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 Mike
Mangini
Shapes & Your Drum Kit
In
terms of choosing and using your drum kit setup, the most important thing to remember
is that it is variable as our bodies' mechanics are not.
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The
basic idea here is to enjoy setting up and 'shaping' your drum kit with respect
to the mechanics of the human body.
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Although we can
make physical adjustments to connect to our kits, the bulk of 'connection adjustments'
are with the drum kit itself. The second most important aspect of our setup is
how Its' sounds are structured. This structure is a geometrical one. In other
words, there are 'buckets' of shapes to look at on the kit. There are lines, triangles
and even the ever-popular Rhombus.
Noticing that our sound structures make shapes can be helpful in how we keep track
of parts of songs and patterns that make up our beats and fills. Being able to
organize, physically reach and musically use these configurations can be a source
as to how we enjoy our drums. Very often, the mere idea of seeing our drums in
shapes can help us create new patterns and sounds that we may not have previously
thought of.
Some of the new ideas we can come up with might entail the use of our weak limbs.
For example, noticing that we might not have a deep sounding tom-tom on our left
sides (if we are right-handed) can come from the idea of shapes rather than the
concept of sound. Sound cannot be seen unless it is interpreted into visual representations
of sound waves.
The basic idea here is to enjoy setting up and 'shaping' your drum kit with respect
to the mechanics of the human body. The angles of the kit will reflect the angles
of our limbs in some way. Also, the way we enjoy the sounds of our kits can be
enhanced as we apply the sense of sight to it. As far as shapes and geometry are
concerned, we may never hear our drums the same old way again. We can always create
fresh new ways to enjoy playing the drums.
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