Few Modern Drummer Festival 97 Questions

[Collin]

Hi there fellow Virgil fans!

1. I've always speculated over the reason why Virgil dropped his sticks during his MDF 97 performance. My drum instructor basically labelled it down to nervousness perhaps. What are your personal opinions on this matter?

2. What was with the funky lighting? Virgil's cymbals and drums would change from gold and green respectively to silver and blue. That was awesome. Was that due solely to the lighting effect, or the actual composition of the drums and cymbals (or both)? I'd love to bring something like that to my own kit.

3. Are there any manuscripts available on the internet or for purchase of Virgil's MDF performed songs, primarily Origin and the End and Virtue or Reality? I know a heavy component of those two songs were improvised, but I'm keen to discover and learn about some staples he had such as in the very beginning of Origin (with his 'double bass blitz' beat he had going).

Regards,
humble Virgil fan

[jimi]

1. Yes i would think nervousness, but sometimes it just happens. You should try stick and see the amount of practice it takes to control so well!

3. Transcription of grooves from Origin and the end are in his vid, Obsessive Rhythms, check in out in the multimedia section. Virtue doesnt have any but its in 7 i think, not too complex to learn from ear!

[mikkeydee]

i don think dropping sticks is a sign of being nervous...
it can happen any time.... to any level drummers....
i ve seen mike mangini and virgil donati drop live, when they r obviously enjoying their playing and forgetting bout the crowd..

[kirk]

Hey MikkeyDee how about a detailed review on the Virgil's performance. I know it probably is still swirling around in the head. But looking forward to it. :D

Kirk

[D. Slam]

Hi there fellow Virgil fans!

1. I've always speculated over the reason why Virgil dropped his sticks during his MDF 97 performance. My drum instructor basically labelled it down to nervousness perhaps. What are your personal opinions on this matter?

2. What was with the funky lighting? Virgil's cymbals and drums would change from gold and green respectively to silver and blue. That was awesome. Was that due solely to the lighting effect, or the actual composition of the drums and cymbals (or both)? I'd love to bring something like that to my own kit.

3. Are there any manuscripts available on the internet or for purchase of Virgil's MDF performed songs, primarily Origin and the End and Virtue or Reality? I know a heavy component of those two songs were improvised, but I'm keen to discover and learn about some staples he had such as in the very beginning of Origin (with his 'double bass blitz' beat he had going).

Regards,
humble Virgil fan

Contrary to popular belief, Virgil IS human. What's to speculate? He was executing a pattern, fumbled, and dropped his stick. It happens to the best. It wasn't the first and it won't be the last... Just one of those deals.

D.

[alencore]

in my experience when things gets too loose or too relax the stick would suddenly fly away like it happend every now and then while i'm simply doing 8th notes on the ride...duh?! it falls basically on the downstroke. sometimes it get tangled on the rims on the upstroke on the way to the front tom.

[Matus]

I played Origin and the End at a drum contest final (with very special thanks to Virgil for giving away the backing tracks on the site!) so I charted it out for the judges not to get lost in the middle ;) Most of it is in 11/8, played as a defect of 12/8 (3-3-3-2). The middle section I thought of it as 14/8 (7-7) and the solo section is in straight 12/8.
About the stick dropping, there are two spots where the sticks fall, one is on the aforementioned song, in the middle of running from one tom to another one stick gets caught on a rim, just bad luck. The other part is at the beginning of the solo, he twirls and the grip goes away, maybe it was nervousness but regardless of that... it happens anyway :) I've done that in extreme moods while playing and didn't lose it and some other times I was relaxed and on top of it and there went the stick :D You really learn to laugh at that stuff and the ammount of energy on Virg's face after that happens on the video is brutal, it's like he's going to go through the drumheads!
The guys at MD were VERY funky with the lightings at that fest, btw. Part of the cool effect is caused by the brilliant finish on the cymbals, lighting techs love them :)

[stefan_vortex]

in my experience when things gets too loose or too relax the stick would suddenly fly away like it happend every now and then while i'm simply doing 8th notes on the ride...duh?! it falls basically on the downstroke. sometimes it get tangled on the rims on the upstroke on the way to the front tom.
yup it hapenns sometimes with me and i talked with a teacher here in bg and he told me it is the same with him...sometimes u see...
quote: Contrary to popular belief, Virgil IS human
:D cool

[Drumgooroo]

Where the **** kind of topic like this is even thought of and posted for? Virgil can make mistakes too! Go play some drums and stop wasting your time thinking about this crap!