Connor Kent
Global Jazz Institute 2019

The Unique Perspective of Drummers
in the Art of Composition
Culminating Experience Reflection Paper

Abstract
The goal of my Culminating Experience was to study the music composed by
drummers, and to use this study to inspire my own compositions. This project
documents my personal journey into learning composition and developing my voice
as a drummer composer. I studied the process, inspiration, and techniques used by
drummers to write music because I believe that drummers have a unique
perspective to share in their work; and as a drummer, I would be able to relate more
closely to their process than that of another instrumentalist composer. I researched
drummer composers by interviewing them, analyzing scores and lead sheets, and
listening to many records. After figuring out what compositional devices I thought
were particularly drummer-like, I used those techniques to help me compose four
original pieces.
Although many current drummers are writing music, there is still a
considerable disparity compared to other instrumentalists. There are many reasons
for this, and although there are some practical and understandable reasons for that
disparity, I believe the biggest factor holding drummers back from exploring their
compositional process is fear. The intimidation of trying to write music that’s as
beautiful and complex as the jazz we listen to can be crippling for drummers, who

aren’t constantly honing their melodic and harmonic skills when they play their
primary instrument as another instrumentalist would. Studying drummers who
compose music would help inspire and give insight into compositional techniques
that may resonate better with other drummers like myself.

Research and Resources
I utilized many resources for this project and conducted research in a variety
of ways. Within the Global Jazz Institute, my advisor Chase Morrin was my biggest
resource. Generally, Morrin’s guidance helped direct my project into a more focused
direction, but more specifically he gave me many tools to analyze music, compose,
and think more freely. Prof. Bruno Raberg was another resource for me, as I
attended regular 30-minute composition directed study lessons with him where I
would bring in my music, ideas, and questions. He shared very specific
compositional techniques with me to help me start and develop my ideas. In my
compositions, I tried to incorporate some of the concepts that Danilo Perez taught
us in his workshops; although Danilo is primarily considered a pianist, he really is a
drummer as well.
To get a sense of what makes drummer’s compositions unique, I listened to
many drummer composers records, trying to find the things that I thought were
more likely to be written by drummers than other musicians. A majority of the ideas
that I found drummer-y that I enjoyed were based, somewhat obviously, on rhythm.
The use of metric modulation to bridge multiple tempi within a piece, polyrhythms,
hemiolas, odd time signatures, and unconventional phrasing were all centerpieces of

drummer tunes. However, there were other less obviously drummistic aspects like
avoiding rhythm with the use of rubato, simple and singable melodies, and
incorporating rhythms from other parts of the world that were also prominent in
the compositions I listened to. I also used some formal analysis to help me unlock
some ideas. I looked as John Hollenbeck scores, Ari Hoenig lead sheets, transcribed
some Elvin Jones, Paul Motian’s songbook, etc. I investigated the types of harmony
they used, studied how they constructed and developed melodic lines, and dissected
the forms of their music.
Another component of my research was interviewing drummer composers
and asking them questions about their process and techniques. I interviewed John
Hollenbeck, Rodney Green, and Terri Lyne Carrington. I filmed a one hour video
interview with John Hollenbeck, and it proved to be some of the best insight I
received and gave me inspiration to write. Hollenbeck is one of the preeminent jazz
composers today, and is a drummer. He shared invaluable advice with me about
how to get started writing, how to overcome fear, and how to compose without
judgment. Hollenbeck had written an article for the November, 2011 issue of
DownBeat entitled “Composing From a Drummer’s Perspective” that really laid out
the concept of what I was trying to do. This was an important article to find, because
there aren’t many on the subject of writing music from the perspective of a
drummer- including the advantages and challenges that it entails. My interview with
Rodney Green was interesting and insightful because he is on a similar journey as
me, he’s relatively new at writing music and is in the process of diving into
composition. He just recorded an album of all original music and shared his process

as well as some personal interactions with Al Foster, Paul Motian, and others who
had pushed him to start writing. My time with Terri Lyne Carrington was mostly
spent talking about what makes drummers tunes special, and how there’s
something unique to drummers who write. Since the drums aren’t a literal
melodic/harmonic instrument, when it comes to writing melody and harmony a
drummer must go to a secondary instrument, which means they can’t allow their
technique to do the work, they have to painstakingly work through each note. In
addition to the three interviews that I personally conducted, I read many interviews
in jazz and drum magazines and blogs.

