Thursday, June 23, 2011

More Products by Keith Banks

Back on March 25, 2009, I did a review on a 2006 instructional DVD that was written, produced, and performed by Keith Banks entitled, Defining A Worship Drummer. In my review of that DVD, I addressed the product’s strengths and weaknesses. As for the product weaknesses, one of my comments was, “I thought the teaching side of Keith’s DVD could have been a little less philosophical and a lot more practical because he never taught any special drumming techniques or nuances that would have been relevant to the praise genre, nor did he ever give any general drumming tips.” At the time I wrote that, I did not know that Keith had produced a CD entitled, “Finding The Pocket of the Groove” that same year he did his first DVD (2006).

“Finding The Pocket of the Groove” is a CD that features 33 different drum grooves from 9 different genres such as latin, fusion and straight-ahead jazz, funky & soulful, rock, latin, reggae, hip hop, and R &B. This would be a valuable product for any praise drummer simply because a lot of praise songs sample from a variety of genres. In order to be an effective praise drummer, one needs to be familiar with the various styles, and this CD can help you do that. This CD is also a very good practicing tool for bass, guitar, piano, keyboard players, as well as drummers and percussionists. It will help a drummer with his/her timing and develop the groove and feel the pocket.

In 2009, Keith produced two more instructional videos entitled:
Series I, Dynamic Drum Lessons (Beginner & Intermediate Drummers)
Series I, Dynamic Drum Lessons (Advanced Drummers)
Both of these videos are very practical and teach a lot special drumming techniques and nuances that are relevant to the praise genre.

The DVD for Beginner & Intermediate Drummers covers the fundamentals of using the proper handling of the sticks and foot techniques. It also covers some basic rudiments, the essential counting system of notations, basic structure of building drum fills, and developing dynamic grooves. Keith also wrote a book that accompanies this DVD that scores all the exercises.

The other DVD for Advanced Drummers teaches the following concepts:
• The funk clave
• Cross over hi-hat
• Phrasing & articulating creative drum fills
• Thinking out the box drumming concepts
• World & cultural rhythms

I am of the opinion that clave should be illustrated on all drum rudiment charts along with all the double stroke rolls, paradiddles, flams, ruffs and etc. simply because all pop music as we know of it today is based on the clave (the 3/2 son clave in particular). Although there are different ways to play clave on the drum set, Keith shows the viewer how to ride the hi-hat with clave.

The cross over hi-hat concept is where the drummer uses the snare hand to hit the hi-hat between the back beats of 2 and 4 while the other hand is riding the hi-hat. The reason Keith calls it “cross over” is because the snare hand crosses back and forth from the snare to the hi-hat. Many drummers are using this technique and it does help add some spice to your groove whether you are riding your hi-hat or your cymbal.

This DVD features two songs and on one of them entitled Avivanos. In this song, Keith demonstrates his “out of the box” thinking and his phenomenal independence by putting together a double ride combination. Keith played 16ths on the snare at a tempo of 92 bpm with his left hand while playing the hi-hat and the snare with his right. In another segment of the song puts together a paradiddle combination between the kick and the snare while riding the cymbal.

Keith gives the viewers their money’s worth with plenty of material. Any drummer who can master all the techniques taught in this DVD will be one bad cat. The only down side of the DVD is that it did not come with an accompaniment book as the DVD for Beginner & Intermediate Drummers did. Of course, it’s very understandable why there is no book. Preparing an accompaniment book for this DVD would be a greater undertaking because the exercises are a lot more intricate than the exercises in the first one. But, then again, the fact that this DVD has more intricate exercises would be an argument for writing the accompaniment book.

The title to both of these DVDs reads, “Series I.” So this begs a question. Does this mean that there will be a “Series II” coming out anytime soon? Only Keith can answer that question.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

I am going to begin this article by making a statement that has gotten me into trouble in the past. And that is, churches are a consumer product. Yes, as repugnant as that might sound to you, this is the God’s honest truth. Think about it. For those of you who attend church regularly, ask yourself why you are attending the church you are currently attending. When you are on your way to your church, I bet you pass by several others before you arrive at yours. The bottom line is, everyone who attends a church, has a reason they pass by other churches and attend the particular church they are going to. One’s selection criteria could range anywhere from denomination and doctrine, location, the charisma of the pastor, the music program, the children’s or youth programs or whatever. In today’s day and age, it is not at all unusual for an individual or a family to attend one church for a few years and then up and leave and attend another church for a few years.

For the musician playing in a church praise band, this dynamic comes into play even more so. As for me, I have attended eight different churches in the last fifteen years. Of those eight churches, I left only three of them over a disagreement with the music director or the direction the music program. Then, there were two churches that just made me a better offer than the ones I was currently playing for at the time. This is the hazard one has to contend with if one’s selection criteria for a church is whether or not there is a chair for that person in the praise band. The music business in general is very lucid. Groups come and go and the musicians who play for groups come and go. The music program at any given church can be very lucid too, even if the musicians playing for a church praise band are playing for a higher purpose than their secular counter-parts.

If you are truly dedicated to being a praise musician, you are going to have to live with the possibility that you might be playing in a few different churches over the course of your musical career. Another cold hard reality is that praise band musicians more often than not, are more loyal to the praise bands they play with than the churches they are playing for. One exception to that rule happened when a guitar player once told me that he had to wait three years before the music director would let him play in the band. I then asked him: “Instead of waiting three years to play in this praise band, why didn’t you just find another church that could use a guitar player?” He then gave me that how dare you look, and said, “I would never leave this church. This is my church home and I love the people here.” I responded by saying, “well okay then, that’s the choice you made. Obviously this church and its people are more important to you than your desire to develop and hone your guitar skills.” I don’t fault the guy for the choice he made.

So, it all comes back to one’s selection criteria for a church and the choices one makes regardless if you are a serious or casual musician. If you are in a situation where you are not happy with your role or the lack thereof in the praise band at your church, you have two choices. Accept the situation for what it is, or change churches. As for two of the three churches that I left over musical disagreements, they way underestimated my resolve to leave them for a better situation after I expressed to them my wishes and desires. As I have grown older, I have learned that it is better to just leave and look for a better situation than to stay and complain and thus risk causing discord and contention.

By the way, just so you know, I am very happy with my current praise band situation and have no plans to leave anytime soon. And the reason I am where I am today is a result of the choices to stay or go in the past.