Percussion Tips
By: Megan E. Thomas
Accent Exercises
Accents are an emphasis on one or more particular notes which makes them slightly louder than the others. An accent is a marking that is placed above an individual note and looks like this: >. Accents can create an interesting feel with in a repetitive rhythmic pattern. Accents can be played on any instrument. The following exercises are geared toward percussion instruments in general with a focus on the drum set.
Accents can help us create a groove or rhythmic idea and make it more interesting. For example, we could have a basic run of 1/16 notes on the snare drum.
If we add accents to the group in any place we desire, it changes the feel and spices it up a little.
Playing exercises with accents in them can help one to play with more finesse and have better control and coordination. Following are a few accent exercises to start out with.
After you feel confident with these, come up with some of your own or pick up any book that contains accent exercises. You can take the exercises in this article or any accent exercises and start to move the accents to different surfaces. For drum set, you can take the accents and move them to different toms. Following are a couple examples of the previous accent patterns re-orchestrated around the toms.
Playing accents and moving the accents around on the kit helps you get more familiar with the placement of your drums, opens you up to new ideas for fills or solos, and can help to "spice" things up!
Meg Thomas Bio
Meg Thomas, percussionist from Chicago, is an active performer and teacher who received her Bachelor of Arts in Music from Millikin University. Meg performs and teaches several different percussion instruments such as congas, drum set, bongos, timbales, djembe, tabla, cajon, darbuka, berimbau, cuica, bodhrán, and other percussion instruments.
Meg is involved in several original music projects as well as being an avid performer in the festival and jobbing band circuits. Meg has played in numerous bands over the years, playing in venues that range from House of Blues to Alpine Valley to The Park West to The NBC/Disney Holiday Parade to thousands of clubs, festivals, and bars. Meg has performed on local and national TV, and has also been on local and internet radio. She has experience in a plethora of genres: rock, soca, pop, calypso, blues, punk, fusion, latin-jazz, metal, salsa, world, folk, classical, reggae, disco, R&B, percussion groups, dance ensembles, etc.
In addition to being an active performer, she plays sessions at recording studios, puts on world percussion seminars, facilitates drum circles, teaches private lessons, and writes the Drum and Percussion Tips of the Month column for the webzine, ChicagoMusicGuide.com. Meg is part of the Vic Firth drumstick and mallet company's Education Team as a Vic Firth Private Drum Teacher and has a Sabian Cymbal endorsement.
Visit Meg's website:www.MegThomasPercussion.com
Visit Meg's myspace page:
www.myspace.com/mtpercussion