The Grooved Whale Project » Drumming

Dancing: The good, the bad and the ugly

groovedwhale — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 18:41:59 +0000

This week I spent my time contemplating Dr Nick Neave’s study that suggests a man’s attractiveness to women is directly proportional to how well he performs on the dance floor. The study found “that women paid more attention to the core body region: the torso, the neck, the head. It was not just the speed of the movements, it was also the variability of the movement. So someone who is twisting, bending, moving, nodding.”

I have always been curious about what makes a dancer a “good” dancer and awhile back found myself on the dance floor with what I consider to be two of Vancouver’s best musicians. I was amazed at how differently the two interpreted the beat. I tried copying their moves and found that in order to dance like the first, I had to conceptualize the beat in my hip region. To dance like the second, I had to conceptualize the beat at the base of my neck.

As I recover from my back injuries I beginning to realize what a huge role my neck plays in correctly interpreting the beat while drumming. If I sense the beat from any other region (hip, toe tapping etc.) I have to mentally calculate the strokes my arms have to make to accurately render the rhythm. However, if I let the back of my neck sense the pulse (whereby my chin and head fall down in time with the beat) my arms correctly fall into place without any conscious calculation – a side product of which is a deep trance.

The study raises a whole bunch of questions for me: Did the less attractive dancers limit their movements due to social conditioning? Physical ailments? Would the researchers find the same conclusions if they had men rate women dancing?

In any case, its well worth checking out the study and making your own conclusions from the video – but next time you are dancing/drumming, try feeling the pulse from the back of your neck and let me know what you find.

La…ten….cy

groovedwhale — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 21:02:42 +0000

The word of the week: Latency. Yes, the lovely gap between what your computer (or master clock) tells your equipment to do and what your equipment actually does. Working with Midi (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) seems like it should solve all problems but all it does is introduce new variables into the compositional process.
Not that there aren’t latency problems when playing “real” instruments: I experiment at drum circles walking around with a bell, taking the beat or pulse from where its the strongest, to the outer regions of the circle. I have often observed that the beat being played at the outside edge is completely different than what is being played by the “heat” or the strongest drummers.
A few things are happening here: First off is that different frequencies of sound travel at different rates and degrees of efficacy. The low pulse of the drum is sometimes the hardest to accurately hear when in a circle, the high bell part the easiest. If you are using the low sounds as a point of reference, or if the bell player is off, the beat will drift. Secondly, when you are playing an instrument yourself it is very hard to hear what else is being heard. This is a skill musicians train in as it does not come naturally.
I remember when I first started drumming being terrified of losing the beat. What if I never caught it again? Everyone would be happily drumming and there I would sit with idle hands, cast out of the circle by the tribe…

Mali Music Transcription

groovedwhale — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:58:11 +0000

An interesting transcription of music from Mali in 6/8 – useful for those wanting to analyze how a rhythmic pattern is expanded upon by a master drummer.

The book/cd set can be purchased from Earthcd’s site.