Cymbal Technique Book

Transcription

1 Cymbal Technique Book 2017 Version By Connor M. Thomas

2 Cymbal Notation Key GVSU Drumline 2014 ã 4 2 Cymbals x. - hh crunch crush sizzle siz Cym. ã > ^ o. o - o o^ siz up cr.ck. bell.tap s.tap l.tap tap.ck. GVSU Drumline 2014

3 POSITIONS Set Position Cymbals will be held in Garfield grip (as opposed to Southern grip) As a rule of thumb make sure that you have your fingers spread as much as possible Cymbals will be held 1 away from the hips The knots of the cymbal will be roughly 3-4 below the beltline The knots will also be about 1 behind the seam of your pants The cymbals will be held perpendicular to the ground so that they are straight up and down They will be rotated in slightly so that someone can t see the inside of the cymbals if they are standing in front of you There will be a slight bend in your elbows directly backward o There this means that your forearms are not going to be angled out or in. If you were to look in a mirror your forearms should look like they are straight up and down o You want to avoid tucking your elbows in and pushing them too far out Make sure that your wrists aren t torqued one way or the other o If you were to draw a line from your middle finger all the way up your arm the line shouldn t curve at the wrist Vertical Position (Vertical/Vert) Biceps will be flat to the ground Knots of the cymbals will be at eye-level o This usually means that your arms are going to make a 135 degree angle but having the knots at eye-level is the most important factor Cymbals will be held 2 apart from each other with the center of the gap in the middle of your face o If you can see through the cymbals they are likely in front of one of your eyes. You ll need to shift them so that you can t see very clearly in front of you As with set position make sure that your wrists aren t torqued Your elbows will be in the same plane as they were when they were set o So if you moved your cymbals directly to vertical position your elbows wouldn t move left or right at all Vertical Choke Position Cymbals will have the angle of an A position Cymbals will be pressed against the squishy part of your armpit your forearms and your finger tips o Make sure that you don t hit either your pecs or your biceps The tops of your cymbals will still be 2 apart and will line up with the center of your neck

4 Orchestral Position (Orchestral/Orch) Still 2 apart The tops of the cymbals will be in line with the tops of your shoulders The knots will be in line with your spine o The cymbals aren t going to be offset one way or the other they will be centered Cymbals will be angled 30 degrees to the left o So the top will be close to in line with you left shoulder and the bottom will be close to in line with your right hip o Note that for some people the tops of the cymbals may not be directly in front of your shoulder but it will be at least close for most people The same rule applies with your elbows they don t move left or right relative to your set position Also make sure that your wrists aren t torqued left or right Orchestral Choke Position Cymbals will be pressed against the body The back edge of the bells should be just touching your body (or in line with your body at least) The front of the cymbals will be 2 apart The tops and the bottoms of the cymbals will be in contact with your body Hi-hat position This position is unique to playing hi-hats The cymbals will be together pressed against your body just below the belly button o Think lower than what you think it should be most people tend to be too high The left half of the cymbal will be resting against your arm so that your cymbals will be on an angle

5 SOUNDS Vertical Crash This is known as a VAV-style There are two main positions for this style of the V and the A In V position the bottom of the cymbals are going to remain 2 away from each other just as though they are in vertical position The cymbals will make a 60 degree angle with the tops of the cymbals being roughly in line with the edge of your body give or take a few inches The closest part of the cymbals will be in line with each other as though they are on a flat surface The A position is a mirror of the V position: tops are 2 apart cymbals make a 60 degree angle o There is one exception to this: every time the A position is right after a (which is almost always) you re going to take your pointer middle and ring fingers off of the cymbals leaving only your thumb and pinky fingers on the cymbals The occurs in a transition from V to A Both of the cymbal will move towards each other but the right cymbal will go up very slightly o When the right cymbal hits the left the bottom will be 1 above the bottom of the left The cymbals will contact at the bottom and will go all the way to the top to make a full sound o Don t think about rotating your hands to make the think of the motion as pushing your hands together and then pulling them apart. This will help you get a fuller sound The instant after you get that full sound you re going to pull the cymbals out to A o This entire motion happens as fast as possible from the V ing through and pulling out to A The counts for a vertical are as follows o The count before the (usually called count 8) will be in V o The count of the (count 1) will end in A o The count after the (count 2) will be in V o The count after that (count 3) will be in vertical Orchestral Crash There are two main positions for this the prep and the extension For the prep position your right hand will pull back directly towards you with the front of the cymbal aiming at 3-4 inside the far edge of your left cymbal o Note that the part of your right hand that should be furthest forward should be your pinky The fingers of your left hand will push your cymbal towards your forearm slightly o Take a look at the distance between your cymbal and your forearm when you re in orchestral position. When you go to prep this distance should be cut in half

