66 DOWNBEAT November 2006

MASTER CLASSbbyy PPaauull WWeerrttiiccoo

During my drum clinics and master classes, Iuse the analogy of music as a language. Itaccurately describes what musicians are tryingto do to when they play, and it helps bring thefocus back to one of the reasons we play aninstrument in the first place: to express what’sinside of us and get our message across to thelistener.

When you play music, you’re trying tocommunicate something to your audience andyour fellow musicians. The instrument youplay becomes a translator. It translates yourideas and emotions into an audio statement thatother people can understand and enjoy. Butwhen people study an instrument, they tend tofocus on the instrument itself and not theprocess of sharing what’s inside them. Themusic that’s in your heart, mind and soul issilent unless it’s “released” through yourinstrument; the better you are at playing thatinstrument, the more accurately your messageis translated to the listener.

You’ve probably heard the phrase “music is

a language” more than once. It’s a concise wayto describe what music is: a form of communi-cation similar to the way people use words. Wecan break the statement down so that it’s notonly a convenient four-word phrase but alsosomething that musicians can use as a guide-post to help make their music sound moremusical. If you think of music as being some-thing like a book, a speech or a conversation, anumber of comparisons can be drawn.

Before a language can be learned, somephysical and cognitive skills are generallyrequired. This depends on the type of commu-nication skill that’s being taught. For instance,can a person see so that they can read the print-ed page? Can they hear so that they can listento what another person says to them? Can theyspeak so that they can respond verbally? Also,most importantly, can the person grasp whatthe overall concept is so that they understandand put all the parts together in a meaningfulway? These are similar requirements to whatmusicians need in order to have enough physi-

cal and mental ability to perform.The first requirement is to be able to make

sounds that will mimic letters, then words. Inmusic, the concept is pretty much identical.The student first learns physical techniquesthat will allow them to make the sounds thatthey need. It doesn’t matter if it’s a trumpet,violin or drum: To create certain sounds con-sistently requires that the student learn, andhopefully master, the various techniques of anyparticular instrument. Without this ability, theartist won’t be able to convey anything mean-ingful. A person’s musical style is based notonly on what they can play, but also what theycan’t play.

Once the physical skills are in place, thenit’s time to use them to form the second basisof language skills: letters. To learn English, astudent must first have a firm grasp of whatmakes up that language—26 letters. Withmusic, a person similarly learns how to hearand play certain notes on their instrument.These will be the foundation to further one’s

Bandstand Communication: Using Music as a Language

Paul Wertico

DRUM SESSIONS

DRUM SESSIONS

November 2006 DOWNBEAT 67

ability to play musical ideas and compositions.The better the person’s ability to play the notesthey hear, the clearer and more accurate they’llsound. Once these two building blocks aremastered, it’s time to put them into use.

In spoken and written languages we learnwords, which signify something and have ameaning. It’s the same with music. Whetherit’s learning the scales on a piano or the rudi-ments on drums, these will eventually be partsof a larger puzzle that will allow the artist tomove on to further self-expression.

Once a person learns enough words, thenext step is to construct sentences that convey amore complete and advanced thought, feelingor description. Applying the rules of grammarallows the person to write or say more mean-ingful and grammatically correct words, phras-es and sentences. This makes the writer’s ideascome to life. Again, in music, a similar thinghappens. Once you learn how to form phrasesand melodies out of scales and rudiments, it’salso a matter of how well you construct thosephrases and melodies and how much emotionyour playing conveys. That’s what separates agood player from a great one and gives everyplayer his or her individual style.

Finally, all these sentences will makeenough sense and have enough developmentthat they can be grouped together to form para-graphs. Paragraphs can then be strung togetherto form a book. With music, paragraphs can becompared to the parts of a song or composition.Certain musical thoughts or phrases aregrouped together so that whether it’s a song ora solo, the desired result is pretty much thesame. The goal is to achieve a continuity thatleads to a satisfying final wrap-up of all theseparate parts. The final product can even resultin being a great novel, a famous symphony oran incredible improvised solo—but it’s allbased on the fundamentals.

Many social skills come into play in makingmusic. Take, for instance, the social fabric thatmakes up a band. Here, not only is it a matterof grammar, but of etiquette, ego, mutual inter-ests and knowledge. Sometimes it eveninvolves animal instinct and conquering one’sfears to the point of survival of the fittest.

Let’s take a four-person combo and com-pare that to four people having a verbal conver-sation. Here, different personalities can gener-ate anything from provocative, stimulating andinsightful idea-sharing to a fist fight. In music,it’s not all that different. Both in society and inmusic, a balance is required between the needsof the individual and the needs of the wholeensemble. This balance can be tipped in a vari-ety of ways with varying results.

Have you ever been in a situation where oneperson dominates an entire conversation and noone else can get a word in edgewise? That canhappen on stage, too. There are players outthere who play so many notes that they literally

don’t leave any space for the other players.Also, sometimes players will continue to playon and on, as if they’re the only person onstage. This is not fun.

What about the person who likes to talkloud all the time to get a point across? After awhile, the others get annoyed and basicallyshut off their ears to this person. This is a clas-sic case of trying to force your point down peo-ple’s throats. Instead of this heavy-handedapproach, using varying degrees of dynamicsand intensity will usually convey one’s point ofview much more effectively. Also, the creativeand dramatic use of space and silence cansometimes speak louder than words. By raisingthe volume on strong points and then backingoff on normal subjects, the person gives the lis-tener some breathing room and enhances theirability to get their point across. Variety, sur-prise and the use of drama enhance both speechand music.

What about someone who doesn’t under-stand the subject but insists on talking anyway?In a conversation, mutual knowledge andrespect are critical. If the subject is automobilesand everyone is interested or even knowledge-able about the subject, then that conversationcan be informative and stimulating. However,if someone in that same conversation keepsinterjecting things by insisting on talking aboutwatermelons, the conversation can get diffusedand unfulfilling.

When musicians get together, they can be ofdifferent backgrounds and styles, but respectand restraint are of paramount importance inknowing when to play and when to fall into thebackground. If you don’t know the song or thestyle, lay back and wait for the right time toadd something. If such an opportunity doesn’tarise, continue to relax and enjoy what the oth-ers are playing. Don’t force your agenda on theband because you feel the need to always playsomething. Hang back and listen. You mightlearn something.

One of my pet peeves at drum festivals ishow there seems to be a need to impress peo-ple and a compulsion to play overly complexthings when playing something simple andelegant would suffice. Similar to what hap-pens when a person uses big, obscure wordsin an effort to show off their vocabulary,musicians sometimes commit a similar dis-play of one-upmanship. In music, participantsshould care and have mutual respect for oneanother. DB

Drummer/percussionist Paul Wertico is a seven-time Grammy winner. A former member of thePat Metheny Group, he currently plays with theLarry Coryell Trio, the Jeff Berlin Trio and theEastern European rock band SBB. His owngroup, the Paul Wertico Trio, recently released anew CD, Another Side (Naim). Visit his web siteat paulwertico.com.