Natalie: Hello and welcome to Gigajam. My name is Natalie Barrass, and this man here, hiding behind the drum kit, is Brian Greene. Hello Brian
Brian: Hello Natalie
N: How are you?
B: Very well thank you. You?
N: I'm fine. I was gonna say, woa now. I don't wanna ask you any more questions at the moment
B: Fair enough, okay
N: I wanna ask you a question. I wanna ask you, do you feel like a bit of an animal? A bit grrrr? Do you have like the crazy red hair? Do you sit down and you want to hit things? I talking about animal…
B: Of course, yes absolutely
N: …from the muppet show. Yeah. If like me you have the uncontrollable urge to drum, but you just can't rein it in, you don't really know which direction to turn, don't panic. Cos we're here to help you aren't we?
B: We are
N: We have got the essential drum skills course, part one
B: Correct
N: Which will consist of ten episodes
B: Correct
N: Where we will show them the way
B: Yes
N: The question I wanna ask you first of all
B: Absolutely
N: And I'm sure it's a question you guys wanna ask as well…what is Gigajam?
B: Well Gigajam is a structured pathway of courses…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …for not just the drums, but guitar, bass and keyboards as well.
N: Right
B: Which will enable students to attain grades as they develop through the lessons
N: I like it
B: Great
N: I like it a lot. But let's not talk about Gigajam in it's essence…
B: Yeah
N: …and how it works…
B: Okay
N: ….right now. Let's talk about these beasts in front of us
B: Right
N: What do I need to be a drummer? This stuff?
B: Yes, this stuff. You need some drums of some description, of varying cost
N: Mmmhmm
B: We've got here assembled, so that we can compare and look at the similarities and differences between electronic kits, as we have here
N: Mmmhmm
B: Table top electronic kits. But I think I'd like to start, if possible, with the acoustic drum kit
N: I'll let you Brian
B: You're very kind. The standard, acoustic drum kit, which I think will be familiar to most people
N: Mmmhmm
B: So what we've got that makes up the acoustic drum kit, is the snare drum which is probably at the centre of it all. Sounds a little bit like this, when played in a military style
N: Mmmhmm
B: Quite often just given a good thump. In rock and roll style
N: (Laughs)
B: And it makes a very distinct noise, and it has a very distinct roll
N: It's very rattly isn't it?
B: It is, because of these rattles Natalie
N: (Laughs)
B: These are called snares…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …which are across the bottom of the snare drum head, and they rattle in resonance with this bottom head, when the top head is struck
N: Right
B: So they rattle there. Take the lever off, there are occasions when that's cool. You've got more of a tom sound
N: Mmmm
B: So that's the snare drum, which we use a lot in contemporary drumming. And then we've got other drums that we hit with our hands, which I'd like explore
N: Mmmhmm
B: Or with the sticks, in this particular instance
N: (Laughs)
B: You can use your hands. I'm gonna start with the hi-tom
N: Hi-tom
B: Hi-tom. Nice sound. Then the mid-tom. Then the low-tom. Now like so many things in the essential course, there is, the names are logical
N: Absolutely, yeah
B: Hi, mid, low, in terms of it's pitch, and also in terms of the way it's laid out in the kit in front of you
N: Got you
B: Sometimes these are called rack toms or mounted toms. This is also often referred to as a floor tom because it sits on the floor on stands
N: Simple
B: Simple
N: Obvious
B: Correct
N: (Laughs)
B: Sometimes it's also a hanging tom, so it behaves similar to this, and it hangs off a cymbal stand
N: I see
B: Because they've got different names, throughout the course I will try to refer consistently to them as hi, mid and low
N: Good, I'll be watching out for that
B: Thank you for that
N: Mmmhmm
B: So we've covered the drums that we play with our sticks and our hands. Now I want to have a look at the bass drum. The bass drum lies flat on the floor, and is played using our foot using a pedal
N: Mmmhmm
B: Okay? And we play the bass drum by striking the pedal
N: Mmmhmm
B: With our foot in a variety of different ways. If you're playing more softly, perhaps more traditionally, you would use a flat foot technique, because your foot is flat on the floor
N: Again, simple
B: There you go, voila! Generally for lower dynamics, used a lot in jazz playing,…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …softer pop and rock tunes. If you wanna get a bit more va va voom out of it
N: Want a heavy…
B: Large, as we say in the Greene household
N: (Laughs)
B: Then you're going to use more of a leg stroke
N: Yeah
B: You start with your foot flat on the floor
N: Mmmhmm
B: And it remains so when you're not playing, so that you're nice and relaxed in your posture. But when you, beef it
N: (Laughs) You large it
B: You large it, you use your leg
N: You're stamping it down
B: Absolutely, so it's…
N: Alright…
B: …a stamp motion
N: …those are the drums
B: Great
N: Spinny, gold disc things?
