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.

Clinic So Far

Well it looks like this is where I'll be playing next. The Toad Tavern in Littleton Colorado. It'll be sometime in the late afternoon on May 31st, 2008. This is a promo for Po' Boy Drums (very good drums by the way). At this point, I will be teaching a clinic on Canon and Fugue for the Drumset, Polyrhythms, and Ostinati. I'm very stoked about this. Sadly, my band won't be coming along, they just couldn't commit. What the heck, I'll be there reflecting the love of my inner Christ, promoting world peace and connecting with the youth of America, supporting the Dalai Lama, fighting global warming, and drinking a few beers. Maybe those other bums can come next time!

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.

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.