forms of music as a metronome //drums\\
I was reading the end-of-year music post from Thrice-drummer Riley Breckenridge and he brought up a cool practice tip that i immediately implemented: using EDM (his current jam was using the latest skrillex album F*CK U SKRILLEX..) or any other form of electronic music as a metronome to warm up on drums for shows/ recording sessions. they're good for drums because these types of music rely heavily on rhythm. (i don't know if this could apply to warming up on other instruments as much. maybe?)
different forms of electronic music are usually made on a grid of some kind. even Akai MPCs of the 80s and 90s are a standalone sampler/sequencer, programmed around an internal grid which recycles over and over. apart from some producers (JDilla comes to mind) who were so damn genius to bend and warp 4/4 time to make it swing, creating an off-time, drunken feel, almost all forms of electronic music are made this way. hip-hop and rap records also fall into this category. i used riley's advice and expanded it to include hip-hop, rap, EDM, house, synthwave.. you get it.
like riley noted in his post, using these forms of music are great for warming up because:
- they're musically and sonically dynamic
- they contain polrhythms and subdivisions
- they are infinitely more interesting to use than a standard metronome
warming up this way gets the hands moving with the feet, and the creative juices in the mind flowing. and you're going to be super into the feeling, because you love the music. wins all around.
thanks for the tip, riley.