Getting back into teaching out of a book I haven’t used in some time: A Funky Primer, by my former college professor Charles Dowd. I felt it was getting a little dated, and I was […]
Category: Charles Dowd
Interpretation and playing expressively
I hate long instructional videos, except when I don’t. Usually they go long because they underestimate their viewers’ knowledge, and get caught up in explaining WHAT IS A DRUM STICK and a lot of other […]
On the varieties of stickings
Here’s a nice geekish piece at by E.W. Flack at The Drumslingers, in which he goes in depth on the history and usage of the three basic sticking methods in US drumming and its derivatives– […]
Typos in Funky Primer
Time to get out your white-out again. This is something that had been bugging me for many years of working with A Funky Primer, by my old professor, Charles Dowd. Most of the book consists […]
Best books – Even in the Odds by Ralph Humphrey
The classic text on odd meter playing by Zappa/Don Ellis drummer Ralph Humphrey, this book covers swing, funk, and solo patterns in 5/4, 7/4, 5/8, 7/8, and longer odd time signatures. Each meter gets a […]
Charles Dowd aphorisms – part 2
More of the in-your-face wisdom of the late Charles Dowd: BEING A STUDENT: You’re not a PERSON, you’re a SOOOUND! Learn LOTS of notes. And play the RIGHT notes. The only way to learn your […]
Charles Dowd aphorisms – part 1
Here are some choice quotes from my old percussion professor at the University of Oregon, Charles Dowd, who died last year. He was a star pupil of Saul Goodman and Tony Cirone back in the […]