B: Cymbals
N: Those things
B: Correct. We have a number here. We have a crash cymbal, because it makes a crashy sort of sound
N: Mmmhmm
B: I have a second one here, just for a dynamic change
N: Mmmhmm
B: Then we've also got a ride cymbal. It has a total different job, you don't crash it, you ride it. And you ride it playing a pattern
N: Right
B: Now the ride cymbal is where you play patterns on a cymbal. Where we play most of our riding is here
N: What's that?
B: What's that. These are called hi-hats
N: Yes
B: You have two cymbals, one on top of the other, which are operated by striking, a pretty ugly noise
N: Yeah I'm not liking that
B: Okay, but it's also operated using a foot pedal. The top cymbal is attached to your foot through the centre of the hi-hat
N: Mmmhmm
B: And that enables it to draw the top cymbal down to the bottom
N: Okay
B: So you've got a variety of effects there. Quite tight for pop music, bit more open, which you adjust with the front of your foot…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …and wide open, and combinations of open and closed
N: So much
B: So much
N: So much we can do
B: Absolutely. Now we've got the acoustic kit here…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …which is a standard set-up. I want to introduce the electronic set-up which actually just mimics exactly what's going on here. So this is an acoustic drum kit…
N: Yes
B: …this is an electronic drum kit
N: Right
B: Okay? So it's a full drum kit. Just go through all of the drums…
N: You sure?
B: …sort of try to copy the ones that I've told you about. So what about the snare drum to start with?
N: Okay, the snare one, the main one?
B: Yeah. Okay. And then your toms?
N: Hi-tom?
B: Yeah
N: Mid-tom
B: Correct
N: Low-tom
B: Spot on. Great. Then you've got the bass drum on the floor
N: There is nothing there
B: Ah, there's a little pad there
N: Mmmhmm
B: Now the pedal is a bit upside-down. But I particularly like this model, and it works really well. It's the same principle, but it's just like hitting the middle of a bass drum, but obviously a lot more portable
N: Mmmhmm
B: So just give that a smash there
N: Okay, foot flat on it? Flat foot?
B: Absolutely, up to you. Yeah, nice. So you can see how that works, similar action, same technique, no changes
N: Mmmhmm
B: Then cymbal-wise
N: Okay
B: We've got the crash cymbal. That's brilliant. And we've got the ride cymbal here. Fab. And then you've got your hi-hat
N: Where?
B: Well your hi-hat is somewhat disguised on the electronic kit. Causes a few problems, so that's why I wanted to talk about it…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …specifically today. Is that it looks like an ordinary pad, yet the sound…
N: Ah okay
B: …if you play it…yeah. There's your hi-hat. And again you get the same kind of velocity control that you have on the standard
N: Velocity control
B: Absolutely. I read it in the manual!
N: (Laughs)
B: The velocity control, by using your foot pedal again…
N: Ah I see
B: …which is on the floor. So again it's identical to a normal kit
N: Alright, so this is it without me, sort of, pushing it
B: Great
N: And this is me semi pushing it
B: Yeah
N: And that's foot to the floor
B: Nice, yeah nice, nice tight closed sound. So you've got all the variety that you would have on this kit
N: Mmmhmm
B: Now, similarly, not everybody's got room..
N: Yes
B: …or perhaps even the money for one of those
N: Before you go on to that…
B: Mmm
N: …I thought you were gonna say cymbalally
B: Cymbalally?
