Allen Dawson Info?

[dr-funkenstein]

anybody know of some good resources on allen dawsons theory and teachings?

word

[dr-funkenstein]

well, ilearned in the past hour that is ALAN and not allen.
i can pick up quick, i tell ya.

[longbeach]

hello,
john ramsey has put out a book and I believe it is a direct Alan Dawson technical study. This would make sense because after studying briefly with Ramsay he was devoid of any passion or creative enthusiasm concerning drums and music. Who better to steal from than Al Dawson. I need to warn you how friggin tough Dawsons stuff is though. Its not to late to disregard this message and forget ever inquiring about Dawson. I kid ...I kid ,as triumph the insult dog would say. Go at it

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ January 28, 2003 07:59 AM: Message edited by: thickink ]</font>

[drumgod1]

GET THE BOOK!!!! YOU WON'T BE SORRY!!!!! Sorry for all of the yelling, but I got it and it's a butt kicker! Ramsey takes you through it like you are taking a lesson from Alan himself. The only problem you may run into is not having someone to check how you are progressing. This is where a teacher comes in. He spends some time on the rudiments and his "Rudimental Ritual", plus different ways to play 8 of the exercises in the back of Ted Reed's "Syncopation". It's worth the money!

Mike
www.meyersdrums.com

[DanielC]

I have to disagree about the book...I studied with Ramsay and was not impressed...There were reasons Alan taught the concepts he did and was a teacher moreso than a player. Nobody touched Mr. Dawson's style of teaching before he died, now all of a sudden people like Mr. Ramsay feel they can just use his theory to teach...well Mr. Ramsay is not Mr. Dawson and to be able to use these excersizes correctly....well Alan Dawson would have to be the one to teach you that now wouldn't he...you can go through these excersizes all day and night, but how to utilize them in a musical setting is not at all covered in this book and Mr. Ramsay was not good at conveying how to do so in a private setting...

[spizzknckr]

I would have to disagree to an extent about the Dawson book. Technically, it is great for getting one to get the rudiments together and being able to play the ritual over an ostinato would be helping one to be able to play it musically. Of course, the imagination would come into play to make it musical, when to play and not play in a context. The music would dictate to some extent how to utilize the material. This explanation is coming from 3 different instructors I have had the priviledge to study with. 2 of them use this book as a spring board to other things. One of them being Ralph Peterson, Jr.
There is also another person who is currently using Alan Methodology in book form. If you remember sometime last year, there was a series of articles from a player in Japan who had a book out. MD did cite the book and publisher. I was waiting for it to come out in an ad for it to be available here in the states. Never saw it, for some reason. His point of view was somewhat different than Ramsey's method of "teaching". Alan put a book years ago in collaboration with another drummer (Don DeMichael??) that dealt with jazz, playing time, etc. I believe while he was teaching at Berklee. I will have to dig it up, don't have it in front of me, as far as the title.
Spizzknckr

[FuseU1]

Great post, Blake...
Yes, i'm pretty sure VC has stated that he did study w/ Alan [& Allarahka Khan-spell'g?] while he was in Boston...i believe Kenwood was also there at the time [as was SSmith], altho i don't know whether Kenw was in a teaching or student capacity at that time...
Forgive me 4 ask'g, but could u state exactly when Alan passed away? I had 'heard' that he did indeed pass on [& was shocked & saddened to hear], but wasn't sure exactly when...
Thanx.

[blake1]

Alan passed away on Feb 23,1996.

[blake1]

I actually studied briefly with Alan when I was in high school. For 2 summers I attended the Ludwig Symposiums. They were one week seminars featuring drummers like Carmine Appice, Ed Shaunessey (sp?), Butch Miles,
Michael Derosier and ALAN DAWSON.
Alan was by FAR the best teacher. He really had a system. I learned that I could solo on a tunes - like AABA or ABA forms. He would have me sing the tune while I played. He was really into teaching song form and played the vibes as i would play the tune. He would also let me record part of the lesson. We would talk about drummers and some of his students. I think Vinnie studied with him briefly.
Before Alan, I thought solos were just open (listened to a lot of Buddy Rich). I had no idea a drummer could play a tune (form) on the drums.
Later on I went to the Berklee College of music and my first drum teacher was Jon Ramsey. He was good but I wanted something fresh so I studied with a different teacher each semester basically. I tried to pick everyone's brain.
After Berklee I took formal lessons with Alan (about 6mos.) and then I ended up getting a gig in Singapore.
He had everyone start out at square one and you had to play the exercises perfect to go onto the next one. My favorite part of the lesson was when he would play the vibes and I would comp and then solo or exchance 4's and 8's. He gave me some nice pointers.
He was into playing with brushes.(If you can play it with brushes you can easily play it with sticks) He would make me play his ritual exercises (rudiments) with brushes while playing a samba pattern with bd and 2and 4 on hihat. He said that this would help develop the feet. His feet were remarkably coordinated. I think that was one of his strengths. His feet!!!
I could go on.
Pick up that book. I haven't seen it but can only guess you'll get some great use out of it.

Alan passed away from lymphoma cancer while I was in Singapore. Sad, sad day for all of us. He was a complete gentleman and scholar.
Blake

[davfrancis]

I really like the Ramsay book.

For a long time I hungered after Alan Dawson info - primarily because I knew he had taught Tony Williams. As time went on I saw his name more and more and was desperate to learn more about his teaching.

Soooooo when the Ramsay book came out, I snapped it up. There is a lot of great text in there about Alan Dawson and there are many wonderful concepts of his presented here. I would think that serious time spent on these exercises would definately improve one's co-ordination, groove, technique etc.

When I have had my own students use these ideas I have always been astonished with the improvement over a couple of weeks.

Also there are 2 CDs with the book featuring audio exerpts of Alan teaching John Ramsay.

I believe Alan's own book was called "Manual for the Modern Drummer" but I have no idea how you would get hold of a copy.... I'm preeeeetty sure its out of print.