The video "Row Row Row Your Boat" is actually an exercise from the paper "Playing a Round on the Drumset" that I wrote for the Percussive Arts Society. It is a four voice round applied to the drumset. If you don't know what that means, you should download the .PDF file of the article, it will explain the whole concept.

The second video, titled "Another Round" is actually the first example in the "Playing a round..." article.

Regarding the video, I recorded it with my little digital camera in my practice studio, so the sound quality and editing suck. Get over it, it's the technique itself that we're interested in.

The drumset is a 1967 Ludwig (it's the first kit I ever owned. I bought it around '71 or '72 for $200).

I will be posting more videos of these techniques in the future. However, I want to wait to produce the really good stuff until I have my new kit from Po' Boy and I line up a good videographer so that I can give these concepts the quality instruments and production they deserve. Until then, I hope this will whet your appetite.

In addition to the drumset, I also play an instrument called the Chapman Stick. Invented in 1969 by Emmet Chapman, the Stick is a ten stringed instrument that covers the range of a standard four string bass and a six string guitar. The instrument has extremely low action (meaning the strings are very close to the fret board and easy to bed) and very sensitive pickups. It is played entirely by hammering and pulling off, that is by tapping the strings and plucking them after tapping. It can be played like a piano, with the left hand tapping a bass line while the right hand taps chords and melodies. Or the two hands can work together to create thick and rich grooves.

The second song on my profile is called The Hodja In Tralles. It was recorded on a portable recorder at a rehearsal. The first instrument that you hear is the Chapman Stick, me playing the primary groove in 7/8.  The first voice you hear is guitarist Frank D'Angelo expressing his personal issues.

Regarding the title, "Hodja" is a Turkish word that means Teacher, and Tralles is the name of the ruins of an ancitne Roman city. When I was in Turkey in 2002, I visited the ruins of Tralles, near the modern city of Aydin. While I was there I met the archeologist in charge of the dig. He was a professor and an expert, so everyone there called him "Hodja"

Learn more about the Chapman Stick at the source: www.stick.com

Here's a little informationa about the first piece that's playing on my site: The Venus Of Willendorf's Atlatl.

This piece is a duet between me and midi guitarist Frank D'Angelo and it can all be performed live. The guitar part is a "soundscape", that is, it's not a chord progression or melody per se. Furthermore, it's not fixed in a time signature. It's an improvised atmosphere of shifting tonalities and timbres constructed from a series of loops that Frank builds from his bank of guitar synthesizer tones using a digital repeating unit. In this way, it is the complete oposite of the drum part, which is completely structured in specific sections, and is firmly rooted in a specific time signature. Furthermore, the drum part is creating melody.

The drum part starts with an ostinato (repeating figure) between the bass drum (right foot) and a jam block (left foot). Something new is added every eight measurs. First the left hand comes in with the primary snare. Then the bass drum doubles up in the right foot. Then the left had adds the secondary snare. Then the secondary snare doubles up. All this is done with the two feet and the left hand.

At this point I start adding in the toms with my right hand - straight eighth notes. It starts with one tom, then two, then three, then four, then five. Once all five toms have been introduced, I start improvising syncopated figures with my hand, first over two toms, then three, four, and five. All of this occurs in eight measure incriments.

Now it changes directions some. I jump to a syncopated double bass ostinato and begin improvising a series of eight measure solos over the bass drums using all five toms and both snare drums. For the first solo I use only quarter, eighth, and sixteenth notes. Then I add sextuplets to the mix. Then I add in triplet. Then I add 32nd note rolls. I end this whole section with a series of sixteenth note sextuplet fills between the toms and double bass.

The coda of the piece is a deconstruction. I go right back to the original ostinato with the right hand playing eighth notes over the five toms. This time it's only for four measures. Then four toms. Then three toms. Two toms. One tom. Then just the left hand on the two snares and the feet on bass drum and wood block. Back out the secondary snare. Then drop out the primary snare and just let the bass drum and wood block play for four measurs.

So, the structure of the drum part takes an idea from minimalist composerts like Steve Reich and Phillip Glass: adding a little bit at a time until it becomes something huge. It's also inspired in a LARGE way by the ostinato concepts of drummer Terry Bozzio.

Regarding the title. The Venus of Willendorf is a paleolithic stone statue of an obese nude woman with enormous breasts and a fully developed vulva. Art historians and social anthropologists tend to believe that it is a fertility fetish, possibly representing early man's concept the femenine ideal.. The Atlatl, on the other hand, is one of the worlds first advancements in weapon design, predating the bow and arrow. "Atlatl" is an Aztec word (pronounced AT-LAT-UL). The atlatl is a hooked stick that is used to add velocity when throwing a spear by creating centrifugal force and artificially extending the length of the arm of the thrower. So, the Venus of Willendorf is an ancient symbol all about woman, earth, birth, nurturing. The Atatl is an ancient symbol all about man, hunting, killing, war. They are oposites, but inextricably tied to each other, like the two elements of the song itself.