Improvising over a baion ostinato

[goblinz]

hey guys i have a question on how to improvise on this particular ostianto. do u guys have any idea on how to practice improvising over the baion and does any1 have an example video of this playing?

thanks

[Boomka]

1. I've worked on this using Stick Control. In particular the first two pages, interpreting the exercises as both 8ths and 16ths. Then add accents - for instance start with the first note of every group of four, then the second, then the third and finally the fourth. When you've mastered that, hit the Flams section and do the same all over again. Make sure to do all of this with a click, beginning at 40 BPM and going all the way up to whatever tempo you can handle. Also, when you're comfortable playing all the stickings on a page on just the snare drum, split your hands around the kit - different surfaces and different "reaches" can effect our balance and ability to play patterns with our feet.

BTW, If you don't have Stick Control, get it! It's cheap as chips and quite simply works. But, in the meantime, you can play singles, doubles (leading with both hands), paradiddles and all inversions, double & triple paradiddles, paradiddle-diddles, RRRL LLLR, RRRR LLLL, RRL, LLR, RLL, LRR (Drags: Three-note patterns are great for cool solo ideas in duple meters), etc. over top of your foot pattern. Again, make sure to do them in various subdivisions, and try moving between subdivisions when you can handle it.

2. A second exercise: get yourself a book with 8th-note or 16th note rhythms in it; i.e. Syncopation, New Breed, or any Samba-like patterns and work on playing those: first one bar at at time, then in sequences over your ostinato. You can also play the rhythms as accent patterns in a continuous roll of single-strokes in whatever subdivision you please, but that's a more advanced exercise requiring good accent control and reading skills. So if you don't feel you're ready, save it for later.

3. After you've worked on the physical element, it's important to work on the mental element of improvising. A third exercise to add when you've done the above, is to get your ostinato pattern going and then trade licks with yourself - first singing them, then playing them. So you might sing a one bar pattern, and then play it for one bar; essentially a call and response with yourself. That'll help you get your ideas out of your head and onto your drums.

Spend perhaps 20 minutes on each type of exercise.

Importantly, at the end of every practice session, spend some time improvising over the foot pattern; use a click and record yourself if you can to hear your progress. Try to apply some of the stickings you've worked on that day in your improvisation, but if you can't just yet, just play whatever you can. Slowly and surely, your repetoire will increase, partly just due to having the foot pattern going on autopilot from playing it so much. Also, be clever and learn to play one idea in several ways. If you can manage a certain rhythm/sticking over your foot pattern, see how many ways you can orchestrate it around the kit to get different sounds. That's a very sly way of filling up your quiver, and if you watch most great players carefully, you'll see they have an arsenal of these little phrases that they pull out and use in various ways.

Good luck!

[jeffwj]

Kim Plainfield's Advanced Concepts has a lot of solo ideas with baion, samba, tambau, etc...

http://www.steveweissmusic.com/produ...set-methods-cd

Jeff

[virfirjans]

Maybe you could try this.
* Hi hat left foot on quarter notes.
* Bass drum doing the baiao ostinato:


Once you feel comfortable with this let your hands flow and use your imagination trying to develope something with good feeling.
I don't know if this is what you are looking for or maybe I've been too ambigous.

[michael h]

Check out Peter Erskines great musical example..Interesting how he talks about not relying on any "licks" Enjoy....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drHrH4rHYS8

[goblinz]

thanks for the responses guys! its amazing to see that it can be improvised with a nice feel without any feels or double strokes. anyway ive asked my teacher on how to improve on this and he said i should be able to play singles,doubles and paraddiles on top of it before improvising. so of to work! boomka i will use ur example after im done with the exercises my teacher have given me