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Stimulus/Response . The Secret of Sightreading John Gates It is typically the responsibility chair in high school band… or the band. I set out to create a of school instrumental instructors for the University of North Texas system that would “close the gap” to teach ALL the band and/or One O’Clock Lab Band, or when between “practice room technique” orchestra instrument techniques auditioning for “gigs” in the real and “playing for the band” based and skills that a student musician world. The person who PLAYS the on my experiences as a student, as must master: best for the band gets the chair!! a teacher, and as a player. Finding help to learn these skills is This system eventually became • Woodwinds (clarinet, flute, often very difficult. the basis for my Masters Project saxophone, oboe, etc.) and brass After serving in the US Army and Thesis for my Masters of Arts (trumpet, trombone, tuba, horn, and playing in the NORAD Band degree in Instructional Technology etc.) learn intricate fingering and the Studio Band (now The which I received from Teachers combinations, slide positions, and Jazz Ambassadors) of US Army College, Columbia University in develop facial muscles to control Field Band, I returned to UNT 1992. While the “Master Plan” their pitch and sound. in 1971 where I played in the was to develop the material to • String (violin, viola, ’cello, and One O’Clock Lab Band and then use for all band and orchestra bass viol) learn bowing techniques became the drumset instructor instruments, the first version of and complex fingering positions for three semesters. I realized as I MusicLab was for drumset… for and pressure applications. auditioned (another responsibility) me the perfect place to start. 75 drummers for the eleven • Drummers/percussionists have 20-piece jazz lab bands at UNT About the System – The sum their own set of basic techniques that, while many had great of its parts. to master for several instruments: practice room technique, only a There are two main areas to snare drum rudiments; mallet few had an understanding of the concentrate on in the training of techniques for vibraphone, role of the drummer in a big band a drumset player. Figure 1 below xylophone, marimba, chimes, and the skills to adequately “play shows the development of the two etc.; tuning and etude studies for the chart” and not get lost in the main areas: drumset technique the timpani; the percussion hand music or (more importantly) lose and sightreading. instruments (cymbals, triangle, tambourine, etc.); not to mention Figure 1: Drumset Technique and its Application in Sightreading the complexities and challenges of PROFESSIONAL PERFORMANCE the drumset. • In addition to the “technical TECHNIQUE SIGHT-READING Performance Performance issues” the student must master Experience Experience the skill of sightreading and Coordination Snare Drum Pattern / Phrase Style and develop confidence in their ability Independence Technique Recognition Interpretation to “sit down and play”. This is the Simple Drumset Develop Environments case whether auditioning for first Combinations Technique Fills Big & Small Bands Hand Feet Drumset Drummers Music Styles: Exercises Exercises Applications Vocabulary Jazz, Rock, Show 21 Bandmasters Review • December 2007 Texas Bandmasters Association Stimulus/Response . The Secret of Sightreading Technique Along with all this practicing, listening, and study the The “prerequisite” for drumset training is solid drummer is encouraged to PLAY as much as possible. reading skills and snare drum technique with a focus on Practicing alone is necessary, but the experience of mastering the rudiments and using them in solos and playing with others is invaluable. As a student I jumped etudes, both orchestral and military in style. Rudiments at any chance to play… any kind of music. applications on the drumset are also studied. • I played in the San Antonio Youth Symphony. Much of applying the basic techniques of It was invaluable for learning how to follow a drumming to the drumset is the development of conductor—every one is different—and how to motor skills, like the “scratch your head and pat your approach orchestra music. stomach at the same time” challenge. The physical • I played in all kinds of small bands—dance, rock, act of playing the drumset depends on developing and jazz. physical coordination and independence of each • I played with a wide assortment of great players of the limbs. It is not unusual for each limb to be and learned a lot about playing a “casual”. playing a unique pattern in direct opposition to • I played with big bands as well. what the other limbs are playing, a difficult skill to • Playing with the Latin bands in San Antonio was master and one which must be approached with an invaluable experienc. The drum book was always careful planning. The place to start this study is with missing and I would watch the fourth trumpet part— Jim