6 For the extension your left hand will be as though it is just in a regular orchestral position o Again if you re in extension because of a take those three fingers off of the cymbals Your right hand will be in the same plane as your orchestral position but it will be further out (extended if you will). Specifically the back edge of your right cymbal will line up with the knot of your left cymbal The counts for a vertical are as follows o The count before the (count 8) will be in prep o The count of the (count 1) will end in extension o For the count after the (count 2) you will still hold in extension o The count after that (count 3) will be back to orchestral Vertical Crash Choke (Vertical Choke) Count 8 and through the are the exact same as a The moment you have made a full on count one pull the cymbals into your vertical choke position completely cutting off the sound as soon as possible Almost always return to vertical on count 3 after the choke Orchestral Crash Choke (Orchestral Choke) Count 8 and through the are the exact same as a The moment you have made a full on count one pull the cymbals into your orchestral choke position completely cutting off the sound as soon as possible Almost always return to orchestral on count 3 after the choke Crush Lightly push the cymbals together to give a quiet sustained sound Try to let the cymbals ring for as long as possible The right cymbal will either be straight forward if you re in orchestral or up and out at the 45 degree angle if you re in vertical Sizzle There should be about a ½ - 1 offset Note that the left cymbal shouldn t move at all once the cymbals are together There is no prep for this sound Think mezzo forte Louder than a crush Pull the cymbals apart roughly 5-6 (think of the width of a head) The cymbals will come apart equally neither hand is doing more work than the other Same offset still make sure that the cymbals can ring for as long as possible Think forte

7 Orchestral Siz Louder than a sizzle Prep will be the same as a The only difference is that you ll keep the cymbals in contact instead of having them apart Again make sure that the cymbals can ring Think fortissimo You ll be given a count to return to orchestral Vertical Siz Think of an orchestral siz only in a vertical position The prep will down and towards you on a 45 degree angle only your left hand won t move unlike orchestral position The extension of the siz will be up and out on a 45 degree angle still with the edge of your right cymbal be in line with the knot of your left cymbal You ll be given a count to return to vertical Press Similar to a crush only the idea is to cut off all of the sound Still have that same offset Crunch Similar to a sizzle only cutting off the sound The prep size and the offset are still the same Suction (Suc) Starting in the extension of your siz position press the cymbals together and pull your right hand into your left As the name implies this creates a short suction sound o Note that your left hand shouldn t move when playing a suc. That means it has to push back into the other cymbal just enough to stop it in place Siz-up This is a combination of a siz and a suc After playing a siz (usually an eighth note or a quarter note) pull your right cymbal back in to play a suc

8 Hi-Hat From hi-hat position the eighth note before the note your cymbals will open about 3-4 o The right hand will do most of the work but not all of it o This may increase to a quarter note at higher tempos When the cymbals close together the sound should be a dry thump If there s any ringing there needs to be more velocity behind the hands Body Tap Start in your orchestral choke position For the prep your left cymbal will tilt in a little bit and your right cymbal will point straight out o Note that both cymbals are still touching the body On the note when the cymbals hit the left cymbal should contact about 1 inside the right cymbal The cymbals will return to choke position right after the note has been played Punch Start in your orchestral choke position On the prep (usually one count before the note) both cymbals will come forward off of the body about 2 and both cymbals will come down about 2 Your right hand will rotate so that the cymbals are parallel to each other The cymbals will be about 4 apart with the edge of the right cymbal in line with the knot of the left cymbal o Keep in mind the right cymbal should NOT be pointing at the ground. Just because the position comes down a bit doesn t mean that the angles of rotation are changing at all. Think of your cymbal reaching towards something in the distance not towards the ground On the note the right hand will rotate and hit the edge of the left cymbal hard roughly 3-4 inside the edge of the right cymbal The instant after the cymbals contact pull them into orchestral choke to cut off the sound as quickly as it was made Open Tap (Ting) Think fortissimo if not louder Start with your vertical A position This is going to be similar to playing a body tap only in vertical position On the prep (usually one count before the note) Your left hand will rotate in slightly and your right hand will rotate so that the cymbal is vertical On the note the left cymbal will contact about 1 the edge of the right cymbal The cymbals will reset to the position right afterwards

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11 Cymbals GVSU Marching Warmup 3 θ x ι x θ x ι x xxx x xx Kyle Morse x xx x x x 5 ι suc ι ι ] ] 9 vis. ] ι vis θ x ι x θ x ι x x x x x x x y y y y 4 21 ι ι ] ] ] 2015 Laker Drumline

12 GVSU Street Beat willc GVSU R RL R L R LR L RL R L R LR L L L RRLRRL Tenorline R L R LR RLLRRLRLR Bass Drums R RL L L L LR L RLR RL LR R R R Cymbals S.Dr.! RRL R R RRL RB RRLRRL T. Dr. R L RRL RLRRLRL R L RRI B. Dr. RLR R L Cyms RRRLLRRLL RIRRIRIRRIRI- RLRRLRRI-LRRII.

