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Ethereal Skies. · Obscura

EXERCISE 4 OF 98
Groove H -- Part H (a two-bar phrase)
16 / 187 BARS COVERED
0 / 98 PASSED · 6 BARS LIT · IN THE PART H
PART H
PART Q
PART P
PART AQ
CHORUS 3
PART BZ
CHORUS 4
13 groovesAEBZQPAQ+8Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest
GROOVE · 14
FILL · 23
LAND · 23
RUN · 4
JOIN · 15
LINK · 7
SECTION · 11
WHOLE SONG · 1
ABOUT THIS DRUM PART

How to play Ethereal Skies. on drums

187 bars of 4/4 at 130 BPM, about 5:18 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

75 out of 100: demanding, mostly on how much of it falls off the beat.

TEMPO
130 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
187
LENGTH
5:18
DIFFICULTY
75/100

toms through bars 1-3, snare through bars 4-7, hi-hat through bars 8-14, snare through bars 15-17, hi-hat through bars 18-49 and toms through bars 50-51, and 17 more changes after that.

The beat

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 52-53, 56-57 and 64-65, and 4 more places -- 7.6% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

    52
    1...........2...........3...........4...........
CC |x-----------------------------------------------|
HH |------------o-----------o-----------o-----------|
SD |------------x-----------------------x-----------|
BD |x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--|
Ethereal Skies. -- the groove · x hit · o open hi-hat · g ghost note · r cross-stick · X accent

The fills

23 fills to learn, played 39 times: bars 2, 7, 32, 45, 48, 49 and 33 more.

What the course does

It cuts the song into 74 exercises -- the grooves, the fills, and the joins between sections, which is where players actually come off -- and puts them in the order a teacher would. Each one opens on a reduction you can already play and adds the notes back a rung at a time, with a tempo to reach and a gate to pass before the next.

  1. The grooves the song is built on -- AE -- 3 exercises, about 26 minutes.
  2. The grooves the song is built on -- H -- 2 exercises, about 21 minutes. Open above.
  3. The grooves the song is built on -- O -- 2 exercises, about 27 minutes.
  4. Through Part A and Part H -- 7 exercises, about 26 minutes.
  5. Bars 15-18 -- 2 exercises, about 19 minutes.
  6. Through Part Q and Part P -- 3 exercises, about 25 minutes.
  7. Bars 18-52 -- 4 exercises, about 35 minutes.
  8. Through Part Q and Part P -- 6 exercises, about 29 minutes.
  9. and 14 more sittings after that.
START THE COURSE ↑

Questions

What BPM is Ethereal Skies.?

130 BPM, in 4/4, with the time kept in thirty-second notes. The room plays it at any tempo from a quarter of that up to the written one, against the record where the record can follow.

Is Ethereal Skies. hard to play on drums?

75 out of 100: demanding, mostly on how much of it falls off the beat. The beat itself is 63 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

187 bars, about 5:18 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 74 exercises over 22 sittings, about 27 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot. That is most of a full kit; the part moves around it rather than sitting in one place.

How many fills are in Ethereal Skies.?

23 fills to learn, played 39 times: bars 2, 7, 32, 45, 48, 49 and 33 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 187 BARS ANALYSED