Chapin’s Book, “Advanced Techniques For The and learned about phrasing and articulation. Modern Drummer” for the swing styles and for fusion and rock, books by linear drumming gurus Gary Sightreading Chaffee, Marco Minneman, and Rick Latham among When the student reaches the point that s/he has many others. (Amazon.com has them) In addition, enough technique to play the drums, the other half of attention is paid to the study of styles of drumset the equation is introduced: sightreading, which is one music from ragtime and Dixieland to today’s current of the two or three most important skills to master. styles with an emphasis on Latin music. The Challenge is shown below: SEE the chart Developing Sightreading Skills HEAR the band Short Term / Long Term Memory -- Rehearsal If Recognized STIMULUS Stimulus RETRIEVAL Receptors RESPONSE If Not Short-term Long-term Sensory Recognized Memory Memory Registors Rehearsal Loop Semantic Encoding Physical Response PERFORMANCE Effectors Generators Feedback/Reinforcement Figure 2: The Short-Term Memory - Long-Term Memory process by Gagné, Briggs, & Wagner (1988). 22 Bandmasters Review • December 2007 Texas Bandmasters Association Stimulus/Response . The Secret of Sightreading When playing a piece of music for the first time If the music figure (the information) is not one of three things typically happens: recognized, it must be learned. Strategies for 1. The drummer instantly recognizes the figures remembering are represented by the shaded area in in the drum part and that stimulus produces an the graphic Figure 2 and include: immediate and accurate response 1. Rehearsal (a.k.a. practice) is (from long-term memory) which tells the process of repeating something the response generators what to do At UNT I used every accurately again and again. Rehearsal which sends the instructions on to the technology tool I could is the basic means for maintaining physical effectors which carries out find to create a “live” information in short-term memory the instructions and plays the figures playing context. In which eventually moves it into long- perfectly. 1972 it was a portable term memory. 2. The figures “look familiar” and hi-fi turntable and a 2. Organization is the arrangement the drummer makes an attempt to stack of well-worn of information according to a system quickly “figure out” the figures based on big band albums that or context, i.e. placing what is to be incomplete information and frequently I would carry from learned into related groups (measures, ends up falling measures behind the practice room to phrases). band or getting lost altogether. practice room for 3. Elaboration involves relating 3. The drummer does not recognize the lessons. material that has already been learned to the figures, and must go into “practice new material. mode” until s/he has mastered the figures and puts them into “context” (Semantic Encoding). This is the point that the MusicLab instructional Options 2 and 3 typically produce a less than design “kicks in.” The central strategy of MusicLab satisfactory performance. instruction was to provide an environment as close to a real playing experience as possible, where the Perhaps one of the most essential elements of student drummer or any other instrumentalist could the learning process to understand is the human develop an understanding of the “performance” memory system. Memory consists of three interacting experience. At UNT I used every technology tool parts and each has a specific function and a defined I could find to create a “live” playing context. In duration: 1972 it was a portable hi-fi turntable and a stack of 1. Sensory Memory - Sensory (audio, visual) well-worn big band albums that I would carry from memory makes us aware of meaningful information practice room to practice room for the lessons. 2. Short-Term Memory - Short-term or working memory is our “scratch pad” for thinking. For the basic studies I used Ron Fink’s “Drumset 3. Long-Term Memory - Long-term memory is Reading”, a book with “every swing figure you’ll ever highly stable and stores information for a long time. see” in it. See Figure 3 on the next page. (continued on next page) 23 Bandmasters Review • December 2007 Texas Bandmasters Association Stimulus/Response . The Secret of Sightreading fillfill The drill is to rehearse the first line until committed to long-term memory (instant recognition). fillfill Start with short fills, and then make the fills longer until the whole phrase is one long fill (Elaboration). Do the same for line two—a variety of fills. Then Figure 3: sample from “Drumset Reading” by Ron Fink. combine both figures into the same phrase (line three). Ron Fink’s book provides literally With sufficient practice the student drummer will hundreds of these combinations. develop their “drummer’s vocabulary” of patterns and The student is encouraged to always keep their phrases stored in long-term memory.

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