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6/8 to 4/4 Transitions | Concepts and Tips for Improved Performance in New Situations | "Be Prepared"

"Be Prepared"

by Michael Green

"Be Prepared" –the scout motto. Although I was a never a boy scout, I have adopted this motto when it comes to walking into a new gig. A few weeks ago I got a call from Tommy Hannum, steel player and band leader for Ricky Van Shelton, a country music star. Tommy informed me that they are looking for a new drummer and rehearsals start in a few days. Ah, the power of networking–I had been subbing on a showboat in Nashville (the General Jackson) and Tommy called Mel Deal, the guitarist on the boat, asking if he knew of any drummers. Mel told him about me and that I was a "good preparer." Tommy trusted Mel's word and offered me the gig without ever having heard my playing. I gladly accepted the job. Tommy gave me an assorted pile of CD's, tapes, and video cassettes to learn the material from, about 40 tunes–no charts! My main concern was that I only had a few days to learn the music and I was going to be on the road doing a big band gig for the next few days. I also knew that, unlike jazz, these songs have very particular parts, which, in my book, makes for a bigger challenge as far as preparation is concerned. Although I wish I could memorize 40 songs in three days, I knew that in order for me to really do a good job I would have to chart all of the tunes. Luckily, I ended up having a day off while on the road to devote to learning the material and putting a "book" together. As a result of my book, I was able to pretty much nail every tune the first time in rehearsal even though I never had a chance to physically play through them. To make a long story short, the band loved what I did and I now have a great gig! The guys in the band were amazed that I could actually read the stuff I wrote!

Seeing what an asset it has been to be able to make up my own book of charts, I thought it would make a great topic for a Percussion Sessions article. But, before I unfold the mysteries of making a book up to you, I just want to state that this is my own method of writing drum charts, which is some variation between big band drum charts and the Nashville Number System although there are no chordal references whatsoever. Maybe we should just call it "Short Hand Drum Charts"

Step #1 Getting Ready
First thing I do is organize and condense my material. If I have a video cassette, I watch it once while dumping the audio down to my computer so I can burn it to a CD. Then I make sure that I have a list of the songs contained on each CD or tape cassette.
You'll need to have the following materials:

white computer paper
plastic sheet protectors
pencils and erasers
a ruler
three ring binder
alphabetizing tabs
exacto-knife
metronome
headphones

Step #2 Prioritize
Next, I sit down and prioritize the music. In Ricky's show the first 8 songs are always the same and have specific segues so I started with those ones. Then I pick out any songs that I know are more complicated and will be more of a challenge. It's best to end with the easiest ones just to be nice to the brain.

Step #3 Making the Charts
Put on a set of headphones and start listening to the first song, headphones allow you to hear more detail, especially if the quality of the audio is not very good. Lets look at a couple of the actual charts I made up for Ricky's show and I'll walk you through each step I take to constructing a drum chart.

I. Header

a. First I take my ruler and draw a line for the header of the chart. I then write the title of the song on the line.
b. Next I get the metronome and find the tempo. If it's a live recording, it's best to find a vocal section and get the tempo from there to insure that you will have the right tempo for the melody–sometimes in live situations the band rushes the instrumental sections. The tempo goes immediately to the right of the title. Remember that consistency is extremely important. You want to be able to know exactly where to look to find what you are looking for.
c. What style is the song? Is it a shuffle, straight eighth ballad, a polka, a train beat, afro-cuban, etc.? Mark the style in parentheses to the right of the tempo marking.
d. Do you have to count off the tune? I write the count off at an angle in the upper left hand corner. In the case of the chart in example B, there is no count off. The two hits on the snare bring in the steel guitar pick-up notes. In example A, I count of two beats and do a specific drum fill to bring the band in.
e. The circled number "1" in ex. A and the circle numbered "2" in ex. B correspond to metronome program numbers. I program the metronome because there is no time to search for the tempo and these tunes are always back to back. These markings always go in the upper left hand corner and are always circled.

