A group that I'm playing in is starting to branch into free jazz.
I've found myself doing one of three things
playing long rolls around the kit
playing short, staccato notes
mimicking the pitches of the horns on my toms
What are done other ideas for free playing to develop? What experiences have you had with this?
Posted Jun 3, 2016, 11:04 AM UTC
To me, "free" anything (free is not just a subgenre of jazz imo) is just using the artist's creativity in the moment. It's really dependent on your improvisational skills because that's all it should be; nothing predetermined.
Whenever I've played in such styles I don't really rely on certain techniques specifically for "free jazz" because I don't really think there are any. You just play what you're feeling at the moment, and react to what others are playing.
So, take my advice, or don't. It doesn't matter, that's just my personal take on it. Others may think differently, but that's okay too :)
Thanks, I guess I meant that we play jazz and we're starting to play free pieces.
The reason I asked this was because I found myself not using creativity but instead going between the three things I listed above. I was just wondering if there are other ideas that I could start with and develop off of.
I agree with the comment above. I'd also like to add don't be afraid to play time and don't be afraid to lay out. Also, listening and reacting/mimicking someone else in the band is great but not always needed. A friend of mine once said he's always listening for what's missing. That is, if someone is playing something, then that's already covered, so try to find something that's not being played but would add to what is happening.
Definitely. Going to rehearsal now and I'll use all these
I've found most free jazz would be more accurately described as freak out jazz. It sounds like you're kind of stuck relying on the three things you mentioned, which are pretty common in free jazz. Don't forget about space. Loud horns and long rolls have more impact when they explode out of a quiet section. Also, always keep the main theme in mind no matter what you're playing. The feel of the theme should influence every fill/roll/beat. I would try: mixing different sticks/brushes within a tune, lots of dynamic shifts, different sound sources (things I've seen: chains on the floor, putting a small broken cymbal on your floor tom or a small tambourine on your snare, incorporating "toy" instruments meant for kids). Put all of this stuff in a bag and keep in on the floor next to you.
The wonderful and terrible thing about free jazz is anything goes so try not to think about it just listen and react using anything and everything.
As someone who plays free a lot, I'm going to get hung up on this one:
mimicking the pitches of the horns on my toms
Try to get out of the habit of mimicking and "parroting" back everything you hear when playing any improvised music. When you do that, you're no longer improvising - you're just copying. It would be like if you were having a conversation like...
Hey man, did you go to the store today?
Oh, the store? Today?
Yeah, that's what I said.
Is it? Is that what you said?
Yes.
Yes?
Exaggerated for sure, but you get the idea. It doesn't really let things develop.
What I'd suggest you do is let go of any ideas you have about what you do "should" sound like. It really drives me nuts when I see some of the people in my circles advertise their shows and say things like "it's going to get weird" or whatever because, to me, that means you already have a preconceived notion of what the music will be - and it's no longer free improvisation. Yes, often free jazz is a noise freakout - but that doesn't mean it has to be.
Limit yourself. I'll often make up rules for myself in the middle of playing just to see what I can do with them and how it will push and affect the music. If you find yourself just kind of rolling around the kit, just play, for instance, the hats, kick, and floor tom. Force yourself to only use those things until something grows out of it. Purposely play with people. Purposely play against them. If someone starts following something you do, pull the rug out from under them. Or don't.
Or stop playing for a while altogether. If you feel like you're drumming and have nothing to say, stop. Listen.
This is super insightful, thanks
I re-read what I wrote and I hope I didn't come across too dickish. I got called out about parroting by one of my heroes and it's one of the single best criticisms I ever got. Obviously I don't know what your playing sounds like, so I hope I didn't come across judgmentally. It was more of a general comment.
No no, this is exactly the kind of thing I needed to hear. I was coming at the whole free thing from the wrong perspective.
Cheers
Try to focus on what the other players are doing and mimicking them. Also find new and interesting things to do on your kit i.e. Bending notes, experimenting with sidestick etc
If you really want to free up your snare hand, go through the Ted Reed Syncopation exercises. Play the standard jazz ride/hi-hat rhythm, with bass drum 4 on the floor. Read the exercise, and play the syncopated rhythm with your snare hand, and repeat them over and over again. Since you're playing with a swing feel, all the off eight notes will be swung.
