Two Part Fugue For Drumset by Michael Petiford

Three Part Fugue for Drumset by Michael Petiford

Three Part Fugue for Drumset. Originally published in PAS Percussive Notes journal.

New Fugue (with ostinato) 2.

Okay, so how do you write one of these things for the drumset (or the piano for that matter)?. Here's what I've done. I created a melodic phrase. Then I figured out a number of variations on it, i.e. inversion, retrograde, augmentation, diminution, and stretto. I put it on top of an ostinato. I played it in one voice. Then I played it in another voice and stuck some counterpoint against it. All of that is in my last post. Then (as you can see on this page) I just played the ostinato for a couple of measures. I'll improv over those measures later. Then, at measure five on this page, I wrote the fugal subject in the primary voice as an augmentation. In this case I doubled the note values, so the phrase that previously took only four measures to complete now takes eight. That subject is played entirely with the right hand, so I've started to put some counter point against it with the left hand on the upper staff. You can see where that starts up at measure five. I will continue this process - writing a few bars of ostinato to solo over, then re-introducing the fugal subject in one variation or another and putting some counterpoint against it. At some point I will probably introduce stretto, where one voice will introduce the subject and before it's finished, the other voice will jump in on top of it. Sooner or later all of those empty measures will be filled in but, for now, I will just concentrate on the occurrences of the fugal subject and the counterpoint I Will play against them.

New fugue (with ostinato) 1.

Follow the process. Whatcha' got here is yer exposition in two voices.

Bottom line=double bass drums/pedal. Bottom stave = right hand: floor tom, low tom, snare drum (snares off). Upper
stave = left hand: low tom, mid tom, hi tom.

If you click on the picture it will open in a larger window and will be easier to read. Note the use of a form of contrary motion in measures 10, 11, and 12. Who else invites you in to watch like this, huh? Enjoy.

Mind Map

I'm posting this because I know some of you enjoy following the process. This is a mind map that I made to outline the topics for my clinic. I'm just writing notes on there as I think of things. Bach is there because he's the godfather of fugue. FZ is there because he's the king of polyrhythm. The Venus of Willendorf is there because it's a paleolithic fertility fetish and Bach had twenty children. I think Frank would have liked it too. TVOWA stands for "The Venus of Willendorf's Atlatl", that's the last piece I'm planning to play. I have this map hanging up in my studio so all my students can be exposed to J.S. , FZ, and The Venus.

Another Round (video)

Okay, so I know I've already posted this on you tube, but whatever. I've been blabbing so much about canon and fugue on the blog that I thought I should post here too. This is happening, of course, because I'm preparing to teach a clinic on canon and fugue for the drumset and I want people to have an idea of what that is. So, if you don't know, this is a round (the simplest form of canon). In this video each voice (hand or foot) is playing exactly the same rhythm, displaced from the previous voice by one quarter note.

A Simple Canon Exercise For Drums

Obviously, the whole Row Row Row Your boat deal is just intended to convey the basic concept of a canon. What I've added here is a much simpler example that you can probably learn in a few tries and it really brings the idea home.

The first measure is just a dotted quarter and an eighth, i.e. ONE and two AND three and four and. Play it with your right hand on a cymbal (or tap the table, whatever).

At measure two you'll play the same thing, but you'll add your left hand playing TWO and three AND. Probably do that on the snare.

Now at measure three you'll add the bass drum on THREE and four AND.

Finally, you'll add the hi-hat with your left foot on FOUR and one AND. Notice that at this beat, the figure carries across the bar line into the next measure. This is where it starts to loop around.

If you can't do this, you could always cross a bar line and drink a lot of liquor. Then you would start to loop around. It wouldn't be the same but it might be fun.

Canon for Drumset (video)

So I figured since I've been talking about canon and fugue for the drumst, I ought to post some video. This is me playing a canon on the drumset. Yes, Row Row Row Your Boat is a canon. Specifically it's traditionally sung as a round - the simplest form of canon. I think if you try this you'll find that even a simple canon is extremely difficult to execute on the drumset.

The Buxtehude Dude

I was not familliar with the work of Deiterich Buxtehude, but I've always read that he was a huge influence on J. S. Bach, so I decided to buy a couple of his fugues online. I have to say I'm very pleased. The Buxtehude Dude writes a pretty mean fugue. Guess I'm a fan. I read somewhere that Bach spent some time following this guy around like he was The Gratefull Dead.

Two Part Fugue

Okay, here's what I've been working on, a genuine contrapuntal composition based on imitative polyphony. This is a two part fugue for the drumset. It is complete with an exposition revealing the subject in two voices, followed by a development featuring the subject in it's original state as well as inversion and stretto. I've also used sequence units.

I'm going to use this to round out my presentation on canon and fugue for the drumset. I'm planning to add a little prelude to it just to be really Baroque. This will be Prelude and Fugue for Drumset #1.

Canon and Fugue

Alrighty, so I'm moving along like this clinic is a thing that's actually going to happen. Of course I'm also considering that this is the music business and, as such, it is also possible that this could all fall through the cracks at the eleventh hour. At any rate, hope springs eternal and I'm assuming a probability of fruition. That said, the topic of the clinic will definetly be Canon and Fugue for the Drumset. I've been working through the material that PAS published and I'm trying to determine the best way to deliver the concept to a disparate group of drummers. So far, I'm looking at about an hour's worth of material to demonstrate the concept and take an audience from Round to Fugue while bringing home the salient points and still playing enough flashy stuff to keep them interested. After all, a clinic is sort of half class, half entertainment. So I'm debating... Do I want to add in other topics, like polyrhythms (I really want to play The Black Page), or do I just stick with the one subject? Hmmmm... the mind ponders.

Possible Clinic

I have been invited to teach a clinic on drumset counterpoint, polyrhythms, and ostinati. I'm rather excited about that. Also, the sponsers have invited my band to come along and play a show as well. How cool is that!? I will let you know what's happening as the saga unfolds. For now, let's just say it's all in the planning and logistics phase. I don't know about the band yet, but I have sent the sponsers a note saying that I am committed to teaching the clinic. I sure hope more than three people will come.