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.

Back to Prog Drumming

Wow, I just had one of the best times playing
music I've ever had. I had the chance to jam with Mauricio Sotelo of the group Cabezas de Cera, one of the premier Chapman Stick players and most avant garde musicians in prog music today (also, one of the nicest and most gracious musicians I've ever met). Mauricio and CDC were recent headliners at NEAR Fest and Baja Prog and he happens to be friends with my band partner Frank D'Angelo. Mauricio is without a doubt one of the most interesting and innovative Stick players around. We hung out, had a little wine, and played weird music for a few hours. What could be better than that?

Black Page Update

"That's right folks, don't touch that dial". I'm gonna try to keep you updated through this just like I did last year. Step by boring step! Unh-Hunh, the resolution for 2008 was to finally play The Black Page on the drum set and I succeeded, even playing it live before an audience of five or six drunken twits in a dive bar in Scottsdale, Arizona.... GOSH I'm proud of myself. The res for 2009 is to play the mallet part. Yes, since I'm now officially a music teacher, I have a marimba in my office and, by God, I'm gonna play that damn thing. Every morning I have about twenty minutes and every afternoon I've got my prep hour. I'm devoting that time to The Black Page. Presently, I can play the first four measures. I contacted Zappa percussion alumnnus Ed Mann through MySpace.com to ask for advice and he was kind enough to give me this sage wisdom... "*) transpose where necc.*) play with whichever mallet grip feels best to you* ) use normal methods (math) to conjugate polyrhythms and create a worksheet if necc to mark the subdivisions of the meter, that's what I did - it seemed to work. good luck Ed Mann". Thanks Ed! So, at this point I'm up to measure five. I'm very confident that I'll be able to complete this. Special thanks to Keith for the vibes so I can practice at home too.

More Black Page

So, now that I can play the drum part for The Black Page, I've decided to tackle the mallet part. The transcription I have is for keyboard melody, so I'll have to compare it to a recording to figure out if there are any quirks I need to be aware of. The score is from an old copy of Keyboard Magazine. I'm playing it on marimba and I would love any tips if anyone's got some.

Drumset Mindmap

Okay, many people have requested this for quite some time so here it finally is: The Drumset Mindmap. The right side of the map generally follows the origins of the Drumset as a unique musical instrument beginning with it's roots in the marching band music of the late 1800's, through it's development in Vaudeville and New Orleans Second line, to it's ultimate real birth in Jazz. This information comes from the Percussive Arts Society. The left side of the map explores the various instruments that have from time to time been incorporated in the set. Above are three of the most important basic rhythms applied to the set and, below are depictions of the common notation key and a typical score. I hope this meets expectations! Once again, this is on 20" x 30" x 1/4" foam core and the color was done with a combination of transparent highlighters and opaque Sharpie markers. Special thanks to my son Zane for his assistance in adding so much color. Click on the label links below for more mind maps and teaching aids.

Why a Prog Drum Blog

I'm a drummer and I love Progressive Rock. I've looked around on the net and found great sites about drumming, like the Percussive Arts Society and drummerworld.com , not to mention many great artist sites. I've also found great sites dedicated to Prog Rock like progarchives.com and proggnosis.com (maybe I will compile a list) . I thought it would be great to have a site that's just about the drums and the genre, a place where I can blab about technique and concepts, listening, new bands, old bands, CD's, DVD's, concerts, and interesting sites, but with a definite focus on the drumming. Also, a place where others can share things with me.

As much as I can, I would like to talk about specifics of playing and musical concepts. For instance, the use of polyrhythms, ostinati, counterpoint, roll techniques, hand/foot combinations, linear playing, four limb independence, and so forth. If anyone has a question or a topic to suggest, I would love to hear from you.