Adaptations for the drumkit
As the band’s drummer, I went a long way to accompany the group with a drum kit. During the years 2006-2017, I was the dundun player of the group. When Faso Kan started to perform as a quartetto in 2015, I often felt that the dundun set was not sufficiently diverse in terms of tonal qualities and the frequency range. The addition of cymbals and shakers was inevitable. In 2017 the group used a percussion kit consisting of a calabash, snare drum, shakers, and a cymbal. The sonic texture of this instrument is very similar to the drum kit. However, the calabash kit had many limitations compared to the drum kit, particularly the absence of foot-operated percussion. I began my musical career as a drum kit player, so I was very motivated to take the challenge of accompanying the band with the drum kit. During 2019-2021, I worked intensively to arrange the drum kit rhythms and perform them. My drum teacher Tuomas Timonen helped me to gain the appropriate skills. The first step was to increase stick control and technique. During 2019 I primarily practiced snare drum for this purpose. We also worked towards expressive playing, trying to look for extremities and controlling the dynamics. In 2020 Tuomas proposed that we start learning The Art of Bop Drumming by John Riley. This approach proved very effective because I could develop bass drum and snare conversations while keeping accompaniment with the ride cymbal and hi-hat. After finding my ways to learn the griot drumming “the African way”, I was happy to discover that this book offered a clear systematical path to follow. I also realized that many of the jazz phrases had similar characters to West African solo drum phrases. Besides this process, we did exercises for four limb coordination and independence. At the same time, I was regularly practicing with Faso Kan and putting the new skills into action.