N: Cymbalally, I'm hitting these cymbals…
B: Yeah
N: …they're not metal though, are they? I mean, this is…
B: No they're rubber, plastic, that sort of thing
N: (Laughs) We won't get too technical
B: No, but they, the beauty of those pads is that if you plug some headphones in, you cause no disturbance in the house…
N: Ahhh
B: …to your neighbours. So where you would have an acoustic kit, fabulous and ideal, most professional players will have an acoustic kit and an electronic kit. Not always possible in terms of budgets
N: Mmmhmm
B: So if you're gonna have trouble with neighbours, or you haven't enough room in your dining room, or your bedroom, then you're gonna be looking for something else, something a bit smaller…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …which might be the electronic kit
N: Or even smaller
B: Or even smaller is this fabulous device, which, you know, I personally think is wonderful for learning on. Because it makes, actually being able to play the drums possible and accessible for people who perhaps otherwise think, you know, I can't have this…
N: Yes
B: …or it's all too expensive or it's too big
N: Well you can carry this around with you, put it on your dining room table, on your desk…
B: Absolutely
N: …on your bed
B: On your bed, anywhere. I mean with a, if you adapt it with a snare drum stand, it's incredibly portable. And as we'll talk about, at another time, it works with our software
N: Mmmhmm
B: But the great thing with this, is that it's a drum kit in a pad
N: Yeah
B: You've got the pedals here on the floor
N: Goodness I didn't notice it, yes
B: So you've got your bass drum, you can use the same actions…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …as I demonstrated earlier
N: So stamping it down or just being quite regular and soft
B: Stamping or leg technique as I prefer to refer it to
N: (Laughs)
B: Let's go easy on that
N: You choose your way, I'll choose mine!
B: Absolutely, And then the hi-hat pedal. And we've got the same drums, snare, hi-tom, mid, low-tom, ride cymbal and crash cymbal. Then we've got our hi-hat which is, it catches a few people out, it's in the middle here. But provides no technical problems for people…
N: Right
B: …so they can get around the kit quite easily
N: That sounds, if I closed my eyes, I don't know if I'd be able to tell the difference between that
B: It's amazing considering this is so portable and so small…
N: Yeah
B: …circa £150. So it, you know, that whole thing about making music tuition accessible, this really helps
N: Yeah, and it's so much quieter
B: So much quieter again, you use headphones as you would do with the electronic kit
N: Mmmhmm
B: And, you know, in an ideal world you'd have, you'd have one of each, so you'd have an acoustic kit, and some form of electronic kit…
N: Oh right
B: …so that you could practise late at night, or perhaps when the neighbours come home. But in terms of storage space these are fantastic in schools…
N: Yeah
B: …you know, you could get thirty of these in a classroom, and put them on tabletops as they do in keyboard labs at the moment. And if you know, if you're struggling for room at home
N: It's fantastic
B: There you go
N: Alright, well we've looked at the drums…
B: Yes
N: …so I suppose we should look at the software
B: Absolutely
N: But let's give ourselves a little mental break between that
B: Okay
N: And of course give you a little break, because now we're going to a little break. Do you see what I'm doing there?
B: It's a beautiful segue
N: Thank you. Alright guys, join us back in part two
N: Hello, welcome back to part two with me, Natalie Barrass, and him over there, Brian Greene
B: Hi there
N: (Laughs)
B: Thank you
N: That's alright. Before the break
B: Yeah
N: We were exploring all the drums kits around us
B: We were
N: But we didn't really talk too much about these things behind us
B: Yes absolutely. The computer…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …and it's connection with our electronic drum kit. And how Gigajam uses interactive learning and e-assessment to assist to...
N: E-assessment?
B: E-assessment
N: E-assessment? What does that mean?
B: Well it's electronic assessment, analysis…
N: Of course it is
B: …by capturing performances into the computer
N: Mmmhmm. And you said it was a structured pathway that we're on?
B: Yes, absolutely
N: Explain the structure
B: Okay, so Gigajam is about, as I say, the structured pathways of courses for drums, keyboards, bass and guitar. And what happens is at each lesson, each level even, the lessons work synergistically amongst them, so that you can play with other members of your band. So you're all learning at roughly the same rate
N: Mmmhmm
B: At the end of a part, or a level, you have the opportunity to play a band piece where you can attain a grade
N: How does one attain a grade?
B: Well you can do it by recording your performance with your tutor
N: Mmmhmm
B: Or you can have an analysis of your performance that you can email in to us. What you also have to do is complete a theory assessment book. So it gives you a full grounding of all the information you need to have attained that grade
N: Fantastic. What grade are you on?
B: Yeah, can we move on?
N: (Laughs) Alright, moving on then
B: Yes
N: So we've got the computer
B: We have
N: Obviously the software's on there
B: Yes it is
N: What's the first kind of thing that you need to do?
B: Well I think that the thing that you need to do is to understand that the lessons are written in a very structured learning model way. And the whole idea is we take every single step, so there's no black holes of learning, as we refer to it
N: (Laughs)
B: So you're not going to fall down a big hole of, I don't understand that, how did I get here? The whole idea is that everything is explained, and every single exercise and every lesson moves on from where the left, last one left off
N: Right, so you're not, so you're just going boom, boom, boom, boom…
B: Yeah
N: …not boom, boom, ahhh
B: No ahh in it
N: Good
B: So it's a straight forward path
N: (Laughs)
B: What might happen is…
N: No corners?