Compositional Process
The process of writing original material was still somewhat new and
uncomfortable for me, so using case studies as models helped me solidify an
approach and develop new writing practices. The first piece I began writing for this
project is titled “20 Digits”. I gave it this name because the two melodic themes were
based on two different ten-digit cell phone numbers. Inspired by my interview with
John Hollenbeck, I decided to create melodies by assigning pitches to a series of
numbers. Hollenbeck shared with me that writing music in this manner is writing
music with out judgment. I can’t judge whether the melody is good or bad, it just is,
and its exactly what I set out to do. This alleviates any pressure to write something
“good” which often times leads to paralysis rather than anything “good”. The
concept of non-judgment is a core concept in the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, so I
was happy to find a way to bring that into my compositional process. As a nod to

Paul Motian, I also included a rubato stating of the melodic themes as an intro to the
piece.
The second piece I started to write was based off of a melody that I sang into
a voice recorder on my phone. I never came up with a name so it remains “Untitled”.
This piece utilizes metric modulations, odd time signatures, and odd phrases to keep
it interesting. Drummers commonly write with groove in mind, and often seek out
rhythms from around the world to incorporate into their music. I included a
“Cachao Descarga” vamp, borrowed from the Afro-Cuban jazz tradition, which I
manipulated in a few different ways.
As the recording session grew nearer, I realized I was under a time
crunch, which is how I came to name this piece “Crunch” (also referencing the
crunchy, dissonant interval it ends with). Rather than trying to start from scratch, I
decided to take a common song form, the 12-bar blues, and mess it up a little bit. A
common theme I’ve come across with composers, especially drummers, is the idea
of “borrowing” and “collecting” sounds. In this piece I decided to borrow the
harmonic textures and alterations of a blues.
During my interview with Hollenbeck, he spoke about how the cell of a
composition could be inspired by anything, especially non-musical things. Just like
the cell for “20 Digits” was writing a melody based off of a phone number, this piece,
“5 Over 9”, was inspired by a polyrhythm and how I could make it into a groove. This
composition prominently features “add2” and “add4” chords, which is a type of
harmony that I had heard all the time in modern jazz but didn’t know what it was. I
asked classmates to show me how to achieve the sounds I was hearing, and then

learned about it. I figured the best way to internalize this new type of harmony was
to write a song using only that type of harmony. Unlike the other tunes, I also tried
to incorporate the use of clusters and shifting pedal point. With each piece I wrote, I
tried to push myself to learn things and use them.

How the Work Contributes to the Profession
This Culminating Experience will contribute to the profession by bringing
awareness to music written by drummers, putting out my own compositions based
on those models, and using my interviews and experience to inspire more
drummers to write music. This will help dispel the stereotype that drummers aren’t
as capable of musicians as other instrumentalists. Drummers have a unique role in
an ensemble: they hear the bigger picture, orchestrate, and conduct. When a
drummer composes music, they are writing from this point of view, either
consciously or subconsciously, and we should recognize music written from that
point of view. This project will also help non-drummers explore this point of view,
and better understand the role of the drummer and how they compose- whether
that be through a non-traditional, “drummer-y” approach, or through more
traditional approaches from a drummers point of view. Some drummers like Denzil
Best, grew up as an adept multi-instrumentalists that wrote music in a more
traditional sense, but with a strong rhythmic foundation. On the other hand, Paul
Motian didn’t begin learning piano and writing until he was in his 40’s (Woodard).
Shedding light on the stories of how these drummers began writing, and what their

process was, will not only be inspiring to me, but could inspire a whole new
generation of drummer/composers.

Plan of Action
My plan of action consisted of three phases: first, immersion in the original
music of the case-study drummers; second, interviews with drummer composers
and analysis of selected pieces to define compositional styles and techniques; third,
creation of my own compositions and arrangements.
Phase one: Immersion. During this phase, I tried to uncover as much original
music written by selected drummers as I could, and research their careers and
playing styles to become familiar with them. I had already done some preliminary
research on which drummers I wanted to focus on, and some of the music they’ve
written.
Phase two: Analysis. During this phase, I started to look deeper at the inner
workings of the compositions and look for any defining elements and interviewed
drum composers I admired to gain insight on their methods. After I discovered the
certain defining elements or methods of each composer, I used them as a model to
create my own compositions with. I used this phase to gather all the necessary tools
I needed in order to write my own works.
Phase 3: Creation. During this phase, I composed the pieces for the recording
project. I used my rehearsal time to ask for suggestions from the other musicians,
which turned out to be invaluable. I discovered that it was hard for me to focus on
how the tunes sounded when I was playing because I was focused on playing, and

when I focused on hearing how to tune sounded, I couldn’t really focus on my
playing.

