Teach an old dog new tricks?

[flamgod]

Hi there. I don't post much, and haven't in years. I never marched corps. I really only marched in high school and graduated high school in '05 (does that count?) . Anyway, what I'm saying is I'm not a diehard player, but I did try to keep up with general things that were going on in the composition of rudimental drumming. The other day, I printed out the 34 vic licks I found on the website and, of those, Pete Sapadin's was the only one that seemed remotely familiar in terms of composition style. It's like how the Downfall of Paris and Wilcoxon solos just look different than what we see these days. So, my question is, what has changed. Visuals and music seem more minimalist, more streamlined. I don't see as much Violent Icecream as I used to. This leads me to the subject and the reason for this thread. Knowing that I come from a learned era of the late 90s early 00s, what new 'tricks' have been tossed in to the mix of composition writing, performance and style? This could be visual, this could be new hybrids, new use of tuplets, or even subtle things like spacing and dynamics? I am still a recreational composer. Thoughts? Also, any thoughts on the history of drumming and its evolution in terms of writing layout would be cool to hear about.

[MrSirEric]

New use of tuplets is probably the biggest thing, it seems to me that many of the top composers now are using metric modulation as effectively the focus of their music. Look at the Vanguard book from this year. The third movement snare break starts out with eggbeaters to threes and back again. Or the snare and tenor breaks in the dance movement with the 16th kicks in between sixtuplets. It's not the choppiest or densest music you've ever seen (although the dance break is up there), but the metric modulation and ability of the players to create these rhythms is what makes it interesting, rather than the ability of the line to hammer out the fastest flam drags this side of the Mississippi. Rennick may not be the best example to sum up all of drumline writing since he has a pretty unique style and has for a long time, but more and more people seem to be heading in that same direction of rhythms and syncopated accents over straight beef. Minimalist is a pretty good way to describe it, but I think a better description would be complexity through nuance, rather than through brute force.

I just reread all of that and to clarify I'm not trying to dunk on old drumline writing. There's still a lot of nuance in old books and I'm not trying to take away from that. The point I'm trying to make is that in general the style has shifted such that those nuances are now the focus of many groups' writing, which leads to a different kind of difficulty. Its a hard thing to put into words and I'm still not doing a super good job but somebody will probably know what I mean and be able to say it better.

[lazeryth03]

[...]with the 16th kicks[...]

I'd never heard the term "kicks" until the last few months and it keeps popping up here and there. Would you be so kind as to explain what they are?

[Zeta12ti]

[...]with the 16th kicks[...]

I'd never heard the term "kicks" until the last few months and it keeps popping up here and there. Would you be so kind as to explain what they are?

I'm not exactly sure what the term means in general, but I'm pretty sure I know what Eric's talking about here. The part he's referring to alternates between two sixteenth notes and 6 sixlets (for a total of a dotted quarter note worth of notes) and the sticking and accents are something like rL rLrrll rL rLrrll. It might refer to the odd accent pattern, with accents right after the beat, instead of on it.

[MrSirEric]

[...]with the 16th kicks[...]

I'd never heard the term "kicks" until the last few months and it keeps popping up here and there. Would you be so kind as to explain what they are?

I'm not exactly sure what the term means in general, but I'm pretty sure I know what Eric's talking about here. The part he's referring to alternates between two sixteenth notes and 6 sixlets (for a total of a dotted quarter note worth of notes) and the sticking and accents are something like rL rLrrll rL rLrrll. It might refer to the odd accent pattern, with accents right after the beat, instead of on it.

That is exactly what I was talking about, and yes the off-beat accent pattern is what I was referring to when I said the left hand "kicks"

[Spiritsnare80]

I would love to see a written example or even several written examples of this and anything remotely related to the
"new" writing focus. From an old school chops guy who would like to take his writing in a different direction due to
being tired of writing the same old combinations, this would breathe new life into my writing for me AND the students
and drum lines that I write for. Who better to steer me than a student who is studying at North Texas?

I look forward to your response. Any direction you could provide would be appreciated.

Keep on drumming!

Dennis