B: No corners. What may happen sometimes when you're learning is that just through enthusiasm you'll, you've started with a few basics, or even this happens to advanced players, you're on a path of learning…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …and then you get sidetracked. Because, you know, you love music, and you think well, you may say something to your tutor like, "well what about what happens in this record"?
N: Yes
B: Tutor gets excited cos they wanna explain it to you, which is great, and they start talking about it. Before you know it, a few weeks later, you're off on this journey in this direction..
N: On a tommy tangent
B: It could be described as such
N: Mmmhmm
B: Then what happens is, the tutor remembers, you remember that you were trying to do something a few weeks back. So you come back, but actually where the path has taken you, you've gone over here, you come back in at a higher level, but you've got this gap…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …which you haven't been through. Now that's what the essential skills courses are all about, is making sure there's no gaps in your learning. And it's a straight forward, step by step path
N: Okay, so on the TV we're mimicking almost, what's going on, on your software, on your computer
B: Yeah, it's a different medium of course, isn't it, television? So the whole idea is that students can't interact with the program, in the way that, the television program rather, than you can if you've got the software in front of you
N: Right
B: But the idea of the television programme is to give, you know, some explanation, and also to support the learning. And perhaps, you know, even introduce you to what Gigajam is all about
N: Alright, let's get interactive
B: Good
N: Enough talking, let's start interacting
B: You're quite right. So, the lessons are based on a relatively simple learning model, where we introduce a little bit of knowledge, get the students understanding, and straight to application. The key thing is that people don't want to learn to play, they want to be able to play
N: Very true
B: Okay, so the lessons are written in such a way that we have clear objectives for each lesson…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …and then each section has a little bit of texts, which is then supported with multi-media exercises
N: I'm excited now, multi-media
B: Yeah multi-media, so we've got some video clips, and we've got some play-along support software. Two things, when you leave your teachers studio or house, quite often this has happened to me, I've said to a student, "How did you get on with your practice?" And they all say to me "Yeah, I did this bit but I forgot about that". You know, the bit that you really wanted them to get their teeth into
N: Mmm
B: They kinda forgot what was going on. So what we've, what I've done with this program and the software and the whole concept, is to say well look, quite a lot of the time students will spend half an hour, an hour at most with their teacher. The rest of the time, wild west
N: They're on their own
B: Correct. This is a way of supporting them. So the video is a great way of actually, sort of, bringing the tutor, you know, heaven forbid somebody as scary as me, into their house so they've got them there all the time
(Video starts)
N: Mmmhmm
B: And what we've got here is, you know, an example of my foot and…
N: And what a fine foot it is Brian!
B: …you're very kind…playing an exercise. So if you have forgotten what the exercise is about, you've got an immediate aid-memoir to remind you of what you were doing
N: Mmmhmm
B: Now as you go through the lessons you have video clips that support every single exercise
N: Mmmhmm
B: There are also some additional video clips that show some more of the technical aspects of playing, for whatever instrument…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …in more detail
N: I mean, this is more interesting, isn't it? Than just picking up a book from the library and just ploughing through it?
B: Well it makes, it's effectively like an interactive book. You know? So, you know, where you have a book yet you want to actually see some more…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …it enables you to do so. So you go through the pages, and then click a button and up comes a video. Now what's really important is, once you've gleaned your understanding, so you've got a bit of knowledge, you've gleaned your understanding, the key thing is student practising. You know, just forget it if you're not gonna practice, you're not gonna get any better. So, it's very lonely practising on your own. So we've build extract…what's called Xtractor software, for each of the courses, which extracts your track. So you can play along with it
N: Mmmhmm
B: So if we take, for example, one of the last exercises in lesson one, just purely as an example, what you've got here is a band track. So you can play along, you're, what you've learnt in the lesson, along with a band
N: Right, so when you mean, when you say a band track, what sort of instruments have we got in this band?
B: Well we've got bass, keyboards, a little bit of guitar going on, and of course drum kit. Let me play a little bit for you
N: Why don't you
B: Well I'm going to
N: (Laughs)
(Xtractor starts playing)
B: So here it is, four clicks to come in
N: Yeah
B: Then a very simple, uncomplicated backing track so it doesn't confuse you
N: Quite a nice pace as well
B: Well, yeah, absolutely. Now the whole idea is that you can control the track, by muting it, getting whatever sounds you want, you could even lose the drum tracks. You can play on your own. You can also change the pace…
(Tempo increases)
B: …as you get…
N: Ahhh
B: …as you get better and better
(Xtractor stops)
N: You can't do that on a CD or a tape can you?