Challenges
During the process of pursuing this culminating experience project, I did face
some challenges. The main challenge, that isn’t unique to my project, is time
management. I changed my culminating experience multiple times, and kept
searching for a project that I would be personally connected to and that would give
me tangible growth. Once I settled on this project, I realized that since writing music
was new for me, that it would take a lot of time to complete the music. I didn’t have
all the music completely written until the week before the recording sessions
started. I finished four pieces and had started and stopped working on three to five
other ideas that never came to fruition.
The only other real challenge with this project was trying to interview
drummers. I had an ambitious list of drummer composers that I admired that I
wanted to get video interviews with, but I simply didn’t have the time or resources
to make it happen. Scheduling time with busy musicians is already hard to do, but I
also was driving back and forth to New York city to do interviews with NYC-based
drummers which had financial ramifications as well. In the end I interviewed John
Hollenbeck, Rodney Green, and Terri Lyne Carrington, but I had planned to do at
least 5-10 more interviews. I scheduled an interview with Dan Weiss, but then his
wife got sick so I couldn’t come over to his apartment, then he went on tour and we
never had another good time to meet up before the end of this program. I also

reached out to Ari Hoenig but he is extremely in demand and needed to get
compensated for his time, which I couldn’t afford to do. When meeting with
Kendrick Scott after a gig at Reggatabar, we exchanged schedules and he also was on
tour during the times I was available until the program was over.
I also want to point out something that I found interesting that wasn’t
necessarily a challenge, but something that I learned in this process. I discovered
that I can hard to rehearse and listen to your own compositions while you’re also
trying to play them. When I would rehearse the band, I realized that I never thought
about what I would play because I was so focused on the other musician’s parts. As I
do this more often, I believe that I’ll learn to rehearse my music in a more efficient
and productive way.

Future Plans
Moving forward with this project I plan on continuing to study drummer
composers that I enjoy. I’ve barely touched the surface of studying the wide breadth
of work written by drummer composers, and I will continue looking at their work
alongside my study of composition in general. Drummers like Tony Williams and
Max Roach were prolific composers and I’m very interested in diving deeper into
their catalogues of work. Paul Motian is another musician who I’ve just started
really checking out, and his story has given me plenty of inspiration.
Another aspect of this project that I plan to continue working on is
interviewing more drummer composers and producing a series of short
documentaries on “The Unique Perspective of Drummers in the Art of Composition”.

I believe that making these resources available and putting this out into the world
will inspire more drummers to write music and give them concrete tools to begin
their journey into the world of composition. As I was researching this topic, I found
a distinct lack of information on the topic of how drummers write music, so I hope
to help fill that void.

Works Cited
Beener, Angelika. “Drummer Composers Series.” ALTERNATE TAKES,
alternate-takes.org/category/drummer-composers-series/.
Brady, Shaun. “Drummers and Composers Talk About the
Misconceptions.” JazzTimes, 27 Nov. 2017,
jazztimes.com/columns/chops/drummers-composers-myths/.
Carrington, Terri Lyne. Interview, Boston MA. June 11, 2019. April 9, 2019.
Doershuck, Bob. “Jeff Watts: Soul Of A Drummer, Mind Of A
Composer.” Drummagazine.com, Aug. 2017, drummagazine.com/jeff-watts-soul-ofa-drummer-mind-of-a-composer/.
Gray, Edward, director. Different Drummer, Elvin Jones. Edward Gray Films,
1979.
Green, Rodney. Interview, North Bergen NJ. March 31, 2019
Hollenbeck, John. “Composing From A Drummer’s Perspective.” Downbeat,
Nov. 2011, pp. 74–75.
Hollenbeck, John. Interview, Boston MA. February 27, 2019.

Ratliff, Ben. “Paul Motian: Rhythm Melodist.” The New York Times, The New
York Times, 20 Jan. 2006, www.nytimes.com/2006/01/20/arts/music/paulmotian-rhythm-melodist.html.
Woodard, Josef. “Do The Write Thing: Drummer-Composers Trade Their
Sticks for Pens.” JazzTimes, 11 Jan. 2007, jazztimes.com/features/do-the-writething-drummer-composers-trade-their-sticks-for-pens/.

Appendix: Abbreviated List of Drummer Composers
•

John Hollenbeck

•

Ari Hoenig

•

Jason Marsalis

•

Terri Lyne Carrington

•

Kendrick Scott

•

Fransisco Mela

•

Dave King

•

Billy Higgins

•

Herlin Riley

•

Jeff “Tain” Watts

•

Dan Weiss

•

Marvin “Smitty” Smith

•

Matt Wilson

•

Eric Harland

•

Trilock Gurtu

•

Elvin Jones

•

Denzil Best

•

Jonathan Blake

•

Max Roach

•

Tyshawn Sorey

•

Willie Jones III

•

Tony Williams

•

Rich DeRosa

•

Adam Cruz

•

Paul Motian

•

Philly Jo Jones

•

Mark Guiliana

•

Rodney Green

•

Antonio Sanchez

•

Jack DeJohnette

•

Victor Lewis

•

Dana Hall

•

Brice Wassy

•

Lenny White

•

Jeff Hamilton

•

EJ Strickland

•

James Black

•

Bill Stewart

•

Jeff “Tain” Watts

•

Peter Erskine

•

Brian Blade

•

Billy Drummond

•

Ralph Peterson Jr.

•

Dafnis Prieto

•

Nate Smith

•

Jeff Ballard