INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO!!

[ToPrAle]

HEy Guys!

i'm back home for a little vacation... and i thought i'd make a short series of videos talking and demonstrating things i think are important... where this wi'll go is really up to you...
please check out the videos and ask me whatever you want as long as it sticks to the topic explained! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rmQ2...ature=youtu.be

here's part 1 , part 2 and 3 shuld be up in a few minutes!

Thank you!

ALe

[ToPrAle]

here part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDyNj...ature=youtu.be

Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orbvQ...ature=youtu.be

[ToPrAle]

umm..ok so either everybody had thought about this a lot already or you didn't understand it...or may be you just don't understand me when i speak?! ahahah.... anyways...
this video is there for a reason... and that is feedback... so please really make a small effort
to watch it and then just give some feedback! silence does not imply any answer, or does it?
in the end its really a way of helping me help you !
CIaooo

[Anon La Ply]

I wasn't really picking up what you were driving at for much of the time, Alessio. A few issues as well - no hats (which would have been super helpful when talking about upbeats), distorted sound, dim light and not always facing the camera. I always dug your playing I didn't get so much from these vids.

With the idea of space after a downbeat accent you were saying that at that point you often need to give the music space to breathe. Makes me think of my rock days when one ff accent was followed by another and another and ... :)

[ToPrAle]

Originally Posted by Anon La Ply

I wasn't really picking up what you were driving at for much of the time, Alessio. A few issues as well - no hats (which would have been super helpful when talking about upbeats), distorted sound, dim light and not always facing the camera. I always dug your playing I didn't get so much from these vids.

With the idea of space after a downbeat accent you were saying that at that point you often need to give the music space to breathe. Makes me think of my rock days when one ff accent was followed by another and another and ... :)

Great!! this is what i was looking for... honest feedback... yes the hi hat missing doesn;t help.. and also here i don;t have all my nice mics and all... so i'll probably re-do it once back in NYC! did u have problem understanding what i was saying? i don;t mean the concept but the actual words?

Thanks for giving me some feedback on this!
really appreciated!

ALe

[keep it simple]

Sorry Alessio, only just on this. I pretty much agree with Anon below. Your presentation was more like relaxed chatting between two people in the same room. That's cool, but the casual viewer will find it difficult to pick up your main message. Video, sound, & lighting quality didn't help.

As you know, I too love your stuff, but this didn't live up to your usual work. I'm not sure you planned & arranged these videos with the same care & attention you pay to your music. For an instructional video to have real impact, & to deliver a clear message, it needs careful arrangement and editing of all but the most essential pieces. You're effectively telling a story, with an introduction, a central message, & a conclusion, but using your drum playing examples to place everything in context.

Hope this helps,

Andy.

[Arky]

Polly [EDIT: and Andy also - just saw his post] have already pointed out several aspects...
I want to add to this ;-)

Here's my feedback/suggestions:

* No need to use capital letters (=considered as shouting/yelling in terms of netiquette) in the thread title, and multiple exclamation marks come across cheesy and spam-like (although I'm guilty of having used exclam. marks in one thread of mine, too, but that was an exception).

* So prior to watching your videos my 1st thought was... negative, honestly. Just because of the thread title in capital letters and with those exclamation marks. Some people don't care - I do. When I actually watched your vids I learned that you can play, and that you're serious and not showing off (which happens now and then on this forum, you know).

* Tutorials JUST HAVE to be as simple/clear as possible so people can learn the most out of them. Meaning if you're first talking and talking for almost 4 minutes before actually demonstrating/applying the specific aspects this will bore a lot of your potential viewers. And the way you were explaining things - it was "natural" but it wasn't well prepared. My advice is next time just write down some guiding text/aspects or even a full prepared text to save yourself the need to "improvise" your explanations you're using in those videos. So ultimately think of shortening the demos to, say, 15-20 seconds. Thousands of drummers can actually come up with demos that short to show the specific aspects. No need to play for minutes.

* IMO you really should use some kind of click/tempo guideline and not only play by yourself. Because if you're playing for minutes and when finishing you'd add "2 - 3- 4" with your voice this will let people find where you were at the very end of your playing, but many would have lost you in-between, rendering your demo playing rather useless in respect to the topic of your tutorials. Or try to shorten your examples to just a few measures so people could follow along with no click because they have fresh ears and can do the counting for a few bars on their own.

* Please be informed that you can always edit your posts. So instead of posting a 2nd post just a few minutes after your 1st one you _could have_ simply edited your 1st post. Now if you had only a few posts so far I'd say "he's a newbie" - but... you're not. Personally I just see no sense posting your initial post and then a mere 5 (!) minutes later informing the world that you've uploaded your other videos, too. Why not wait those 5 minutes and then write _one_ post, or as an alternative, edit your 1st post? Makes me scratch my head.