B: Well you can't, so it actually makes it interactive because you're controlling it
N: Mmmm
B: The idea is that you play along with that over and over and over and get better. Now what you can also do, if you've got an electronic drum kit, is that you can actually record your performance in, and I'll demonstrate that for you
N: Please do
(Xtractor starts)
B: Record button. Ooh that's quick
N: (Laughs)
B: Oh dear
N: So I shouldn't distract you by talking to you, should I really?
B: Just don't ask me to talk…
N: Alright
B: …is the key. So I'll just play a sample of the exercise
N: (Laughs)
B: Yeah. That's me normally playing
N: You're very good
B: Thank you very much
(Xtractor stops)
N: So we've stopped that, not at the end?
B: No we haven't
N: Does that matter?
B: No, we'll only get an analysis though, of what we've, what we've recorded. So my score, which I will now get by pressing the Analyser button…
N: How, how do you get your analysis? Hang on
B: Well it's recorded into the computer…
N: Yeah
B: ….so I've now recorded in into my Xtractor. By pressing the A button, the Gigajam Analyser button, it actually compares what I've recorded against what I should have recorded. So here it comes up on the screen
N: That's quite simple
B: Well that's the idea
N: (Laughs)
B: And what it does is show graphically, it compares your performance, I've got green for good here on these first few shaky notes...
N: Yeah
B: …but most of them are black, be fair! So..
N: That's quite good
B: Not bad. And where you go horribly wrong, it gives you a colour
N: Ahhh
B: But what it also does is actually show the note in relationship to the position of these thin lines. So you can tell whether you're behind the beat or ahead of the beat
N: Alright, so where is the notes that you played? They're the ones in colour, the varying different colours, on the, sort of, octave?
B & N: On the stave
N: Sorry
B: Yeah, on the musical stage, that's right. What you can do, is you compare the lesson here…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …this is the perfect file, and this is the performance, my performance, slightly less than perfect…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …but a good attempt. And it compares every single note against the ones that should have been played…
N: Yeah
B: …and the ones that you did play
N: So you're just seeing exactly where you, exactly where you've gone wrong. Not kind of guessing?
B: No
N: It's there
B: The other thing is of course, is that we're looking at the analysis. What you can also do in, and this is very, very important, is to listen to your performance. So if I go back to the Xtractor here, take out, mute the performance that was already in there, and let's now listen to what I just played
(Xtractor starts playing)
B: Listening out for evenness
N: Yeah
B: Timing
N: (Laughs)
B: You know, passages where you go, go a bit awry. Inconsistency in the balance of your sounds, all those kinds of things. You know, when you're learning you need to be using your ears to hear what you've performed, using your eyes to see what you've done…
N: Mmmhmm
B: …and you need to be using a, how it also feels. Are you becoming increasingly more comfortable through repetition?
N: Mmmhmm
B: So using those three of the five senses that we have available is incredibly important
N: Yes
B: I mean the great thing about being able to use computers, is that it enables us to provide, you know, multi-sensorial education
N: Mmm
B: So that you can watch the videos if that's your main way of taking in information. You can read the text if you're more involved in the words and wanting to understand how that goes on. You can use your auda…audit…auditory skills
N: (Laughs)
B: Even if you can't say them! Can use your auditory skills…
N: Yeah
B: …to hear what's going on as well, and interpret your performance
N: And also, you're seeing a progression, aren't you? Because you've…
B: Yes
N: …got these things saved…
B: Yeah
N: …and then you can really, you get your percentage…
B: Yes
N: …you can see your progression going up and up and up…
B: Correct
N: …hopefully!
B: Hopefully
N: Fingers crossed
B: It should do, if you practise there's no doubt about that
N: Just quickly?
B: Yes?
N: Is Gigajam taking the place of the teacher?
B: No
N: Will teachers be redundant?
B: No, never. I mean it's, it's a support tool. You could never replace a teacher. It's impossible to do so. It has only ever been designed as a support tool. Yes if you haven't got a good, local teacher, this is great
N: Mmmhmm
B: But ideally a great teacher is the best thing that you could possibly have
N: Brian, I couldn't have put it better myself. Thank you for coming in today and giving us an introduction to Gigajam. The fun does not stop here though, oh no! Join us for part one of our essential drum skills course. See you then