Drum Related

After hosting four consecutive annual festivals on the company’s own premises in Gutenstetten, Germany, the Meinl Drum Festival is now going international and will be held at the Palace of Youth in Moscow on 6 June.

“Our idea is to host the festival in an international metropolis one year, and then go back to Gutenstetten again the year after,” explains Meinl’s festival coordinator Norbert Saemann.

“This year we will debut the international Meinl Drum Festival in Moscow, Russia. Drummers all over the world have followed the previous festival on the internet and have watched the videos we produced. We have had an especially strong demand from Russian drummers to host a Meinl Drum Festival in 
Moscow.”

The festival line-up includes

-    Mike Terrana, USA (Tarjia)

-    Wolfgang Haffner, Germany (Nils Landgren, Till Broenner)

-    Snake, Russia (Agata Kristy, Naive)

-    Benny Greb, Germany (Jerobeam)

-    Thomas Lang, Austria

The team at Mapex HQ has developed a brand new, completely revised UK website. You can check a whole new selection of artist features and performance videos at www.mapex.co.uk. There’s a whole section dedicated to exclusive tutorial videos from top Mapex education partners, plus a full list of recommended Educators for the learning and developing drummer. You can also read all about the latest product, event and gossip news in and around the world of Mapex.

The site is now live, so get online and check out www.mapex.co.uk.

People very very rarely count when playing, however, I’d advise it! As the sub-divisions get higher so the count gets harder. For sextuplets there are a few counts we could use:

1 T L 2 T L 3 T L 4 T L – this is best for if you’re playing fast as you simply apply to count to the leading hand and double up with the other.

1 + T + L + 2 + T + L + 3 + T + L + 4 + T + L + - this is best to use when you are playing an 8th note triplet hi hat and want to play a sextuplet bass drum (as an example).

1 t l + t l 2 t l + t l 3 t l + t l 4 t l + t l – this is good for if you’re mixing sub-divisions as it has the 8th note count running through it.

1 2 3+ 5 6 2 2 3 + 5 6 3 2 3 + 5 6 4 2 3 + 5 6 – despite being a bit of an odd one (and the most tricky to count!) this is good for if you have an 8th note hi hat and are trying to play a sextuplet bass drum.

I’d say, if you wanna be a GOOD drummer you should learn them all and learn WHERE they work to help you. Guessing only works SOME of the time!

So now you’ve seen me play it here’s me explaining how you can play it for yourself. Again, apologies for the poor sound quality!

As you guys should know by now I like to give you little exercises to try out! Well this time I’ve decided to film it and show you. So here is a clip of me PLAYING the exercise and next time I’ll give you the clip of me explaining how you can do it yourself.
I do apologise in advance for the poor sound quality!

All musicians need to protect their instruments, stands and gear. Whether it’s a highly prized custom built drum kit or a microphone stand, up to now, the choice of hardware bags has been limited to bulky, heavy duty bags designed to carry serious weight and accommodate multiple stands.

Protection Racket has been inundated with requests to produce a lightweight, slim line, hardware case. They can now announce the launch of their new universal compact hardware case (product code 5031) where only a small number of stands need to be carried, protected and stored.
The new case is ideal for microphone stands (notorious for having plastic clips which can break) or that gold-plated hi-hat stand which can now be carried individually or a couple of light weight boom stands. It offers protection to that special piece of hardware you wanna keep safe and snug. At 42″ long the case will accommodate the vast majority of stands and has two internal straps to ensure they won’t move around in transit.
Built to Protection Rackets top specifications, the case has a fully adjustable shoulder strap, an abrasive resistant base and features the new 2 piece self gripping ergo handle. It is also lined with extra hardwearing Racketex for long life protection.
RRP £51.99
www.protectionracket.com

Neil Peart ‘terrified’ before Buddy Rich Memorial concert
Rush drummer Neil Peart took part in the Buddy Rich Memorial Concert on October 18 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City along with the likes of Nick Rich (The Buddy Rich Band), John Blackwell, Terry Bozzio, Chad Smith, Jeff Berlin, Will Lee and Tommy Igoe.

After the event Peart summed his emotions on the night on his website: “In my time, I have climbed some serious mountains, from hiking to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro and bicycling over the Simplon Pass in the Alps, to facing down the uphill battles that life throws up in all our paths. However, one of the hardest climbs I ever had to make was just four steps — up to the stage of the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, on the night of October 18, 2008.

“In forty-three years of playing drums, I have walked onto thousands of stages, of course, and I am always tense and anxious — tense with determination to play well, and anxious about not playing well. But this stage, this performance, was, as my teacher Freddie Gruber would say, ‘a whole other thing.’ Earlier that day, friends asked me how I was doing, and I shrugged and said, ‘Terrified!’ They laughed, but that was a pretty accurate confession.

“I felt I had a lot to live up to on that stage — the weight of expectations, my own and the audience’s, and of course, the peerless drumming deity under whose name we were performing: Buddy Rich. I wanted to do my best — better than my best! — and I would only have one chance: right now. The house was full of great musicians, in the band and in the crowd, and, oh yes — the show was not only being recorded and filmed, it was streaming live on the Drum Channel website, all over the world.”

You can read more over at neilpeart.com.

(Courtesy of rhythmmag.co.uk)

Legendary British drum teacher Bob Armstrong is hosting an Up Close and Personal clinic with Top UK session drummer Mark Mondesir on Sunday 7 December 2008 at The Royal British Legion Band Hall, Western Road, Romford. The show kicks off at 2:30pm.

Tickets are available now by calling 01708 763 708 or emailing masterclass.bob@btinternet.com

Drum sensation Dave Weckl will be conducting a short UK clinic tour in November to promote the arrival of Yamaha’s brand new PHX - Phoenix kit, billed by Yamaha as ‘the ultimate drum kit’. Yamaha claims it’s their best sounding kit ever and at over £5000 it’s also the most expensive and the result of over five years of extensive research at Yamaha’s drum laboratory in Japan.

Dave Weckl, together with a leading group of some of the world’s most respected drum artists have been working alongside Yamaha’s top sound engineers and drum technicians on the Phoenix since the idea was first conceived in 2003.

On the kit Dave Weckl says: “Yamaha drums have always set a very high standard. Everything from the sound of the drums to the hardware has been in a class of their own. I’ve have played Yamaha Drums for 25 years and have always been very happy, however the all-new Phoenix hybrid shells are something completely different. To be honest they are a major step up from anything I’ve heard from any drum. There is more high-end, more low-end and much more depth and volume. I honestly haven’t been this excited about a drum set for a long time. This is a serious advancement in the world of drums and I’d encourage all drummers to come along to the UK’s shows- they won’t believe their ears!”

The clinic tours stops at the following locations: Monday 17 November, Drum Central, Glasgow (0141 334 7111); Tuesday 18 November, Drum Centre, Manchester (0161 789 4415); and Wednesday 19 November, Drum Cavern, Brighton (01273 665 414).

Tickets are bound to sell out so book your tickets now by calling the host drum stores today!

Source:-http://www.rhythmmag.co.uk/page/rhythm?entry=yamaha_s_phoenix_kit_to

KDDI has teamed up with Yamaha to create a series of phones designed to be used as musical instruments. It’s part of an exhibit launched in July called “Musical Mobile Phones/Instruments You Can Carry.”

The idea is to inspire creativity and make communication easier, according to KDDI. The two shown here, phones inside two drumsticks, are called “sticks in the air.”