John McColgan From the Blues to the Black Page

From the Blues to The Black Page


The following is an outline of my drum performance/clinic, “From the Blues to the Black Page”.

The focus of the clinic will be on the contrast between the seemingly simple drumming involved in blues and roots music as opposed to the extreme rhythmic complexity of the Frank Zappa composition, “The Black Page”. Through demonstration I will show how learning to play both styles of music requires a great degree of discipline, understanding and appreciation. I will be performing alone, and with recorded musical backing tracks.   

Within blues and roots drumming, the level of subtlety and variation involved is always underestimated, and blues music is one of the building blocks of almost all contemporary western music. Learning to interpret these forms faithfully has been one of the most important aspects of my musical education.

The Black Page, written in 1976, was initially conceived as a challenge to Frank Zappa’s drummer at the time, Terry Bozzio. This song is widely considered to be one of the most difficult pieces ever written for drums and is composed around the concept of uneven sub-divisions of notes, complex polyrhythms, and odd melodies. I will discuss the application of complexity in music, and attempt to explain the more difficult concepts used in the piece during the clinic. As a way of warming up to The Black Page,  I will also be performing another piece by Zappa entitled, “The Purple Lagoon”.

The performance can be set up to run anywhere between 40 and 90 minutes, depending on the amount of time alotted.

Featured elements:
    
-Improvised drum solo
-demonstration/performance: Blues and traditional drumming (w/ backing tracks)    
-”The Purple Lagoon” w/ improvisation
-”The Black Page” w/ explanations
-Q and A

For information on booking please contact me via the email link.