid dreams of the dead undoubtedly led to the belief that there existed an immaterial aspect of human beings, a part that managed to survive the dissolution of the body.

Early humans generally did not accept death as due to natural causes. Death was either the result of acts of violence caused by human or animal enemies, or it was caused by evil and unseen demons. To the primitive mind, if a man or a woman, without wound or injury, fell silently asleep and never awakened, they had to have been the victim of malevolent spirits.
Some of the earliest rituals revolving around death concerned the interaction between the living and the body of the newly dead. Some tribal cultures believed that an evil spirit inhabited the corpse, and it should not be touched for fear of providing the malevolent entity with a living body to possess. Some anthropologists have theorized that it was fear of the dead body that led early humans to dispose of it. Since evil spirits had caused the "long sleep," they must undoubtedly still be lurking near the body to seize new victims. Therefore, the practical thing to do was to bury or burn or otherwise dispose of the body, thereby removing both the dead and the demons at the same time.
The Australian aborigines showed their fear of the dead by burning all the deceased's property and running away to establish a new village. They believed that the demon resided not only in the dead body, but in all the deceased's belongings.
Many Native American tribes believed that spirits of the dead lingered among the living until certain rites had been performed that would aid the spirits in their passage to the other world.
Among most tribal cultures, therefore, it is customary to dance and feast at the time of death for purposes of pleasing the spirit of the departed and to stamp upon the ground to frighten away evil spirits.


Intertwine...To join or become joined by twining together, many...to become one. The combination of two or more organizations or entities. To blend.



The Greater Equanimity...Equanimity is one of the most sublime emotions of spiritual practice. It is the ground for wisdom and freedom and the protector of compassion and love. While some may think of equanimity as dry neutrality or cool aloofness, mature equanimity produces a radiance and warmth of being. The Buddha described a mind filled with equanimity as “abundant, exalted, immeasurable, without hostility and without ill-will.”
Equanimity is a protection from the “eight worldly winds”: praise and blame, success and failure, pleasure and pain, fame and disrepute. Becoming attached to or excessively elated with success, praise, fame or pleasure can be a set-up for suffering when the winds of life change direction.
For example, success can be wonderful, but if it leads to arrogance, we have more to lose in future challenges. Becoming personally invested in praise can tend toward conceit. Identifying with failure, we may feel incompetent or inadequate. Reacting to pain, we may become discouraged. If we understand or feel that our sense of inner well-being is independent of the eight winds, we are more likely to remain on an even keel in their midst.

Naja... Naja is a genus of venomous elapid snakes. Although there are several other genera that share the common name, naja are the most recognized, and most widespread group of snakes commonly known as cobras. The genus Naja consists of from 20 to 22 species

Serpents Rise...
The ancient traditions and scriptures from different continents talk about a race of serpent beings endowed with superhuman powers. The scriptural and folkloric resources are used to present more complete picture of them and their ancient and recent interaction with humans.The snake (serpent spirit) has been a symbol of wisdom, eternity, healing, mystery, magical power, and holiness throughout most of the ancient non-western world. Its symbol is used today in medicine, and other healing professions, and its live descendants are hailed as sacred and used in everything from cancer drugs to sex potions. Serpent was worshiped in ancient Babylon, Mexico, Egypt, as well as many other places all over the world.
The power of the serpent and the mystery surrounding them..has been historically recorded through out time.

SquareWave...A square wave is a kind of non-sinusoidal waveform, most typically encountered in electronics and signal processing. An ideal square wave alternates regularly and instantaneously between two levels. The square wave contains only odd integer harmonics.
An ideal square wave requires that the signal changes from the high to the low state cleanly and instantaneously. This is impossible to achieve in real-world systems, as it would require infinite bandwidth.


Signs of Identity... examines the definitions of identity and their scope, as well as to test the interdisciplinary applicability of the suggested sign-based model of identity with regard to conceptual and methodological questions.

1. to argue for or against self conceptualization,
2. to propose descriptions of the details of identity
3. to develop disciplinary and trans disciplinary methods for the analysis of identity,
4. to discuss the influence of culture specific factors on the semantics of identity (synchronically and diachronically),
5. to explore to what extent the proposed model of identity is applicable.


Selfless... without self.


