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June 2021 – Volume 45 • Number 6

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Articles in June 2021

A Wealth of Options

Christian Morissette’s Rig is Ready for Any Style Christian Morissette is a psychologist in Quebec, Canada, who somehow finds the time to not only pursue his passion for drumming, but also to do session work, run a home studio, teach…

By Michael Molenda
Jun 18, 2021

The Frankie Banali Collection

In the early 2000s, I received a call regarding some Elvin Jones items I was selling. It was quickly apparent the person I was speaking to had studied Elvin’s playing intensely and had been deeply influenced by him. Our conversation…

By Donn Bennett
Jun 18, 2021

Drum Miking on the Cheap

Many of us have read about the stellar, well-populated microphone cabinets of famous big studios that were used to record famous big albums. Fabulous luxury-mic manufacturers such as Neumann, Telefunken, Earthworks, and Coles get tossed around in these articles, and,…

By Michael Molenda
Jun 18, 2021

Syncopated Fills

This month, we’ll explore another type of drum fill—one that incorporates syncopation. Syncopation is displacing the regular metric accent and emphasizing the weak beat. In this context, that means resting on the downbeat. With one or more of the strong…

By Dawn Richardson
Jun 18, 2021

Sean J. Kennedy Salutes Ray Deeley

I studied drums and percussion with Ray Deeley while I was a high-school student back in the mid 1980s. Ironically, so did my wife, Heather, who went to a different high school about an hour away from where I lived.…

Modern Drummer
Jun 18, 2021
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Evelyn Glennie

The Rhythm of Resonance and Feel Dame Evelyn Glennie is a world-class musician, a master listener, and an extraordinary human who is perhaps the first person to make a life-long career strictly as a solo percussionist. You cannot categorize her…

By Dana Parker
Jun 18, 2021

Three-Against-Four Polyrhythm

These exercises will guide you through a fusion of African and American elements. On the American side, we have shuffle and shuffle-funk. On the African side, we have the rhythms from Cameroon known as mangambe and bikutsi. Playing these exercises…

By Jonathan Joseph and Steve Rucker Excerpted from Exercises in African-American Funk
Jun 18, 2021

Dream Cymbals – Dark Matter Bliss and Vintage Bliss

Canadian company Dream introduced the drumming world to its dry, raw, twice-torched Dark Matter cymbals in 2010, and they’ve remained top-sellers ever since. Meanwhile, the Bliss series—one of Dream’s original lines—continues to motor on, providing players with warm, dark, and…

By Michael Dawson
Jun 18, 2021

John Densmore

Modern Drummer, December 1982 “On the Doors albums, I always went for the drums to have real personality. I always had the bottom heads off all of my drums, and I hated new skins and new drums. I liked to…

Modern Drummer
Jun 18, 2021

Developing a Musical Concept

One of the key aspects in developing a musical concept for show and studio performance—or any other area of performance for that matter—is the tuning of your drums. Too many players overlook this elementary consideration. When your drum set is…

By Danny Pucillo, March/April 1979
Jun 18, 2021

Hearts, Minds, and Eyeballs

Three Drummers Reveal Their Paths to Social Stardom It’s no secret that the new normal for developing a music career—or almost any business for that matter—is being discovered via an online video that goes viral. Of course, generating massive audience…

By Billy Amendola
Jun 18, 2021
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Balancing Grunt Work and Creativity

This is a follow up to the March 2021 article I did for MD entitled “Practice Like a Pro.” (You can find it at moderndrummer.com.) In that piece, I shared techniques that can be used to effectively learn songs. Muscle…

By Billy Ashbaugh
Jun 18, 2021

Terry Keating

Spreading the Gospel of Bonzo Terry Keating’s Bonzoleum channel has been a fixture on YouTube for the wide community of John Bonham devotees since 2008. Keating is prolific, with hundreds of videos ranging from play-throughs of songs, a wealth of…

By Clementine Moss
Jun 18, 2021

Bobby Morris 1928 – 2021

When Bobby Morris first reached out to see if Hudson Music would be interested in publishing his autobiography, My Las Vegas, I had two concerns. First, “Do enough people in the Hudson Music audience know who he is?” And second,…

By Rob Wallis
Jun 18, 2021

ProMark, Low Boy Custom Beaters and Vic Firth

ProMark Carter McLean Signature Drumsticks The Carter McLean signature stick is made from hickory with a custom wood tip. It measures .571” in diameter and 16 1/8” in length with a lacquered finish. The custom tip shape provides a range…

Modern Drummer
Jun 18, 2021

Nandi Bushell

Pre-Teen Drumming Evangelist Spreads the Joy of Playing Across the Planet It’s an unrelenting bombardment of music and joyfulness that makes Beatlemania, T-Rextasy, and the Kardashian phenomenon seem like underachieving, ho-hum non-happenings. It’s almost unfathomable how many times each day…

By Michael Molenda
Jun 18, 2021

Sandy Ficca

Igniting Firefall for 36 Years It’s a blisterin’, burnin’, and blazin’ hot day in the summer of 1970, and 18-year-old Sandy Ficca is more than a little nervous. In fact, he’s flat-out scared. Running one hand through his shoulder-length hair…

By Nelson Duffle
Jun 18, 2021

Experiential Healing and Drumming

Experiential healing is a therapeutic technique for consciously participating in our own physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual healing processes. It is healing with awareness and purpose to unlock feelings, thoughts, and pain that may be keeping us in patterns of…

By Lauren Monroe
Jun 18, 2021
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Gruv Gear – VELOC Drum Transport

Gruv Gear is a lifestyle-accessories brand that provides musicians with thoughtful and innovative products that help keep things organized, efficient, and stylish. We reviewed the company’s stick and accessory bags in the November 2020 issue, and we were blown away…

By Michael Dawson
Jun 18, 2021

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