What Paul Harvey could teach us drummers:

I just found out that Paul Harvey is dead.  90 years young!  I remember hearing his radio shows and reading his columns (I think...I swear I used to read some of his stuff in the newspapers or Readers Digest growing up) when I was a child.  One of his signature delivery "tricks" was his use of silence:

"One of the things that radio broadcasters are taught from Day 1 ... is that dead air is a big no-no and it's only after years and years in the field that you realize that silence is your most powerful tool, [and] he did it better than anyone," said Edwards, who remembers listening in the back seat of his parents' station wagon. (excerpt from Chicago Tribune story)

I think many of us drummers are taught the same as broadcasters...silence is bad.  Better to fill up the silence with a barrage of notes, than to just sit there and do nothing.  Or maybe it's not that pronounced:  most young drummers tend to play 16th note fills more often than 8th note fills.  I think more times than not, an 8th note fill will do a better job at supporting the music you are playing than something quicker and more complex.

I think we drummers can learn from the way that Paul Harvey used silence to make his next word take on more depth of meaning and possibly surprise. The first drummer that comes to mind when I think of silence in the midst of a fill is Jeff Porcaro.  His fills (and I'm thinking specifically of a dotted quarter note spaced out over two measures or even dotted 8ths spaced out over a one bar fill) were famous for being spaced out over several beats so that when the band came back in, there seemed to be more emphasis and maybe even excitement on the downbeat.

But as I alluded to before, I think silence doesn't have to show up just in our fills.  It can show up in just playing more simple, less complex beats.  Holding back our "chops," so as to give the music we play greater depth and meaning.  Silence and space in our drumming and music can give our playing more depth, leaving the listener wanting more.

If you get a chance, check out one of Paul Harvey's signature radio broadcasts (if you haven't already) and listen to how he delivers his lines.  He doesn't rush the phrase and doesn't fill up the airwaves with extraneous information.  He tells a good story and then - wait for it - "the rest of the story."  His writers (writer?) were good, but his delivery took those words to the next level in how he performed them.

It might seem strange to think that a talk radio pioneer would have anything to teach us drummers, but I think if we approach and listen to Mr. Harvey's delivery and (pause....) his use of silence, we might find some concepts and ideas that we can apply to our own field of work.

RIP Mr. Harvery.  Thanks for telling great stories and being an inspiration to me.

Comments

[Joel]

Dale, I totally agree. One of my favorite fills is the one you did on Sixpence's "I've Been Waiting" -- there is a lot of space in there and it sounds great. I was once all about Phil Selway-style fills (think "Just" and "Paranoid Android") (not that they're not good -- they're great) -- now I have noticed that my playing always sounds better when I am doing less. (In fact I play with a floor tom now, and no other toms, if I can help it)

I also tell my students to use silence and pauses in the public speaking class I teach. Silence is underrated!