The Cataplexy Event...Cataplexy is a sudden and transient episode of loss of muscle tone, often triggered by emotions. It is a rare disease[1] (prevalence of fewer than 5 per 10,000 in the community), but frequently affects people who have narcolepsy, a disorder whose principal signs are EDS (Excessive Daytime Sleepiness), sleep attacks, sleep paralysis, hypnagogic hallucinations[2] and disturbed night-time sleep. Cataplexy is sometimes confused with epilepsy, where a series of flashes or other stimuli cause superficially similar seizures. Cataplexy can also be present as a side effect of SSRI Discontinuation Syndrome.

Cataplexy in severe cases can cause vital signs to be hard to detect without a continuous auditory pulse oximeter. As an anecdotal example, one individual, a sufferer of severe cataplexy, has been pronounced dead three times....Once, waking up in a freezer in a morge. This is their story...


Serpents Rise contributors...

Derek Roddy: Drums, Percussion, Guitars, Bass, Voices, sounds
JP Soars: Guitars, Horns
JP Brown: Guitars
Todd Edmunds: Bass, Loops, Sousaphone/Tuba
Chip Staples: Percussion, Voices
Evan Kline: Percussion
Angela Self: Viola
John Storemski: Guitars, Sounds
Chad Waller: Guitars
Atrox (Rattlesnake)

Musical Concept: Derek Roddy
Logo Design: Derek Roddy/ R. Scott Johnson
Cover design: R Scott Johnson/Derek Roddy
Engineered, Recorded and Mixed by: Derek Roddy @ Aspidities Room Recording Studio
Assistant Engineer: Justin Alavi
Mastered by: Jeremy Staska / Justin Alavi @ Studio 13

Cheers to:
Meinl Cymbals, DW Drums, Axis Pedals, Vater Drumsticks, Remo Drumheads, Shure Microphones, Presonus, Yamaha, Jackson Guitars, Gibson Guitars, Spector Basses, Fender Basses, Dean Markley Strings, Boss Pedals, Marshall Amps, Engl Amps, Category 5 Amps, Scott Johnson and ETV Lowcountry TV, Steven Hires, Todd (God) Tuner, Jayson Moore, Nicko McBrain and Rock and Roll Ribs, Jason Bittner, Jeff Lee and all at Resurrection Drums, all my snake buddies...Tom Keogan, Tom Baily, Ben Siegel, Jay Eaton, Cindy and, all at kingsnake.com.
My family: Halle Roddy, Randy and Rosemary Roddy, Randy Roddy Jr, Larry Herzog, Studio 13 (Justin Alavi, Jeremy Staska), All drummers everywhere!
www.derekroddy.com Forum members and YOU!!!!

........Thanks for giving Serpents Rise a listen.
 
Seems as though despite my searching I missed that post somewhere... Thanks a ton, man. Really looking forward to it.

Even the original "demo" or rough versions or whatever you guys called them slayed.
 
hey derek, just wanted to let you know i picked up your dvd a few months after i'd become interested in death metal drumming, and the lessons and backing tracks on the disk have really helped me get into the style, not to mention the very noticable improvement in my hand and foot speed as result of trying to keep up with with the back track!

thanks a million
 
Hi Derek,

I very much enjoyed your playing on Modern Drummer 2008 DVD.

I am trying to work on a double bass drum shuffle in the style of Simon Phillips/Billy Cobham etc.

But for the life of me I cannot get my feet to do what I want them to - and they keep reverting to straight 16ths.

Any suggestions would be welcome on how to achieve a shuffle.

Thanks
 
Hi Derek, another question for ya... one I'm not sure if you'd be willing to answer.

When you were still with Sonor, what wood make/other specs were your SQ2s? Not sure if you'd be willing to release that info now that you're with DW but I've been curious...
 
Hi Derek

Just want to give you all my praise for your performance yesterday at DrumFest in Sevilla (my city). You were brilliant and your playing were top of the line. Very impressive to me, so congratulations!

Also we all enjoyed with your mood and positive attitude with us, so thanks for all Derek!!

Can´t wait to see you playing again.

All the best
Gustavo
 
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Been getting more and more into your playing Derek. You are the man! Thanks!
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"When the going gets tough, the tough get going!"

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