After a week or so your snare hand will be 10x more independent than you'd have aimed for.
This is what I have done. I've gone through nearly the entire book with countless applications.
How does that apply to free jazz?
It's limb independence. You mentioned rolls and staccato notes, and I infer involving single stroke and double stroke rolls. Freeing up your left and right hand, so you can comp and not think about it, will further subdivide the rhythm.
That is very true when playing in time, but my question is mostly about free jazz. As in free improvisation with no chord changes or tempo or any limitations whatsoever.
Probably a misunderstanding, but if not, thanks for the suggestion!
If you've made it through syncopation, I would throw in syncopated African bell patterns. They're in 12/8 so they fit in a lot of places and turn up the pressure. And there's a lot of them. It's also in our DNA so it gets peoples attention.
I see what you're getting at, but just because the music is free doesn't mean your technique changes. Greater independence means you can execute what you need when you need to. Imagine being a trumpet player who doesn't know his or her scales trying to play expressive free music. Sure there's no key or chord changes, but if you don't know your way around your instrument, you won't be as effective as you could be.
"Free" is also a language, like "jazz". Most of what people call free is not really free. Learn the vocab, grammar, etc., as it was established by the pioneers. A term not mentioned here but very much central to free playing from a drummer's perspective is 'scatter'. Rashied Ali (post-Elvin Coltrane, the last and free period) did much to define that vocabulary. Han Bennink seems to have extended this language in an interesting, athletic way.
As long as there's a sense of joy and musicality, cool. That's a reasonable starting point. If that means unfurling your catalog of drumset-based foley, sure. If that means just playing a snare drum roll for 45 minutes, cool. That no one I know of has done either as their contribution to the genera is perhaps meaningful.
I like thinking/playing, say 2, 3, or 4—or more—tempos simultaneously and combining them in a sort of kaleidoscopic version of no-time. There seems to be richness there in terms of tension and release. Since we're drummers, we can do such things with some clarity.
This thread really changed my views on free music. I guess I came at it with the perspective that it was a singular genre with specific things to do that worked, like in a classic swing big band playing where you have hits to set up and specific ways to do that which fit in the song.
I see now that it's a technique and a language, much as I had said jazz is in a past post of mine.
How do you manage to keep the tempos (tempi?) in your head? Do you just eyeball them or is that something I could work on? If so, how?
If you've worked on 4 against 5, 4 against 7, 5 against 7, 6 against 7, etc., having one in each hand, then extend that to 4/5/6/7 one in each limb—or other iteration of that type. That's a starting point. For me (while playing/performing in group or solo), it's not so much that they're discreetly all going in my head like four metronomes more like they're all embodied in some way. Maybe feet are steadier than hands, which can be more syncopated in their times. Just practicing it and using that rhythmic 'dissonance' will be enough to let open the door. Once throug, it more or less takes care of itself via good ol' fashion listening. (listening to what? body, mind, other players, the drums, how the drums feel, or if you subscribe to such things, the Tao or Flow or Buddha Mind, etc.. Then maybe it gets a little 'free'.)
Lots of ambient crash and boom. Making the drums not sound like drums. But phrases of crashing cars and passing diesel trains. Burning bridges and a cat's coughing. Howling dogs in back alleys over paper shacks in ancient China. And the rushing rivers. THEN the rivers diverge into New York harbors - where numerous sins lie in shallow depths. Shimmering water in the moonlight with all kinds of trash floating. Discarded.
When I am playing like that I create images in my mind and then create the score to a film along with folley sound FX and stuff.
Yes that is the technical "thing" you are doing when you "do that thing you do" but you need to put in context of WTF you are trying to express.
You mean rain drops? Or a street gun battle at 3 AM four blocks away?
ALSO in free jazz please don't shy away from rhythm. But don't be constrained by convention. Imagine a merry-Go-round with children going around and around. Some screaming some crying. The circular pattern makes a long extended rhythm with each child a possible downbeat.
Wow. Thanks
That's brilliant.