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February 2024 – Volume 48 • Number 02

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Articles in February 2024

Simple Elegance and Class

For this month’s Modern Drummer Kit of the Month, Shawn Messick has sent us pictures of his simple but elegant Gretsch Catalina Maple seven-piece kit, in the Burgundy Fade to Black finish. The Evans hydraulic black chrome heads really look…

Modern Drummer
Jan 31, 2024

The Twain Shall Meet

I started my musical studies at age 5 by taking drum lessons, I was certain that my place in the world would be that of a jazz drummer. Watching television as a child, it was Leonard Bernstein who best captured…

Peter Erskine
Jan 31, 2024

New And Notable February 2024

DW Launches New Expansion Pack for DW Soundworks™ Drum Workshop launches new expansion pack for its premium virtual studio instrument (VST) and drum sample library, DW Soundworks™: True-Cast™ Expansion Pack, featuring the limited edition DW MFG True-Cast 5 x14” Snare…

Modern Drummer
Jan 31, 2024

Melodics - Now for Acoustic Drums

Melodics is a subscription-based software platform designed to help people develop their skills on various musical instruments. Like popular video games such as Rock Band, Melodics incorporates challenges, levels and points to gamify the process of learning and practicing. Melodics…

Jason Mehler
Jan 31, 2024

SE Electronics BL8 Boundary Microphone - Get Your Kicks!

In 2023, SE Electronics introduced their BL8. It is a rugged, small condenser boundary microphone, great for kick drums, cajons, pianos, speech, conferencing, room micing / ambience, stage floor miking and more. For this month’s product close-up, I was provided…

Jason Mehler
Jan 31, 2024
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Eric Singer - Prelude to a KISS

Why would the title of an interview with KISS’s Eric Singer draw a title from a classic Duke Ellington composition? Well, I’ll let Eric explain that,“ I have music playing 24/7 in the house, it’s usually the Sinatra station on…

Mark Griffith
Jan 31, 2024

Greg Hutchinson - The Pocket is the Pocket

The music world has been aware of drummer Greg Hutchinson for a long time, through his jazz work with legends like Joe Henderson, Betty Carter, Johnny Griffin, and Michael Brecker. His work with his contemporaries like Christian McBride, Roy Hargrove,…

Mark Griffith
Jan 31, 2024

Sheridan Riley - Always Deft, Driven, and Devoted

Since their 2014 debut, Alvvays have skyrocketed to become one of the most beloved rock bands around. Their excellent 2022 album, Blue Rev cemented their indie rock hero status, and a huge aspect of their satisfying sound is owed to…

Paolo Ragusa
Jan 31, 2024

Inside Drum Workshop’s DWe

Now that the Drum Workshop DWe kit has been around for a few months, and people are starting to play them, Modern Drummer had some questions that we wanted to ask about possibly the most groundbreaking advancement in modern drumming.…

Mark Griffith
Jan 31, 2024

Cymbal Swap - Try Before You Buy

As a lifelong cymbalholic (and a longtime member of that defunct website) I don’t know why someone hasn’t thought of the idea of Cymbal Swap before now. But thankfully two drummers and cymbal lovers named Justin Netti and James Saullo…

Mark Griffith
Jan 31, 2024

"The Magician" - Transcription by Marc Atkinson

Experience a timeless performance by Lenny White and Return To Forever, true pioneers of fusion music. Highlighted from the album Romantic Warrior, this month’s featured transcription is “The Magician.” Recorded in 1976 and penned by Stanley Clarke, the performance captures…

Marc Atkinson
Jan 31, 2024

delete, Delete, DELETE! Masters Of Minimalism

“Half my life is an act of revision.” —John Irving Deciding what to cut away is the playground where the real masters play. The root meaning of the word decision is ‘to cut away’. Knowing what to DELETE refines your…

Chris Lesso
Jan 31, 2024
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Endurance Exercise with Fill-Ins

Joe Morello combined the idea of Endurance Studies with his Fill-In studies in his book Master Studies. These are not “drum fills,” instead they are endurance exercises built on the idea of filling in between the primary rhythm of the…

Joe Morello
Jan 31, 2024

The Bass Drum Owners Manual: Applying the Moeller Technique to the Bass Drum, More Hand and Foot Combinations

This month Modern Drummer will continue to include excerpts from Michael Packer’s essential book on bass drum control and technique The Bass Drum Owners Manual: Applying the Moeller Technique to the Bass Drum. As you will see, this is a…

MIchael Packer
Jan 31, 2024

The Encyclopedia of Double Bass Drumming - Five to Sixteen Consecutive 16th Notes

In the new and revised edition of The Encyclopedia of Double Bass Drumming, Bobby includes nine new double bass drumming chapters. The new and expanded edition covers contemporary techniques such as bass drum double strokes, feet-only exercises, binary and ternary…

Bobby Rondinelli
Jan 31, 2024

Understanding the Language of Music - Form and Structure

Modern Drummer founder Ron Spagnardi wrote an excellent book called Understanding the Language of Music, a Drummer’s Guide to Theory and Harmony. This book spells out the basics of theory and harmony in a very easy to understand way. It…

Ron Spagnardi
Jan 31, 2024

Stickman - Music and Drumming Inspired Art

As drummers, we inspire other drummers and other musicians, but our creativity and our beats also inspire and entertain many non-musicians. That is (perhaps) the most important part of playing music. That inspiration can manifest in many ways. Therefore, why…

Mark Griffith
Jan 31, 2024

What do Charlie Watts, Simon Phillips, and Thomas Lang All Have in Common?

There’s never been a more unlikely group of drummers corralled to record an album than the curious trio of Charlie Watts, Simon Phillips, and Thomas Lang. In 2009, Austrian producer Peter Viehweger assembled some of LA’s finest players to record…

Donn Bennet
Jan 31, 2024

Out Now - February 2024

Modern Drummer is delighted to spotlight new recordings that have the drums at the center of their sound. These recordings might be drummer-led, or just include a high-quality, special, or unique drumming and musical performance from the drummer and/or musicians…

Modern Drummer
Jan 31, 2024
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Tony Escapa’s Ricky Martin Touring Set

Drums: DW Design Series Acrylic w/ True Hoops. 6x14 Black Ice Sparkle Edge Snare drum (maple center), 6.5x14 Ribbed Brass over Steel (spare snare drum.) Rack Toms: 8x10, 9x12, Floor Toms: 12x14, 14x16, 16x18; Bass Drum: 18x22 Bass Drum w/…

Jason Mehler
Jan 31, 2024

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