Perennial nuggets of wisdom on improvisation, performing, and living a musical life from the great pianist and composer Thelonious Monk - as heard and recorded by soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy during his tenure in one of Monk's band.  This has been saved on my phone for a really long time. I often go back to it.  Some of my favourites:

"Don't play everything (or everytime); let some things go by"

"A note can be as small as a pin or as big as the world, it depends on your imagination"

"You got it! If you don't want to play, tell a joke or dance, but in any case, you got it! (to the drummer who didn't want to solo)"

Sitting down at the piano after hearing of Jim Blackley's passing - this tune just kind of came out.  Jim was my teacher from 2013 to 2016, and during that time I learned so much.  His distillation of the 'essence' jazz drumming, core of musicality on the drumset, and the way his method centered the act of practice on a mindful cultivation of self, as much as on tangible techniques, has encouraged a path of discovery for me - in my craft, in my teaching, and in my life.  But I also hold with me the razor sharp bit insight that he often left me with at the end of our lessons in his handwritten practice notes - "smile you prick!" Like a a Zen koan - it's hidden, multi-faceted wisdom has resonated with me often: a counterpoint to the focus of disciplined study, to be kind to yourself, to not think of 'failure' or 'success' - only process and intention, to always remain open, outward, connected, listening, offering.

I tend to be hesitant to share some of the music that I write, because I either feel like it might not be interesting enough, or isn't quite where I want it to be. I wrote this piece about a year ago and have yet to bring it up at a session or a gig - but remembering Jim's advice makes me realize that maybe I've just been forgetting to smile :)

I'll post up a recording or video soon! 

"There's only this moment, start now!" - Jim Blackley

I recently came across this video showcasing a really cool way of representing rhythm through animation:

Traditional Western musical notation, is just one of many ways to represent and communicate music in a visual form.  Especially when it comes to cyclical rhythms like a short ostinato, or a drumset groove, using a circle based visual method just seems to make natural sense!  It's immediately accessible, and because it's so tactile, it really helps to reinforce and support your listening - which is always the ultimate goal!

For some time, I've been using a similar method (though much lower tech!) with students of all ages, and I've found it to be very helpful for getting them started with reading, making that key visual-aural connection, and just making it a more fun process using colour!  Bars are represented in cycles, with beats and their subdivisions around a circle diagram and you can assign different colours to different sounds on the drums.  You can actually get fairly complex as well, indicating RH rhythms to notate polyrhythmic grooves.

This method can apply to any percussion instrument - assigning colours to different sounds - strokes on the congas, djembe, pandeiro etc.  It works very well for percussion ensembles too. My partner and I actually developed this notation originally for a March break camp for 6-8 year olds. You can quickly create many interlocking patterns that are easy for each student to follow (I usually use a modified version that just uses numbers for the counts).   It's a fun and empowering activity for students to create their own rhythms too, and a great listening exercise as well - ask the members of class to listen for who's playing with them on their number, or which sounds do they hear on beat 3 etc.

The inspiration for this notation stems from an analysis that one of our teachers, Jesse Stewart developed for examining cyclical 'diatonic' rhythmic structures in music connected to African, and African diasporic roots.  This article is a great read!

Offering different systems of notation, and ways of communicating sound is very helpful to reach students with different learning strengths, and opening their experience up to practices beyond the Western common practice tradition.

If you're a teacher interested in trying some of these ideas out with your students, feel free to get in touch and I'd be happy to pass along some more info and templates!

For the past 3 years, I have had the privilege of studying with Jim Blackley. Today was my last lesson (though, graciously his door is always open for a "tune-up" lesson).  It's hard to put into words what Jim's lessons have meant for me, but they have had a profound impact on my music and have given me so much beyond it that l will continue to reflect on.  Jim is one of those rare teachers that can exude wisdom without needing to say very much.  Sometimes just playing in front of him has been enough to give me an important insight about myself.

Jim's book The Essence of Jazz Drumming is a distillation of his teaching method, and it's a really excellent source for anyone looking for a way to get deeper into time and jazz drumming.  One of the keystones of the book and his method is focusing on articulation in the ride cymbal - thinking about the musical line in the RH, and having "extensions" flow from that line, in the LH, BD, HH etc. 

Long dashes indicate a full stroke, while dots indicate a light tap (if on the downbeat), or light drop stroke (if on the upbeat.

A hallmark of Jim's teaching is stressing practice at very slow tempo - for these Basic Time exercises, practicing at quarter note = 40bpm - 60bpm, which is so beneficial to internalizing that articulation, and really embodying the time.  I've found that practicing most of the material in this book in this way to be almost meditative, and the benefits have been far reaching.

I highly recommend checking out the Essence of Jazz Drumming, and Jim's other iconic publications - Syncopated Rolls, and Rhythmical Explorations.  They are the kinds of books that will give you a lifetime of material to explore.

This is my first blog post! So the idea behind this blog is to have a place to work out ideas I've been thinking about - related to teaching, playing and composing, but also a space to share inspiring ideas and music that I've discovered.  My original idea was for this to be a teaching focused blog - to be geared mainly to students, but I think now it will be more eclectic.  To start though, I'll be I'll probably be focusing a lot on some of the material, and ideas that I've found helpful, exciting, uplifting, and that might be inspiring to other students of drumming and music.  We'll see where it goes from there. Stay tuned...