PHOTO CREDIT: Above photo by John Rickman Photography, San Jose, California.

There is a trend towards faster and faster drum solos, especially in recorded music. Unfortunately many live drummers now think they should be played this way as well. So, what is a dancer to do?

The faster your drum solo music gets, the simpler your performance should be.

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When you listen to the drum, you usually hear a two-part cupcake of sound:

1. A rhythm beneath the drum solo which acts as the cake foundation, and
2. An accented overlay, or an icing of accents.

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If there are two percussionists playing, one will usually hold the rhythm while the other does the accent work. If there is one drummer then the drummer should be alternating repeatedly between accent segments and the underlying rhythm pattern, to re-establish and support the "cake."

The underlying rhythm does not change until it changes completely to a new rhythm, or unless specific rhythm is dropped to go into a strictly roll-based cake underlay.

A good live drummer will keep the accent phrases clear and predictable, and will repeat a phrase four times (or perhaps a longer phrase twice), giving the dancer the ability to predict what will happen.

A bad live drummer will change time signatures randomly or change phrases erratically, usually because they have learned from mimicking recorded music. On recorded music, it is okay for a drummer to do that because a dancer can learn/memorize the recording.

If you are having trouble feeling confident you have found the cake, try this....

Many drum solos give a nice clear sample of cake at the very beginning to establish the underlying rhythm for the drummers and the audience.

Listen to the very beginning, and you will probably hear a few nice, clear repeats of the carrying rhythm that will continue under the icing until there is a style, speed, or rhythm change down the line.

• The dancer should focus on dancing to the icing, not to the cake. Listen to the underlying rhythm on your recorded drum solos so you hear the core of what to let go.
• Now listen to your accent series (icing) over the top of the rhythm.
• Your icing is made up of short rolls and sharp hits.
• Rolls sound relatively smooth and call for posing, walking, unaccented shimmies and shimmy overlays, or smooth isolations.
  Sharp accents call for sharp movements like pops, locks, and drops.

Example:

A common phrase in a drum solo could sound like (you're going to have to say this out loud):

"Paradiddle paradiddle paradiddle paradiddle paradiddle paradiddle bomp bomp bomp"

Which calls for something like:

smooth smooth smooth smooth smooth smooth sharp sharp sharp

or

smooooooooth smoooooooooth smooooooooth sharp sharp sharp

or

smooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooth sharp sharp sharp

If you have had trouble with looking electrified when doing drum solos, give a shot to simplifying what you are dancing to.

Your mileage may vary, but frenetically overdancing drum solos is a very, very common problem.

• Drum Solo Builds. How to build the energy in a drum solo, by Saqra.
• Drum Solo Accent Chains. How to build sequences of accents that make sense together, by Saqra.
• The 70% Rule. How to use restraint to keep your audience captivated, by Saqra.
• Alternatives to Shimmies in Drum Solos. Saqra offers suggestions for ways to make your drum solo dancing more interesting, by suggesting alternatives to shimmying.

• Pop, Drop, & Lock Technique in Drum Solos. How to use accents in ways that enhance your dance, by Saqra.
• Holding Accents. Advice on what to do next after making an accent, by Saqra.
• Belly Dancing to Fast Drum Solos. Musical interpretation for drum solos, by Saqra.