From: gimper@leland.Stanford.EDU (Stuart Miyasato)
Subject: Less is less (was Re: The BIG change -- a new thread?)
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 92 19:37:11 GMT

I haven't seen a follow-up to the topic below yet, so here goes...

In article <96881@bu.edu> jaeger@buphy.bu.edu (Gregg Jaeger) writes:
>In article <D40374W.92Sep26223338@kaira.hut.fi> d40374w@kaira.hut.fi (Tero Valkonen) writes:
>>I don't think there was any "less is more" attitude. In fact, Neil
>>has himself said that he is not one of those who think that less
>>is more. "A lot of the time, less is less." -NP
>
>I'd be interested in knowing the context of this quote, because of
>the above understanding of ``less is more'' in art. Maybe an art
>student out there could fill us in a bit on this bit of art
>terminology? I seem to recall Neil saying understanding ``less
>is more'' as I have in the above...
>
>Gregg

I'm including a fairly detailed passage from Neil's Dec. '89 interview
in _Modern Drummer_ magazine.  Anyone interested in the entire text can
get it via anonymous ftp from syrinx.umd.edu in the /rush/special
directory.  Note the final sentence in the passage:  "A lot of times,
less is less."

-- Stuart  (gimper@leland.stanford.edu)


                        Interview:  Neil Peart/Rush

                        By: William F. Miller

                        Modern Drummer/ Dec. 1989
                        (Taken without permission)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[snip]

WFM:  Getting back to what I was asking before, are you sure there aren't any
techniques you'd like to get into on the drums?
NP:  I really don't think so.  Like I said, after 20 years of playing, I've
developed a lot of things that have proven valuable to me-even the rudiments.
There's a track on the new album where I play a pattern that involves eight
different ethnic drums, which I assigned to pads.  I played the bass drum and
snare drum parts with my feet, using my own sampled sounds triggered with foot
triggers.  The pattern I play with my hands couldn't be played without
paradiddles, because I have to have my hands accenting in certain places.
Without knowing how to do a paradiddle I couldn't have done that.
     Double-stroke rolls pop up in my playing all the time, and since I spent
days and weeks banging on a pillow, "Mama Dada Mama Dada," I can do a
double-stroke roll.  It is still a valuable thing to me, and time well spent.
And that's true for any time that I've spent woodshedding a particular approach
or listening to a style of music enough to understand it, like reggae or
fusion.  A lot of it I'll listen to as a drummer, just listening to it to
understand.  It's the same reason for reading Modern Drummer-to read what other
drummers have to say about things, and either get inspired or angry.  But all
of that input is really important, and the time spent practicing is very
valuable.
     I do get really annoyed with musicians who are proud of the fact that they
don't practice and never took a lesson.  I just think that is such a cheat to
say, "I just play simple; I don't need that."  It's not really true.  You can
listen to some simple drummers and tell they know everything.  It's implicit.
they have a certain confidence and agility on the drumset.  There was a drummer
featured in MD a while back, Manu Katche, and most of his drumming is very
simple, but it is so elegant.  His work on the Robbie Robertson album or his
work with Joni Mitchell or Peter Gabriel is a joy to listen to.  The Robbie
Robertson album is my favorite of Manu's playing, and I think there may be
three fills on the songs he played on the album.  His rhythms are such a hybrid
between West African music and Western music.
     There's an English pop band called China Crisis, and the drummer plays
very simple patterns with very few fills, but again, what he plays is so
elegant, and right for the music, and you can tell he has confidence.  When he
plays difficult patterns he plays them with such authority that they just flow
by you smoothly.  Many drummers try to pull off a more difficult pattern or
fill, and it comes off slightly less than smooth.  I've been guilty of that
myself certainly!  The really good drummers make what they're playing sound
effortless-not labored.  When you have drummers who have spent a lot of time
learning, ad a lot of time practicing and playing different styles of music,
when they do set themselves to play simply, they have a certain authority and a
uniqueness to what they are doing that sets them apart.  They're not just
playing the only beat they know.  And that's what a lot of so-called simple
drummers are guilty of.  They're playing simply because that's all they know.
That's sad in one sense because it's so limiting.  They are victims to the
"less is more" approach because they don't understand exactly what it means.
You have to know what you want to play and what you want to leave out-not just
play the only beat you know.  A lot of times, less is less.
Newsgroups: alt.music.rush