The Latin Rudiments by Chuck Silverman

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The concept of Latin Rudiments began years ago when I had the rtunity to meet and talk with a great drummer, Victor Lewis. Mr. Lewis was visiting a house in Miami where I lived with several other musicians. I noticed that he was playing the clave along with a Cuban radio station. I inquired why he was doing this and Mr. Lewis’ response was that he wanted to get into the rhythms of the music and what better way than to use the back of Cuban music, the clave. Mr. Lewis, at the time, was in Miami with saxophone great David Sanborn. I must have thought that his playing the clave to understand the music was a good idea because I immediately began to use his idea to enhance my own understanding and appreciation of Cuban music. I don’t remember if Mr. Lewis used any particular sticking. All I remember was that his concept impressed me and started me on my way to developing, literally, hundreds of grooves and exercises which have their roots with Latin and Brazilian music. These ideas, most if not all of them inspired by listening to music and finding interesting rhythmic patterns and developing them further, have nothing to do with technique or applying any particular technique to the patterns. They are inspirations and are meant to do a few things: 1. With the more typical rhythms like clave, caa, certain Brazilian rhythmic phrases, etc., the Latin Rudiments are there for you to be able to groove within the respective style. It has been my experience that the more you perform and actually hear the respective rhythms being played the more they become part of your behavior and experience. Playing the clave in its many forms represented in this book will allow you to better feel the actual rhythm. 2. When a foot pattern is added, drummers will definitely experience the essence of developing “coordinated independence”. I first read this phrase when I began practicing Jim Chapin’s masterwork, Advanced Techniques for the Modern Drummer. The concept of coordinated independence is definitely highlighted when foot patterns are added to the Latin Rudiments. There will be examples throughout the book and accompanying MP3s of different foot patterns. My suggestion is to begin all exercises by playing both feet with quarter notes, with a metronome set at the major pulse, be it a quarter note or dotted quarter note = 40 beats per minute (bpm). Tempos can and should be increased as the patterns become more relaxed and natural. “Both feet with the metronome, always” was a direction given to me by my snare drum technique teachers. I feel this is essential to developing what some call an “Inner Clock”. A majority of the recorded examples are played at 40 bpm. Other bass drum/hi hat patterns will be introduced throughout this method. 3. I urge my drum students to be creative. The Latin Rudiments are definitely jumping off points for a creative approach to drumming. There are no rules regarding what you can and cannot do. You are encouraged to explore and be as creative as you want to be. I love the idea of creating generations of ideas; generations away from the original Latin Rudiment. See where these ideas can take you! Many of the exercises herein are played as written and also at double the tempo. You are encouraged to play the exercises correctly and then to increase the tempos. The Latin Rudiments are a fundamental way to get closer to Latin and Brazilian rhythms. They are useful in developing command and control of the drum set. Also, I feel and can attest to the proven fact that the Latin Rudiments can be inspirations for your own creativity. My hope is that you find the Latin Rudiments useful in your own daily practice.