II. The Body
a. Key

1. The Map–Different sections of the song, such as verse, chorus, introduction, solos, interludes etc., are identified in the boxes.
2. Underneath the "section" box is information about the sounds that are being used. "SN" stands for snare drum. "SS" stands for side stick. "open hat" means that the hi hat cymbals are played slightly open to make that sloshy sound. "closed hat" means that the hi hat cymbals are tight together. "ride" indicates to go to the ride cymbal during this section. "BR" would mean to go to brushes. If the sound changes during the section I will simply write it above the measure. For example at the end of the first chorus the drums switch from eighth notes on the hat and eighth notes on the floor tom.
3. Slash notation–this is the work horse of the chart. Four slashes represent four beats. The number above the slashes represents how many measures that single measure represents. I write specific bass drum patterns underneath the slashes.
4. Vocal cues, like the one in ex. A at the end of the introduction, go underneath the measure in quotation marks.
5. "fill" markings go underneath the measure where it is needed. A crescendo mark underneath the word "fill" means that the energy needs to come up and a decrescendo marking would indicated that the energy needs to come down. An arrow means that it is more of a transitional fill maintaining the current energy level.
6. I use Rhythmic Notation to mark specific rhythmic figures that the band is doing. For example, in ex. A the last measure of the last chorus and the last two measures of the first line of the "outro."
7. For "solo" sections, I like to make note above the measures what instrument is soloing. For instance, take a look at the "solo" section in ex. B. This detail directs my ears what to listen for and gives me confidence that I know I'm in the right spot when I hear it.
8. Pick up notes and cue notes played by other instruments go in parentheses with the name of the instrument above it. I simply write out the rhythm and don't worry about specific notes. An example of this can be found in the first measure of the intro of ex. B.
9. Any information about segues or transitions is written after the ">" at the end of the chart. For example, ex. A moves directly to ex. B in the show.
10. Repeat signs are always bracketed and indicate how many times to play the repeated section above the last repeat sign. For an example look at the "solo" section in ex. A.

b. writing the chart

Now that you know what everything is and where to put it, all you have to do is listen, count out measures, and make your notes. When counting measures, make sure that your groupings are in conjunction with the phrasing of the song. For example, in ex. A in the first chorus, I could have written a 14 bar slash measure, but the music felt like 12 bars and then 2 bars. In one of Ricky's waltz medleys there is a bunch of 5 measure sections. I could have written a five bar slash measure but the music felt like it was 3 bars and then 2 bars so that's what I wrote in my chart. You can also be creative. For example, at the end of ex. B the band holds a series of notes that end up modulating to the key of the next song. So I represented the directions the pitches move by using glissando type markings to move up to the second hold and down to the final hold. Although that was not imperative, details like that effect the choices I make when I play.

Step #4 Putting It All Together
The last thing to do is to organize all of your charts.

a. First you'll probably need to take your alphabetizing tabs and put each one in its own sheet protector. This is necessary because after you get your charts in the sheet protectors your tabs will not stick out far enough to be visible. But, before you can put the tabs in you need to cut a hole in the sheet protector for the tab to stick out of. All you have to do is put the tab on top off the sheet protector and mark where it hits the sheet protector. Then, using an exact-o-knife, cut a little slit in the sheet protector big enough for the tab to fit through and then simply slide it in.
b. Now organize your charts. If you have a set show then put them in show order. In Ricky's case, we have eight set tunes and then it's a free-for-all the rest of the night. So I put the part of the show that is always the same in the front of the binder and the rest in alphabetical order. There are also some tunes that are not played every night, but when they are played they always make a direct segue to a specific song. In this case, I alphabetize the chart by the title of the first song, write the appropriate notes on the bottom of it, and put the segued song right after.

Now you're set for the gig! Not only have you made yourself a book, but by listening to the music in such detail and organizing what you hear on paper, you have also became closer to knowing the music than you would have by simply listening and/or looking at someone else's charts. I have found that I can wean myself away from the charts that I write much faster than the ones I only read. In fact, after the first couple of shows, most of the songs required only an occasional glance. Of course you can develop your own form of short hand–just remember to be consistent! And always be prepared.

I'd love to hear from you! Email me at mtgreen76@yahoo.com