I'm sure you understand the purpose of my feedback and that I'm trying to help you - I'm being honest. You can drum, but in terms of presenting instructional videos there's still some potential for improvement left. Do you agree? ;-)

[Mad About Drums]

Anon, Andy and Arky, I also just saw this thread :)

Well Alessio, I join pretty much what's been said, it seems that you didn't plan this at all, at least it's my impression, I too enjoy immensely your playing, and I think the quality of your videos are generally to a very high standard, both visually and musically, perhaps if you plan this a bit better, give it some thought, it could be awesome, but as it is, it just sound like a conversation about drumming more than an instructional video.

[ToPrAle]

Originally Posted by Arky

Polly [EDIT: and Andy also - just saw his post] have already pointed out several aspects...
I want to add to this ;-)

Here's my feedback/suggestions:

* No need to use capital letters (=considered as shouting/yelling in terms of netiquette) in the thread title, and multiple exclamation marks come across cheesy and spam-like (although I'm guilty of having used exclam. marks in one thread of mine, too, but that was an exception).

* So prior to watching your videos my 1st thought was... negative, honestly. Just because of the thread title in capital letters and with those exclamation marks. Some people don't care - I do. When I actually watched your vids I learned that you can play, and that you're serious and not showing off (which happens now and then on this forum, you know).

* Tutorials JUST HAVE to be as simple/clear as possible so people can learn the most out of them. Meaning if you're first talking and talking for almost 4 minutes before actually demonstrating/applying the specific aspects this will bore a lot of your potential viewers. And the way you were explaining things - it was "natural" but it wasn't well prepared. My advice is next time just write down some guiding text/aspects or even a full prepared text to save yourself the need to "improvise" your explanations you're using in those videos. So ultimately think of shortening the demos to, say, 15-20 seconds. Thousands of drummers can actually come up with demos that short to show the specific aspects. No need to play for minutes.

* IMO you really should use some kind of click/tempo guideline and not only play by yourself. Because if you're playing for minutes and when finishing you'd add "2 - 3- 4" with your voice this will let people find where you were at the very end of your playing, but many would have lost you in-between, rendering your demo playing rather useless in respect to the topic of your tutorials. Or try to shorten your examples to just a few measures so people could follow along with no click because they have fresh ears and can do the counting for a few bars on their own.

* Please be informed that you can always edit your posts. So instead of posting a 2nd post just a few minutes after your 1st one you _could have_ simply edited your 1st post. Now if you had only a few posts so far I'd say "he's a newbie" - but... you're not. Personally I just see no sense posting your initial post and then a mere 5 (!) minutes later informing the world that you've uploaded your other videos, too. Why not wait those 5 minutes and then write _one_ post, or as an alternative, edit your 1st post? Makes me scratch my head.

I'm sure you understand the purpose of my feedback and that I'm trying to help you - I'm being honest. You can drum, but in terms of presenting instructional videos there's still some potential for improvement left. Do you agree? ;-)

Of course i do agree !
my intention was to simply try and discuss some material so that those who interested could potentially develop it. I feel this could come across as very basic material to most people but in reality there is a deeper level to it, those who are sensitive to it will probably get something "major"out of it. Now, this is my philosophy and i don't expect people to just follow it...nor understand it to that "deeper level"which only comes with time i guess.
I just found myself surfing the net for years and realizing that very few people talk about non technical"concepts" or feelings regarding playing an instrument and the beauty of discovering it or re- discovering it. Like you said the big weak point is the poor quality and also the fact that there is no editing... i agree also the playing examples could be much shorter!!
The talking is what i am most concerned about.. i feel there is never enough talking for the things i'd like to teach! :) and there is never enough people listening for a long time...
i might find a way to make everything more concise and of course have better camera and sound once i'm back home... i just hope it 'll be enough to get the massage a cross!!
thank you for taking the time to write!
ps: about the edit post... i found out about that function only now.... also i didn;t really pay attention to the capital and exclamation points! i guess i'll be more careful ! :)

[ToPrAle]

Originally Posted by Mad About Drums

Anon, Andy and Arky, I also just saw this thread :)

Well Alessio, I join pretty much what's been said, it seems that you didn't plan this at all, at least it's my impression, I too enjoy immensely your playing, and I think the quality of your videos are generally to a very high standard, both visually and musically, perhaps if you plan this a bit better, give it some thought, it could be awesome, but as it is, it just sound like a conversation about drumming more than an instructional video.

Thanks mad!

the thing is why can;t an instructional video be a conversation about drumming?
i feel there are so many people telling what to do and how to play this and that..
like the say: teaching how to fish rather that giving you a fish no?
of course it does take some more thinking in order to work.
I also realized that most of the times i learned more for conversations with great musicians and also non musicians than from spcecific drumming lessons...
My intent was to make some people think even only a few! but as i replied before... i am taking notes from all of you guys! and will do a second try once i'm back in my studio!

Thank you for commenting on this!! :))