DRUMS!!!

[Diesel_tke]

So I have played drums prettying my while life. I've been playing the djembe for a while. I've got a few of them. To this thread is to talk drums. Fun, martial arts related, drum ideas, videos, whatever. If there are any other drummers out there, holla back.

Here is a video of me banging on my djembe at the house:

[Diesel_tke]

Well, fuck you guys. I guess I'm the only one. So I'll talk to myself, just in case anyone ever searches the site and wants to talk drums.

Lately I've been hearing(seeing on threads) the dogs talk more about using drums during their classes and training sessions. Apparently they will just have someone playing to create a tempo that they use while doing some stick drills. I've been thinking about trying this out, but I need someone to play for me while I do my drills! Otherwise I would be the only one playing, and not training.

I've read that the Inosanto academy uses drums occasionally in their classes and that the dogs have them at the gatherings. I've seen some video from some of them. Matter of fact, I think Permalost was playing at one if them.

I know the Coporeira people use music while training, but I've never done any so I don't know what all that intails. If it is just cultural, or if their is a method to the madness like striking to the beat or something along those lines.

Well, if I can find more information about drums an martial arts, I'll post it here as I come accross it. I know that the dogbrothers sell some drum CDs on their site, and so does the Inosanto academy. I believe the drum sex CD is on iTunes too.

[W. Rabbit]

Hung ga and drumming go back hundreds of years. It is incorporated it into our strength training.

If I wasn't still terrible at it, I'd post a video.

[Diesel_tke]

That's cool. I didn't even think about CMA and Japanese drumming. When I lived in Japan I went to a few of the big drum shows, and they were awesome.

So when you are exercising to those drums, are they just playing in the background or are the exercises done to cadence or something like that?

I like that drum he was using in your video. Hitting the sides of the drum was interesting. And those mallets looked like Claves.

[ermghoti]

I'm a (hack) kit drummer, different concept. One of the best things I've done, musically though. Rhythm has gone from highly suspect to quite solid, I used to play in odd time by accident when improvising/jamming, land fills all over the place, missteps generally meant trainwrecks, huge, huge improvements.

Got into it primarily because I just love drums, by which I mean the physical objects. Love the workmanship, warm glow of wood, the engineering of the hardware, the ancient art of making a metal plate into music, the nuances of tuning... and so on. Always made a nuisance of myself in rehearsal space, borrowing the throne for a minute here and there.

Stumbled across a deal too good to refuse, started taking lessons, good times.

[Zencreative]

There's a poster in my local gym advertising drum lessons with the claim that drummers have the same stamina as professional athletes (or premiership footballers at least). And here's the source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7518888.stm
Pretty cool that you can get fit and play music at the same time. My guitar playing mainly led me into unhealthy habits i.e. drinking, smoking and taking drugs (although I've largely grown out of that now).

[Chili Pepper]

Drummer since 1979, mostly djembe these days, although a little in capoeira

My introduction to FMA was via my guro's (then) girlfriend, who showed me double sinawalli. I picked it up in about 10 seconds, which pissed her off mightily - meh, it was just another drum rhythm, really.

[W. Rabbit]

So when you are exercising to those drums, are they just playing in the background or are the exercises done to cadence or something like that?

We don't train to the music, the drumming and dancing with the lion head are the strength training themselves.

A few times a year you can see the street demos in Chinatown etc.

That thing is not light.

[Diesel_tke]

I'm a (hack) kit drummer, different concept. One of the best things I've done, musically though. Rhythm has gone from highly suspect to quite solid, I used to play in odd time by accident when improvising/jamming, land fills all over the place, missteps generally meant trainwrecks, huge, huge improvements.

Got into it primarily because I just love drums, by which I mean the physical objects. Love the workmanship, warm glow of wood, the engineering of the hardware, the ancient art of making a metal plate into music, the nuances of tuning... and so on. Always made a nuisance of myself in rehearsal space, borrowing the throne for a minute here and there.

Stumbled across a deal too good to refuse, started taking lessons, good times.

Yeah, I started playing in middle school when they had one of those classes where you get to play with instruments in case you take to any. I played the drum for a little and never stopped. I played everything from the tympany to the kit. I've still got a kit, djembe, and my kids are playing djembes now. That's pretty cool to me.

[Diesel_tke]

Drummer since 1979, mostly djembe these days, although a little in capoeira

My introduction to FMA was via my guro's (then) girlfriend, who showed me double sinawalli. I picked it up in about 10 seconds, which pissed her off mightily - meh, it was just another drum rhythm, really.

Yeah, I noticed that I pick up stick patterns really easily, and I attribute that to drumming. Also the metronome, timing, and rhythm while sparring.

[W. Rabbit]

[Permalost]

I used to be a lion dance musician (drum, gong and cymbals), and I liked it a lot more than hunching over and acting like an animal's ass. When I got into FMA and DBMA, I found that a lot of SE Asian styles incorporate drumming into training and/or demonstrations. I've become one of the go-to drummers of the group if we're performing somewhere. At the last Dog Brothers gathering, there were no other drummers so I drummed for nearly every fight for like 4 hours.

In the last few months, I started learning the dumbek drum, and going to actual classes to learn it properly from a master. Its my favorite drum so far yet. I got to play it as part of a drum ensemble for a FMA Guro exam just yesterday (also like 4 hours).


^my teacher and I on the news


^playing Marc Denny's big djembe for the gathering

A few weeks ago, my teacher asked me to show him the lion dance drumming. It turns out that like 4 years later, I'm still pretty good at it.

[Permalost]

Also, as a kung fu teacher and lion dance drummer, I would sometimes incorporate the drumming into class, as a beat marker for shifting stances or whatever. Everyone liked it.

My arnis style also has a cool little form thing that focuses on shifting chambers while moving in a "chicken step". Done to a drum beat. Reminds me of Latin dance, since the feet are close and quick- you can't try to do it with wide, low kung fu stances and still be quick enough.

[Diesel_tke]

In the last few months, I started learning the dumbek drum, and going to actual classes to learn it properly from a master. Its my favorite drum so far yet. I got to play it as part of a drum ensemble for a FMA Guro exam just yesterday (also like 4 hours).
.

That's pretty cool. I've got a dumbek, just a little one, and it's pretty cool. We had a drum circle at my house on new years and a friend brought a pretty nice one that actually had little cymbals like a tambarine mounted near the head on the inside of it. It made a really cool sound. I don't know where that one came from but I'm thinking about getting one!

[W. Rabbit]

Wow I was looking up previous years' Chinatown videos on youtube and found my horrible gong performance. I'm in this video, as is my sifu. I'm the guy on the right, in the black cap at 0:58 and near the end, playing the mini-gong.