January 27, 2006

Hello again, out there!!!
Daddy Funk Returns from Christmas & New Year Refreshed, Rejuvinated & Ready for Action!!!>>>

I hope You ALL had a Fantastic & Festive Holiday Season!! >>> WELCOME TO 2006 >>> IT’S NOW IN FULL SWING!!!>>>

This Year I’ve been Working hard introducing New Students to My TeaChing Practice; Building up & Strengthening My Roster with New Blood ready to be Inspired & Uplifted by the Rhythmic Art of Drums & Percussion!!!>>>& Writing NEW & Inspiring Tunes with My Musical Partner in “Friendship and Respect” an experience which lead Me to the Subject of this Blog>>>>>

My first Drumming thouGht for January 2006 is MELODY & MUSICALITY on both DrumSet & Congas ! >>> Infact on ALL Percussive Instruments!!! >>>

It has come to My attention recently MORE & MORE in the Wonderful World of Drumming that the emphasis is on Technique WITHOUT Style, Speed WITHOUT Dynamic, Power WITHOUT Finesse!!!>>> Increasingly the Fashion is for Loud, Super~Fast & Super~Complicated “EXTREME Drumming!!!” >>> I Know it Can be exciting to Watch & it DOES have it’s place in the Scheme of things >>> but VERY QUICKLY for Me it gets Boring to See & Hear >>> To Put it Bluntly, it just becomes a TIRING NOISE!!!

What I NEED in these Cold Winter Months, as this New Year begins to come Alive, is MUSICALITY & MELODY coming from MORE Rhythm People>>>

There Are of Course Many Great Players Out there who Use Subtlety, Light & Shade & MELODY on their Instruments >>>

Manolo Badrena, Airto Morera,Robert Thomas in the Realm of Percussion >>>
Harvey Mason, Manu Katche, Billy Ward & Brian Blade are Fine examples on the Drum~Kit & OF COURSE if You travel back to the Early Innovators MAX ROACH is Your MaN!!! Beautiful, Lyrical, Musical!>>> This is what I yearn for More & More, what My Mind & My Soul NEED, Like a Musical FOOD!!!>>”Can You Dig it?” >>>I’m SURE You CAN!!!

Let Us ALL make it Our Aim in 2006 to Explore the Tonal potential of Our Drums & Cymbals whenever We can, in ALL Musical contexts! >>> Let’s make Our Instruments SING with Rhythmic Tunes & Musical Shapes that COMPLIMENT & ENHANCE the other Instruments & Musicians AROUND US!! Bringing Sensitivity & New Colour to the Creative Table!!!

My Musical contributions to this Idea can be found on the MP3 Page of the Friendship and Respect Web Site in BOTH the Duo & Trio forms >>>

More ThouGhts & InsiGhts from Me SoON but in the mean Time…..
Peace to the Planet, ENJOY, Keep the GroOVE Phat & MELODIOUS!!!
& Let the LIGHT Shine,

***<<<<< SiMoN the DF >>>>>***

December 10, 2005

Hi All You Drummmers & Percussionist out there,

It’s Mr.Funk here with some More Ideas>>> While I was TeaChing Yesterday, I had some thouGhts about Playing along to CDs oN Drum~Set or Congas & BonGoes>>>

It is MUCH Harder than it at first Seems!>>>

Let’s take the eXample of oNe of My Teenage Students trying to Play along to a Recent “Green Day” Single >>>
Tre Cool the Drummer in this Band has obviously put ALOT of Time & Energy into Designing & Creating His Part for this Particular Track >>> A LOT of ThouGht & Pain~staking Rehearsal Time will definately have gone into Creating this Detailed & Frankly Very Intelligent Piece of Drumming>>>

In a Big International Band such as this, Signed to a Major Label, oNe of the ProCesses New Material has to go throuGh BEFORE aN Album is Recorded is “ROUTINEING”>>>

This is a form of INTENSE Rehearsal of the Song’s FORM & ARRANGEMENT done by the Band (often with the help of their Record Producer) to “Iron Out” any problems in the Track, to OPTIMISE the Commercial Potential of any Track “Short~Listed” for the New CD>>>This can run to MANY DAYS of VERY HARD WORK for the Band in Question ( I know because I’ve been that Soldier & it’s a FULL~ON, Sweaty & EXHAUSTING experience!!!)>>>

As a result, the GLOSSY TRACK that Flows effortlessly out of Your Hi~Fi or MP3 Player has had MANY, MANY Hours of HARD GRAFT spent on it BEFORE it reaches Your EAGER Hands!>>>>

Therefore, when trying to Play like Your HERO, be AWARE of this fact & DON’T be too hard on Yourself if it takes You a While to get it >>>

The MOST IMPORTANT factor to Capture is the FEEL of the Piece >> Get the thing GROOVING & FLOWING, IN TIME before Worrying about EVERY Ghost Note & Fill!!>>> Believe Me, it Probably took the Drummer Him or Herself quite a while to get the Take EXACTLY how they wanted it!>>>

CDs are also, in the case of Most Modern Music, METRONOMICLY IN TIME & therefore VERY UNFORGIVING!!!
Try not to be Dis~Heartened by this!!>>> It doesn’t necessarily mean Your Playing isn’t good if You can’t play the Piece from Beginning to End >>> It just Means You’re trying to Play along with something which has been Fine~Tuned & Perfected for a LONG TIME!!!!!>>>

We are ALL so used to Hearing PERFECTED Music, that I think it’s hard sometimes to put Our own Skill as a Player into Perspective>>>

DO NOT be DISCOURAGED!!!>>> The thing to hold on to is Your LOVE of the Music & That WONDERFUL, EXCITING Feeling it gives You!!!>>> NEVER loose siGht of that!!!>>>

In Music, as far as I’m concerned, ENTHUSIASM IS EVERYTHING!!!>>> Keep hold of that & Music will ALWAYS stay FRESH & INSPIRING for You!!!>>>

PeAcE & BIG LoVe to the World of Drums for Now,

***< <<<< SiMoN the Daddy Funk >>>>>***

December 8, 2005

Hey, Hey, Drum~People!

Today was the DAY that Drummers-Paradise LoOKed THIS SEXY!!! >>>
@ 8.06pm UK Time oN Wednesday 7th December 2005 I Fired~Up My Mac & Saw This Super~Cool Site~Build!!!

It’s beeN aN Exciting & Frustrating TiMe to bring it to this point & THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING!!!
MORE CoOL BLOGS, MORE Images, MORE MP3, MORE Links, MORE Drum~FUNK & MORE of ME & MY THOUGHTS!!!!!!! >>>

LoOK OUT WORLD, it’s just gonna get B I G G E R ! ! ! ! ! >>>

Thanks to XcellenceIT in deepest Europe for ALL their HARD WORK, Great Plug~Ins & Great Visuals>>> We got there in the end! >>>

AMANDA the Incredible PantherKitten @pantherkitten.com for Her FaNtAsTiC PHOTOGRAPHS, un~ending Belief & Support & SeXy~LoVe~ViBeS!!!

& the Brilliant & Astounding “JaSoN” for showing Me the Way with such GENEROSITY & PATIENCE >>> WEB~GENIUS!! You ARE Mr.COOL!!! >>>

Keep oN CoMiNg BaCk DruMMiNg PeOpLe >>> It’s PHAT & REAL DRUM BLOGS ONLY, RIGHT HERE ! ! !

PeAcE & Big, SeXy GroOVES to the Planet,

***< <<<< SiMoN the Daddy Funk >>>>>***