The two rhythms from the 5 domain and the 4 domain are combined to make syncopation. The first beat is called The Five Wash. It combines a steady roll on the bass drums of sixteenth notes and a steady roll of pentlets with the hands. The blending of the drums baffles the attentive listener so that a liquid style is experienced as The Wash. The inattentive listener may dismiss it as ordinary drum rolls. First, the sheet music then the video...
Wash syncopation
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The video is here. It starts with eight sixteenth notes and then mixes pentlets on tom toms and sixteenths on bass drums. Adjust your bass to max and treble to minimum to compensate for my cheap camera microphone.
A better audio track can be found on the page for Audio Recordings, linked on the page list at the top right corner of this website.
Mathematical Amplification
The syncopation of hands versus feet provides an amplified speed for the listener to sort out. The following calculation shows that a speed advantage is obtained by playing a beat with hands that is 25% faster than the beat from the feet. The advantage is way beyond the 25% work load increase. The drummer gets an 87% increase in speed for that work.
The beats were counted and 137 hits are performed, not counting simultaneous hits.
16 sixteenths to begin simultaneously with toms and bass (2x8 sixteenths)
64 sixteenths on basses while
80 pentlets go on tom toms plus
2 ending notes on a tom tom and a bass drum
______
162 total hits counting simultaneous notes
Subtract simultaneous hits
-8 sixteenths on toms
-0 for bass drum sixteenths
-16 for tom tom pentlets
-1 for tom tom ending
________
-25 counted simultaneous hits
162 - 25 = 137 separate hits on drums in ten seconds
This Five Wash video runs at a speed of 13 beats per second instead of the 7.3 beats per second for the bass. So this technique give an 87% faster drum solo speed compared to the bass drum roll, by using a hand beat that is 25% faster than the bass drum roll. This amplification was the goal for developing this new beat. Mathematically, it makes sense that mixing two different frequencies will produce a high harmonic and a low beat-frequency. Also, listening to the results from the Premier set shows a cycle of music with a surprise melody. I will make a faster version for a longer time. An audio recorder called a Zoom H4N has become available to Double Bass Drummer Magazine at a local studio that has abundant drum kits.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Doing Two Things At A Time
There is an old wives tale that a person cannot do two things at a time. It seems true when I try to read a college text book while I sing a song for the first time. But musicians can practice so that they can do two or three things at a time. The music of Bach is written down and it shows the left hand playing different notes than the right hand. The independence of hands and feet that a drummer achieves is a goal that has been described many times.
The Five Wash that was demonstrated on this website shows the hands doing a single stroke roll with five hits per beat while the feet are doing a single stroke roll with four hits per beat. When I play that syncopation, I rely on my feet as the automatic resource for a roll of sixteenth notes. After a thousand repetitions, I have this capability. The hands are given the more difficult task of performing that odd penlet roll. It is made easier by recognizing the single hand accent per beat that coincides with a foot hit, as shown in the sheet music. I listen, not to all five hand hits, but to that one accent per five hits.
Music Appreciation
The Five Wash was born on April 7, 2012 when I made the first recording. In recent weeks since then, I listened to the sounds and heard a drum melody. I looked at the sheet music and I realized that this new beat is characterized by the double-time middle roll and by the two flams. The 5 to 4 washing beat scrubs the flams across the square bass drum roll and also straddles the double-time middle roll.
Looking at the hand written score, you can see the middle roll is the 3 straddled by two + signs which are also straddled by the 2 and 4 beats. (The + signs are for pentlets). That group of five hits is heard as a roll that is much faster than the speed at which the bass drum is rolling. The two flams are seen in the score as the +2 and 4+ pairs of hits. Those flams are controlled by the "Wash Time", which is 0.028 seconds in the video. The calculation is shown on this page.
Wash syncopation
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
The video is here. It starts with eight sixteenth notes and then mixes pentlets on tom toms and sixteenths on bass drums. Adjust your bass to max and treble to minimum to compensate for my cheap camera microphone.
A better audio track can be found on the page for Audio Recordings, linked on the page list at the top right corner of this website.
Mathematical Amplification
The syncopation of hands versus feet provides an amplified speed for the listener to sort out. The following calculation shows that a speed advantage is obtained by playing a beat with hands that is 25% faster than the beat from the feet. The advantage is way beyond the 25% work load increase. The drummer gets an 87% increase in speed for that work.
The beats were counted and 137 hits are performed, not counting simultaneous hits.
16 sixteenths to begin simultaneously with toms and bass (2x8 sixteenths)
64 sixteenths on basses while
80 pentlets go on tom toms plus
2 ending notes on a tom tom and a bass drum
______
162 total hits counting simultaneous notes
Subtract simultaneous hits
-8 sixteenths on toms
-0 for bass drum sixteenths
-16 for tom tom pentlets
-1 for tom tom ending
________
-25 counted simultaneous hits
162 - 25 = 137 separate hits on drums in ten seconds
This Five Wash video runs at a speed of 13 beats per second instead of the 7.3 beats per second for the bass. So this technique give an 87% faster drum solo speed compared to the bass drum roll, by using a hand beat that is 25% faster than the bass drum roll. This amplification was the goal for developing this new beat. Mathematically, it makes sense that mixing two different frequencies will produce a high harmonic and a low beat-frequency. Also, listening to the results from the Premier set shows a cycle of music with a surprise melody. I will make a faster version for a longer time. An audio recorder called a Zoom H4N has become available to Double Bass Drummer Magazine at a local studio that has abundant drum kits.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Doing Two Things At A Time
There is an old wives tale that a person cannot do two things at a time. It seems true when I try to read a college text book while I sing a song for the first time. But musicians can practice so that they can do two or three things at a time. The music of Bach is written down and it shows the left hand playing different notes than the right hand. The independence of hands and feet that a drummer achieves is a goal that has been described many times.
The Five Wash that was demonstrated on this website shows the hands doing a single stroke roll with five hits per beat while the feet are doing a single stroke roll with four hits per beat. When I play that syncopation, I rely on my feet as the automatic resource for a roll of sixteenth notes. After a thousand repetitions, I have this capability. The hands are given the more difficult task of performing that odd penlet roll. It is made easier by recognizing the single hand accent per beat that coincides with a foot hit, as shown in the sheet music. I listen, not to all five hand hits, but to that one accent per five hits.
Music Appreciation
The Five Wash was born on April 7, 2012 when I made the first recording. In recent weeks since then, I listened to the sounds and heard a drum melody. I looked at the sheet music and I realized that this new beat is characterized by the double-time middle roll and by the two flams. The 5 to 4 washing beat scrubs the flams across the square bass drum roll and also straddles the double-time middle roll.
Looking at the hand written score, you can see the middle roll is the 3 straddled by two + signs which are also straddled by the 2 and 4 beats. (The + signs are for pentlets). That group of five hits is heard as a roll that is much faster than the speed at which the bass drum is rolling. The two flams are seen in the score as the +2 and 4+ pairs of hits. Those flams are controlled by the "Wash Time", which is 0.028 seconds in the video. The calculation is shown on this page.