13 Z- S.Dr. LR LRRLRRL L RLR L T. Dr. RRII-RRII-R R L RLR L RLR L l. Dr. Cyms S.Dr. RLRRL R R L L R L R L L RLR LRL R LLj} RL LLLR L T. Dr. R LRLR RL RLLR f.dr. Cyms RLRLRRLRLLR

14 3 RLLPRL LLLR RLRLRRLRLLR RLRLRRLRLLR RLR R R I. LRL RLR RRL LRL U! RLRLgTRIRLRLRLRLL RLR L R L L RLRLR RLRLR R L RLRLR L LRLRLRLRLL SUC BT SUC SUC SIZ UP SUC BT SUC SUC SU UP CR

15 l RL R L R & LR R R L RRL RRL RRL RL L L L L LR L R

16 GVSU Louie's Left WillG RickG LaurenK KyleM 3 x x x x x x x x 5 ] ι ι ] x x x x 9 ] ι 13 ] ι 17 ι ] WHO! ι ] ] ] ι ] 2017 Laker Drumline

17 Cymbals 7 13 q x x x x ] 9 ι Louie Shades On GVSU Street Beat x x x 17 x ] Kyle Morse Dion Otzman x x x x x x x x x 25 x x x x x x 29 xxx x x x x x ] x ] 3 ] ] Laker Drumline 2016

18 Cymbal Line Bounce Step Intro q200 Repeat 3x's ã 4. x x x x x j x x x x x x x ^ x j x x j ã x x x x x x x x ^. ^ 7 ^ ^

19 2016 GVSU Pregame - Page A Cymbals GVSU Fanfare/March On GVSU/Grand Old Flag C 13 A C Ó 2 2 Ó f 1A 23 1B 3 B 2 Ó 1 1C D f 2A. 2.

20 Cymbals 2016 Pregame - Page A 2B 2C Ó 79 Ó 2D 2E 2F 2G Ó 96.. Ó 104 Ó Ó 2H 3 Ó - 2 -

21 Cymbal Line 2016 Star Spangled Banner arr. J. Martin Maestoso q 96 A ã 4 3. cr cr cr f 9 1. ã. 2. B 8 C cr cr cr cr cr cr rit. cr cr cr cr cr 24 ã cr rit. cr cr

22 Cymbals 2016 GVSU Pregame - Page B Mountain Dew 3A h140 3B C Ó Ó Ó Ó sizzlesimile 12 3C 23 ċrash 4 34 Ó Ó Ó 45 Ó Ó 5 2 Ó Ó Ó

23 Cymbals 2016 GVSU Pregame - Page C Let's Go Blue! h104 Tight Hi-hat for snares ã C.. 8 8

24 Cymbals 2016 GVSU Pregame - Page D GVSU Letter Pullout arr. John W. Stout perc. Will Gordillo 5A C h B Ó Ó Ó Ó > J 6A Ó 6B Ó 6C Ó 6D 6E 6F 6G 6H 6I 6J 24 Ó Ó Ó Ó Ó Ó Ó 6K 38 Ó 6L Ó 6M Ó 6N Ó ^ 2 6 O Ó 6P Ó Ó 6Q x^ Ó Ó 6R 53 Ó 6S Ó 6T Ó 6U Ó 6V Ó ^ 2 7 Ó Ó Ó x^ Ó 8 8

25 2016 GVSU Pregame - Page E Cymbals Chromatic Spellout h140 8A C Ó Ó Ó 7 Ó Ó Ó Ó Ó

26 Cymbals 2016 GVSU Pregame - Page F Pregame Cheers perc. Will Gordillo 9A q140 ã 4 4 Ó CR Ó Ó Ó Ó 10 Ó 7 ã Ó Ó Ó 11 Ó Ó Ó CR CR 13 ã 12 x x x x HH x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x 13 x x x x 19 ã Ó Ó Ó 14 j CR CK

27 Cymbals 2016 Pregame - Page G Team Entrance arr. by John W. Stout 15 C. Ó h140 Ó Ó Ó 8 Ó Ó Ó 15A 15 Ó Ó Ó Ó 22 Ó Ó Ó ^ 2 Ó Ó Ó x^ Ó. 2. x^ Ó