Download December 2020 Issue
For twenty years, internationally renowned frame drummer Marla Leigh’s dedication to performance and her founding and management of the online school Frame Drum Academy kept pushing her dream of recording an album to the back burner. But last year, at the end of a tour, a small leap of faith set the wheels in motion that led to her powerful new record, Rhythms of Tof Miriam.
Initially, Leigh’s goal was to record one song and shoot an accompanying video in Israel. But a series of fortunate coincidences cleared the way for a recording session with an engineer attuned to the intricacies of the frame drum, and she returned home to California with a debut album that’s not only full of meditative performances, but replete with complex rhythms over large time scales.
“Rhythms of Tof Miriam is an homage to Miriam the Prophetess,” says Leigh, “sister of Moses and Aaron and a seminal figure in the ancient tradition of female drummers that existed in cultures all over the world, more than 3,000 years ago. In Hebrew ‘Tof Miriam’ literally means ‘the drum of Miriam.’”
Articles in December 2020
Vic Firth Re-Mix Brushes
A quartet of interchangeable implements for varying degrees of attack, tone, and volume. Vic Firth recently expanded its catalog with four pairs of uniquely designed Re-Mix brushes/rods made from different types of organic material, ranging from soft and subtle broomcorn…
Chris Frantz’s Remain in Love
The Talking Heads never fit neatly into the grimy mid-’70s New York punk scene that bore the Voidoids, the Ramones, and Johnny Thunders’ Heartbreakers. Transplants from the Rhode Island School of Design, the band’s initial clean-cut aesthetic ran contrary to…
Dafnis Prieto
Whether it’s through his recordings, performances, videos, or multiple forms of instruction, the drummer actively seeks to knock down barriers of thought and expression. How can you expand your drumming palette for only seven dollars and in only thirty minutes?…
Simon Phillips
Showbiz history is dotted with “triple-threat” performers who were top-flight actors, singers, and dancers, from Gene Kelly to Judy Garland to Sammy Davis Jr. to Beyoncé. Rarer still are those who can boast extraordinary performance and technical skills, bona fide…
Remembering Neil Peart
Part 4: “YYZ” This transcription is from the Buddy Rich Memorial Concert where Neil Peart played a big band version of the legendary Rush instrumental track “YYZ.” The introduction was conducted and written in 5/4. The main melody is in…
Sonor - Benny Greb Signature Snares
A duo of high-performance drums set to meet—if not exceed—all your backbeat needs. Ten years ago, Sonor introduced the original 5.75x13 signature beech snare for top endorsing artist Benny Greb. Greb and Sonor recently revisited that incredibly popular model to…
Dana Hawkins
Drawing on the hectic atmospheres and hyperspeed rhythms of drum ’n’ bass music, the drummer, whose credits include Meshell Ndegeocello, Jeremy Pelt, and Lizzo, is revitalizing jazz with his prickly, seemingly time-altering drumming. The future of drumming, the future of…
Jonas Brothers’ Jack Lawless
New Jersey native Jack Lawless started out as the drummer of Joe Jonas’s chart-topping alternative-pop group DNCE. When the Jonas Brothers got back together, Lawless got the call for that tour as well. We were able catch up with him…
Cajon You Dig It?
The owner of this month’s KOTM took the now-ubiquitous percussion instrument to its next logical step. The kit that Luke Ross uses with his all-acoustic band Company of Crows is composed entirely of cajons built by the Croaker Percussion company,…
Nigel Olsson’s ’70s/’80s-Era Slingerland Drumkit
While the legendary Elton John drummer has been a DW drums endorser for years—the company famously built him a custom kit for the pop star’s 2012 Million Dollar Piano Las Vegas residency that displays the badge of the Royal Air…
Critique
RECORDINGS Louisiana’s LeRoux One of Those Days The latest from this funky southern-rock institution shows the group still has get-up-and-go. LeRoux, sometimes known as Lousiana’s LeRoux, enjoyed some major-label success with their 1978 Capitol debut and have remained regionally active.…
Bennie Rodgers II
The Oakland, California, native has been applying his vast skills to a style that originated halfway across the globe—and like K-pop itself, he’s been winning over fans from sea to shining sea and beyond. Bennie Rodgers II is a veteran…
Playing to Type
People like to put other people in psychological boxes, and boxes within those boxes: Being an artist takes a certain kind of personality. And among artists, your average actor is said to be like this, while a musician is like…
Centent Cymbals - Ardor, Sparks, and Emperor Series
Handcrafted and highly affordable B20 options from a Chinese company with roots that date back hundreds of years. Centent is a Chinese company that produces high-quality yet competitively priced cymbals out of different bronze alloys, including B8 (8-percent tin/92-percent copper),…
In the Studio with Drummer/Producer Evan Hutchings
Evan Hutchings made the move from Fort Smith, Arkansas, to Nashville in 2006, enrolling at Middle Tennessee State with a plan to be a studio musician. “I wanted to be Steve Jordan,” he says. “That was the goal.” Like many…
Stick Technique Revisited
Part 6: Perfect Practice and Building Speed Many drum instructors say, “Play naturally.” The problem with that statement is that we naturally hold on to things tightly. Have you ever seen someone pick up a drumstick for the first time…
Get on the Good Foot!
Hi-Hat Comping Riffs in 3/4 Welcome to the second part of this three-part series on hi-hat comping. In this lesson we’ll explore repetitive hi-hat motifs in 3/4. The phrases included here are intended to help develop dynamic balance between the…
Download December 2020 Issue
The Modern Drummer November 2020 Issue – Volume 44 • Number 12, comes in two versions the print version and the extended digital version that includes bonus articles and was used to create our new flipbook. The flipbook experience is…
Simon Phillips
On Reading and Four-on-the-Floor “Not from Here” is one of the songs on a DVD/download titled The Gannin Arnold Project that Drum Channel produced featuring Gannin Arnold, Tim Landers, and Billy Mohler, along with five guest drummers: Taylor Hawkins, Jimmy…
