What exactly is a show drummer? Is it flash and speed and twirling drumsticks, or does it require outlandish costumes and over-sized drum kits?
In the early days of jazz and big band music, drummers like Louie Bellson and Gene Krupa were so revered and respected for their drumming prowess and showmanship they would have their own names painted on the front heads of their drum kits alongside the names of their bandleaders.
Beatles’ drummer Ringo Starr originally had his name on his bass drum before joining the Beatles and putting his band’s name there instead. Although Starr was not a flashy drummer, his drumming was almost immediately recognizable because he had developed his own style. He was, and still is, definitely a showman.
I remember a concert I saw way back in 1980. It was the band Rush. I had idolized drummer Neil Peart, along with the rest of the band, since their beginning in the mid 70s and seeing them live was like a dream come true. Peart’s set was just as I imagined—a drummer’s throne surrounded by all manner of sparkling drums and percussion. He could virtually turn in any direction and there would be something there to play.
As they launched into their current hit “Tom Sawyer,” I was floored by their sound and Peart’s ability to play rhythms and fills that many drummers strained to copy. Then, in the middle of one of their songs, the unthinkable happened—Peart dropped a stick. It literally went flying across the stage, luckily missing guitarist Alex Lifeson and singer/bassist Geddy Lee.
Without missing a beat, Peart held an open palm behind his head, and from between the backstage curtains a drumstick appeared and was placed directly in Peart’s hand. He continued playing as if nothing had happened and I eventually picked up my dropped jaw from the floor. Now that was showmanship. To be so meticulously organized to the point that Peart had but to hold out his open palm was a tribute to the merits of practice.
Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, between playing his complex drum beats and incredibly difficult fills, had the habit of banging his giant gong with flaming beaters. He would often play his kit bare-handed just to get a different sound.

Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick likes to use a pair of gigantic drumsticks, among other things, when playing live.

Professional drummer Lou Mars, who has been compared to The Who’s Keith Moon, says “I’m a show drummer, but more specifically I think my style is like a controlled crash.” Mars, the grand prize winner of the Dixon Drums’ “Drum your way to Hollywood” Contest, also set the second longest Marathon Drumming World Record at 108.5 hours in January 2010. But showmanship doesn’t have to be all about tricks with flaming beaters or huge drumsticks.

A friend of mine, a drummer by the name of Martin Parker, has played with artists like Ricky Scaggs, Vince Gill, Earl Scruggs, Patti Loveless and Allison Krause and never so much as twirls a drumstick. Yet, he continues to get calls to go on tour because he does one thing very, very well—he drums.
As an entertainer, it’s up to you to make sure the audience gets what it came to see—a show. But performing is also a balancing act that requires you to maintain artistic integrity and play to the best of your ability.

Written by Toby Tate

Toby Tate is a performing musician, songwriter and studio engineer from northeastern North Carolina. Currently a freelance writer, Toby was a reporter and graphic designer for The Daily Advance newspaper for five years and has had stories and articles published in regional and national magazines and on the Internet. His first novel, DIABLERO, a supernatural thriller, will be released worldwide in October by Nightbird Publishing.

As drummers, we all take the snare drum for granted. It’s just another drum, right? Nothing special. But the snare is usually the first drum any drummer learns to play on. In fact, it could be argued that the snare drum is the key piece in your kit, providing the backbeat or the locomotion of the rhythm.

The snare drum began life rather inconspicuously—as a marching instrument for military bands, strapped on to its player and sporting an animal skin for a drum head. Eventually the snare became the core of the “trap” set or drum kit.

Snare drums can be made of birch, mahogany, maple, plywood, fiberglass, or even stainless steel and usually employ plastic or Mylar drum heads. Usually about 14 inches in diameter and six to eight inches deep, the snare drum is sometimes called “the steering wheel” because, well, it kind of looks like a steering wheel and because it “drives” the kit. Sitting on a stand, it is the central focus, directly in front of the player (in most cases) and surrounded by the other drums and cymbals. The kick drum, hi-hat and ride cymbal are also part of what propels musical rhythm, but the snare drum is usually the focal point of any drum kit.

Snare drums are used in everything from classical music to big band, jazz, country and rock. Think about some of the great drummers of the past—Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich, John Bonham—and consider the role the snare drum played in their music. From amazing drum rolls to loud rim shots, the snare always seems to cut through the mix.

There are even bands like the rockabilly trio Stray Cats, whose drummer Slim Jim Phantom uses only two drums—a snare and a kick drum.

The snare drum is typically the most played drum in the kit. Its versatility allows the player to create many different sounds. Loosen the chain (snare) on the bottom (resonant) head, and you instantly have a completely different sound, like that of a timbale. The head can be loosened for a deeper sound or tightened for a higher pitched sound.

Triplets played with brushes a la Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” can create the effect of a train running down the tracks, while a single stroke hammering every fourth note accentuates the driving rhythms of drummer Charlie Watts that brought The Rolling Stones from London clubs to worldwide fame.

Watch an instructional video and most any drum teacher will begin by explaining the purpose of the snare drum and its place in the drum kit. But after a few hundred years of change and evolution, the snare drum has definitely earned its place in the history of drum playing.

