Monthly Roundup #18 - August '19

I spent most of August sunning it up in Greece, so there’s not too much to talk about this time around...! There were a few “drummy” things going on (of course!), but for the most part I was in holiday mode having some family time - which was lovely, of course!

One project I had some fun with came in the form of a quirky little 20x12 bass drum, which I picked up at last month’s drum hang at the “drumble sale” I mentioned! When I say 20x12, it was actually slightly over 20” in diameter. I’m definitely no craftsman, but I figured it was close enough to 20” for me to find a way to get a modern 20” head on it, which is what I was hoping for to make it much more usable for me. Granted, I could have just kept both calf skin heads on it, but for me to really use it out and about, I wanted the reliability of a modern head on the batter side without worrying about it breaking on me! 

The 20x12 bass drum as it was when I picked it up

With that being the case there was a bit of work to do on it (as you’ll see from the photos), but essentially the steps I had to take were to first cut away the wrap (which actually went over the bearing edge and hung loose inside the drum!), and then to sand down the outside edge of the shell to make it possible to squeeze a modern 20” head on. As as I say, I’m no expert with this kind of thing, so it’s not the tidiest of work, but it actually did the job really nicely!

The wrap went right over the edge into the drum!

I cut away the excess wrap…

…and sanded down the shell and edges a bit, to help the modern heads to fit.

The drum now has a coated Powerstroke 3 on the batter side, with the original calf skin head on the resonant side, plus a felt strip on each head to dampen it a little... and it sounds fantastic, if I do say so myself! The calf skin head kicks off a lot of bottom end from the front, and it’s got a really nice amount of resonance. It won’t be the drum for everything, of course, but I’m sure there will be occasions when it’ll fit the bill perfectly and prove a really handy drum to have in the collection.

The end result! Granted, it looks much the same as the first picture, but with the PowerStroke on and a spot of dampening, it sounds wonderful!

As I say, I spent most of August away on holiday, but I did bring a pad and got a bit of practice done here and there - mainly whenever everyone else was sat around the pool reading! I went away with a few things in mind that I wanted to work on. First, was building strength and control using my fingers in a French or German grip style, so there were a few exercises I would work on for that, and the other thing I wanted to try out was something I heard Carter McLean talk about at a clinic of his I went to a few months back, and hadn’t got around to yet! That idea was to take odd groups of notes (3s/5s/7s) and apply them over singles, doubles and paradiddles (accenting the groups), so it would sound the same (3s/5s/7s) regardless of sticking patterns. It was a fun little brain-teaser, but by the end of the holiday it was starting to feel more comfortable! I’m looking forward to spending a bit more time applying the ideas to the kit as they get more comfortable. Check out the view I got to practice with, too! Also, that Moongel Workout Pad really is a workout - absolutely no rebound from that thing to help you out!!

Practice with a view!

Over the last couple of weeks of August I had my last spot of summer teaching before the schools got started again in September. I really enjoy these lessons, and what’s especially nice is for the parents to have the opportunity to sit in on them and see what we’re up to, which they can’t usually do with the school lessons. The rehearsal studio I use is a fantastic facility, run by a really nice group of people - and what’s more? They’ve got a Gretsch - Perfect! ;)

The setup at the teaching studio I use over the Summer

One spot of playing I did have lined up in August was joining some friends at their church for the morning, which was a real pleasure as they’re an exceptional bunch of musicians! The band was fantastic, and people were really appreciative of us coming along to help out. With the drums themselves, I was delighted to hear how good they still sounded despite a few weeks sitting in cases - no further tuning required - just straight out the cases and they were good to go!

Great to be sat back at the kit after a few weeks in holiday mode! And what’s more, the Brooklyn’s sounded just as good as they did last time I had them out - great drums!

That’s pretty much it for the drumming stuff I had going on in August, so I’m now getting set for a very busy looking September after a fairly quiet summer. Overall, it’s been really nice having a bit of down time (and most of all, getting to spend lot of time with my wife!), but I am also looking forward to getting back to the usual madness….! Thanks as always for checking in, and I’ll catch you next time! All the best, Ed.