This is just my opinion and no offense, but thank god NARD is back.
This is just my opinion and no offense, but thank god NARD is back.
I have noticed that NARD is back. I'm wondering if it will take off like it did before. If I may ask, did mean that you do not prefer the PAS? Or is it just that you like the history and style of NARD drumming (as I also do)?
Jeff
Are there still guys using rudiments?
Sorry I missed this back in Nov. Jeff.
This is just my opinion, but to keep it short and simple NARD is about drumming and tradition where I find PAS to more of a political type of organization. When PAS puts out articles about there not being a need for rudiments in learning to play, and their willy nilly renaming rudiments for god only knows what reason I question their worth or value, I find them to be a group the puts a lot of effort into creating their own self importance and then creating their own buzz around their own importance. I also think this is the way it is because so much of the organization comes out of acadamia where membership in organizations and publishing is paramount to advancement.
Yes, I also prefer the NARD style of drumming. It's the basis and basics to almost all drumming and percussion. To put it in terms most here will understand if they are not familiar with PAS and NARD, PAS minimizes the value of Swiss and Scottish drumming and drumming traditions which is really the source of NARD's attitude towards playing the drums. Essays could easily be written on this subject.
In the words of the great white north, you betcha.
Now to push this thread down another tangent. Coincidentally, this morning I received an interesting article/note written by Ray Reilly, who studied with G.L. Stone. It arrived in a package from Canada along with a copy of Ray's little-known book. Anyway, the article speaks a little about Stone's position as one of the founders and president of NARD. However, according to Ray, "(Stone) never acknowledged the existence of any Swiss drumming tradition - and pipe band drummers in the USA didn't "really" play."
Now, I haven't had a chance to clarify any of that with Ray, but I thought it was interesting in light of the above. Personally, I think what Stone might've been trying to say was that the Swiss tradition wasn't isolated and closed unto itself, as earlier in the article Ray reports Stone's general attitude, "...that the 26 Standard Rudiments - as adopted by the National Association of Rudimental Drummers (USA) - were based on "ancient sticking" that evolved in Europe and the U.K. as easly as 1750."
Anyway, thre you go... Indeed, Don, essays could be written on this stuff.
. PAS really is an organization that is about the people that make it up, and not its subject. This is really obvious when you read their position papers. Granted, no one voice comes out of PAS, but their little entitles, education vs. performance arts for example, seem to have disjunct goals based on the needs of the people involved rather then working for some common goal or good.
"The Percussive Arts Society is a music service organization promoting percussion education, research, performance and appreciation throughout the world.
People are silly. This debate could be about martial arts.
International Tae Kwon Do Federation ITF: "Tae Kwon Do in it's purest form was that begun by Gen Choi! Only we teach true Tae Kwon Do!"
World Tae Kwon Do Federation WTF: "Only WTF represents true Korean Take Kwon Do. ITF is a Communist North Korean style!!!"
Tang So Do. "What about us???"
Japanese Shotokan expert: "Tae Kwon Do is derived from Shotokan Karate and as such, Tae Kwon Do is a Japanese art!"
And on it goes....
The real truth is that various instructors want to promote themselves and their style at the expense of the wider art. It becomes about individual schools competing with each other for money and position. At the end of the day a punch is a punch no matter the detail involved in the execution.
I agree that PAS is very diverse, but that's exactly what its "common goal or good" is. PAS is about getting as many aspects of the percussion world - and their attendant voices - under one umbrella. And due to the sheer diversity of percussion and percussionists, it naturally doesn't have a single coherent 'cause' that it's pushing.
With NARD, it was in the name. Their purpose was to deal with "Rudimental Drumming" and to standardise a method of training/evaluating drummers - but largely military-style drum corps. It was even founded at a Legion gathering. That's a rather narrow scope, especially these days with the influence of percussions from all over the world increasingly making themselves felt in North America. For example, how could a "Rudimental Drumming" organisation grasp and include the drumming of the Indian Subcontinent? Heck, how do you deal with tuned percussion players - i.e. Timpanists and Mallet Percussionists with such a mandate? Or Afro-Cuban music: sure, you can frame some Cuban patterns in the context of rudiments, but that isn't really where they came from: they have a distinct tradition all their own. PAS has this as their mandate:
That's a much broader scope, I think, and one that ultimately resists an overly structured or dogmatic approach. And it's one that can ultimately be inclusive of the rudimental tradition.
And I can tell that Laura Franklin really rankled you with her article about rudiments. But, to me, that's the strength of PAS. In any one of their publications or gatherings you're going to find people who absolutely swear by a heavily rudimental approach to the instrument and those who question the efficacy of approaching our instruments via a prescripted series of stickings. As you know from our conversations, I have my doubts about a rudiment-centric approach. (BTW, the January issue has a couple of features on Swiss drumming you might like...)
To me PAS represents a broad range of voices and I think that's a really good thing. I don't see why NARD and PAS can't exist at the same time as they are really about two very different things. It's not like the AFL and NFL, or the National and American League. If your interest is rudimental drumming than NARD is the thing for you, but I couldn't ever see myself becoming heavily involved in such an organisation because I don't think it represents my approach to our instruments.