References:

Drum Solo.cc: Buying a Snare Drum: The Center of our Universe by Greg Gaylord

Percussion Clinic.com: Snare Drum

Written by Toby Tate

Toby Tate is a performing musician, songwriter and studio engineer from northeastern North Carolina. Currently a freelance writer, Toby was a reporter and graphic designer for The Daily Advance newspaper for five years and has had stories and articles published in regional and national magazines and on the Internet. His first novel, DIABLERO, a supernatural thriller, will be released worldwide in October by Nightbird Publishing.

Check out Part 1 and Part 2 if you have not already.

Community

Perhaps the most overlooked part of creating a successful channel is to understand YouTube as a community. If you join Twitter or Facebook don’t just send out one message and leave it at that. The more you engage the YouTube community the better chance you have of your videos being found. YouTube supports content providers who are active in the community. That is why you often see videos with lower view counts rank higher then videos with substantially more views.

It’s about interaction:

• Subscribe to other channels.
• Add friends.
• Comment on other videos.
• Respond to people who commented on your videos and channel

Collaborate with other musicians or people with channels on YouTube. Recommend their songs, videos, and channels and ask them to do the same for you. This helps cross promote musicians’ channels and brings the collaborators additional viewers.

Don’t sit back and wait for people to discover you, go to where they are. Browse popular videos, ones that are currently rising, top videos of the day, etc and drop a comment. It’s best if the videos have some connection or relevancy to your music, but even if they don’t you are just trying to build exposure for your channel. When commenting follow the same etiquette you do on other social networks. Don’t spam and drop tags randomly, leaving unrelated comments or worse just dropping an ad or call out for your video. Attach video responses on other popular videos but make them relevant (since the owner of the video you respond to will need to approve your video). Don’t be spammy. Video responses are very successful in gaining awareness and they get a much higher click through then text comments.

This wants to be done daily. If you haven’t logged into your account for a week or a month, YouTube may consider you inactive and it could affect your ranking.

YouTube is offering you a free channel to market your music and your showmanship. The more time you put in the more you will get back.

Optimize Your Channel

The place to start is by optimizing your account. What do you name your channel? I suggest you think long term. You may want to name the channel after your band and that might be a good strategy if you are only building an audience for this one band. If you are establishing yourself as a drummer that would like to play in a number of bands or as a drummer for hire, allow your channel help create your personal brand . You might want to think of creating a channel that has legs beyond this band. Why promote yourself? Because people want to trust that they will have a good experience before they buy your next record or attend the next gig. Major artists are well know. You have expectations around their defined genres, styles, and high production value. You know what you are buying. Not so much when it comes to independent musicians.

Write your profile to give visitors a sense of your personality and what this channel is all about. Your description adds some keyword juice to improve search results but more importantly it gives channel visitors an opportunity to know you at a glance. Include all relevant links to your MySpace band profile, Facebook fan page, Last.fm, Soundcolud, iLike, Twitter, and any other links that can help establish your music. You are selling yourself and your content so make sure you tell a compelling story.

Think Long Term

Just like other social networks and DIY marketing efforts this takes time. I would plan on devoting time everyday to your channel. This is a long-term strategy and it is important to start as early as possible in setting up your channel. If you can produce content before you release new tracks or play gigs, you will have better results when you are ready to announce something actionable by your fans. By staying connected to your audience and adding fresh content you will build a fan base not only for this band but for future projects as well. These are the fans that hopefully will purchase your music or attend your gigs, help spread the word of mouth buzz that greatly contributes to a successful music career and perhaps be the ones who help fund your next project.

If you are a solo artist or band trying to get noticed, you should have your music on YouTube. Here you will learn that optimizing your videos for YouTube goes beyond choosing the right keywords. While they are critical to your success they are only part of the solution to getting more views for you content. Lets start by stating our goals:

• Increase awareness and interest for your music
• Develop and sustain positive word of mouth
• Build an audience
• Promote yourself (as a musician/band/live act)

There are four key components:

• Content
• Metadata (part 2)
• Community (part 3)
• Channel (part 4)

Content

Remember, this is about marketing your music and building your reputation as a recording artist or live performer. Audiences want to know what they are buying and trust becomes a big factor in any purchase decision. Your marketing content can get people interested in your music and in you, building the trust needed for an audience to pay with their valuable time. Think of each video the same way you would think about a post on your blog. The videos should communicate a message to your audience that fits your strategy for promoting you and your music. You are constructing a library of content that through the long tail of the web will continue to get views. You have to balance volume and consistent uploads of content to fewer videos of higher production quality. Your videos could be as simple as a vlog or more high production value content such as a full music video, but be consistent and post videos often (at least once a week). The key point is to make a connection with your audience to build trust and interest that provides them a reason to spend their time on your music.

In your videos add a clear call to action asking your viewers to rate your video, (YouTube recently ditched the star system for a thumbs up/down model) leave a comment and subscribe to your channel. The ratings and comments on your videos factor very highly into the ranking of your video. The more people rate and drop a comment, the more it shows Youtube you have engagement with the community.

Content is a key factor in whether someone will subscribe to your channel. These are your über fans who will help you spread the word about your music if you engage with them and make them a part of your channel. Successful marketing is often about good storytelling. Your content should be original, entertaining and interesting enough to increase your chances of viral success (viral meaning simply the act of sharing the videos). You want subscribers to your channel. Who wants to subscribe to a channel of dull videos? As an independent musician, give the same thought to your marketing videos as you do your album releases.

In part 2, we’ll talk about Metadata.