What makes 'The Black Page' so difficult?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ส.ค. 2019
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Frank Zappa's "Black Page #1" is known for being difficult to play. But is it? If so, why? I decided to learn it to find out.
Here I document the process of learning "The Black Page" on the drums, from start to finish. I spent one week learning this piece before recording the final performance at the end of the video.
The drums are unedited and the MIDI backing track is 100% quantized. It's not easy to line everything up, but with practice, you can do it!
PS - For those interested in learning these types of rhythms, I highly recommend Mike Mangini's "Rhythm Knowledge" books. Volume 2, in particular, has a plethora of exercises pertaining to tuplets and counting that have helped me out tremendously over the years.
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I am one of approximately 236 living humans who can dance adequately to The Black Page. We meet annually in the sewers of Prague. It gets crazy.
wtf
Is this real because I will drop everything I’m doing to see this irl?
Someone attempts to administer first aid for a seizure.
Invite me?
Is this a thing?
Frank Zappa was the only person who could say "not quite my tempo".
heeh
Whiplash is such a good movie
Hehe!
now, that's my job
@@giselarita2186 whiplash sucked, and it was highly inaccurate. It was just another example of Hollywood fiction, and had nothing to do with drumming! (or really music for that matter)! It was just a platform to Base Hollywood Jive on!
Yeah, like in reality after the guy had smashed into a tree in his car and rolled it and the guys bleeding like crazy probably in shock with internal injuries. He’s going to crawl out of the car and run to the big band concert?! Come on man we’re smarter than that.
I listened to Zappa as a teenager for his funny lyrics, but the older I get, the more I appreciate the absolute genius level of the compositions and performances. He was the mastermind pushing the limits of rock and jazz music like no one before. His genius lives on in guys like Steve Vai.
I've got the other way around. English is my second language and I really wasn't that good at it when I started listenign to Zappa's music.
kinda slow to appreciate the guy for his music after years of listening
I'm 61 and I have never failed to hear something new in his music. I know that a lot of people bag on Zappa, and I can understand why it's not for everyone. My theory is that you have to have played an instrument, on a serious level (HS band at a minimum, for example) to even have a hope of trying to comprehend what you're actually hearing. I don't mean that in a snob way, but to describe just how much of a different plane he was on.
"His genius lives on in guys like Steve Vai." Poor old Steve can hardly attract an audience...
Reporter: you have long hair to you are a woman
Frank Zappa: you have a wooden leg so you are a chair.
pirates: *offended*
The interviewer was owned
I for one would love to see dancing about architecture.
Then check out Johnny Vidacovich. He can play geometry of objects on drums
@@ivanpetrov4206 And a fellow New Orleanian!
i, for one care less for them
I would love to see someone dance about art deco
My brother is an architect. During this work from home phase, he's had several Zoom meetings. I, for one, would love to see them break out into a dance party about one of their projects.
Frank Zappa walks into the tuplet store
Clerk: not again
Clerk: "Hello Mr. Zappa, what kind of tuplets would you like today? Quintuplets? Septuplets?"
Frank Zappa: "Yes."
@@ErebosGR Arghh. I wanted to say that. lol
"Mr. Zappa, it's the 11th time you enter here today"
"Oh sorry, I wanted to come here before, but my septuplets had to stay at home"
ba dum tss
Well... actually, if it's zappa should be like
ba ba badum tstsbradumdum tss
Oh, rich!
Don't all those awe inspiring tuplets sprinkled over a regular 4/4 pulse distract you from the fact that he consistantly kept the hi hat going every tick through out the piece. absolute mastermind.
more like nausea-inspiring, hot buttered crap, wrapped in pseudo-intellectual crap
i mean, i think its strongly advised to keep the pulse in your foot no matter who you are or what your instrument is. otherwise you’ll probably just get lost
there's no other way. otherwise it becomes diffuse and random sounding. 1/4 note hihat pulse makes learning the piece a lot easier.
That has always amazed me too! And when Bozzio first did it I think it was even more necessary (I imagine that was his click, apart from being Zappa’s actual composition).
And having said that I am a drummer, and I always try to keep time with my foot, but on this piece. Great stuff 🙏🏻🤩
@@flowerlandofjohnthe 1/4 hh is part of the drums solo version of the piece. Without it, there’s nothing to provide reference the polyrhythmic phrases. It’s doesn’t make learning the piece easier. It makes learning the piece possible, and definable for the listener.
Frank Zappa: I want you to try this
Everyone: shut up and play your guitar
Yer
Guitar
"What makes The Black Page so difficult?"
(hears The Black Page)
"Oh, I see."
I think Zappa's intention was to drive others to a nervous breakdown.
@@TheEleatic If you want to drive a musician crazy give them a simple repetitive part that goes on forever.
@@timbrink For bassists that would be
5/4 𝄆 𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮 𝅘𝅥𝅘𝅥 𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮 𝅘𝅥 𝄇
onthee brink Erik Satie’s piece that instructs the player to repeat the song 840 times (28 hours total).
I'm glad just being the listener in this case.
Ill never understand it. Its like someone transcribed what you hear walking through guitar center or something.
I think you understand it perfectly
@@RyanTCassidy Nah, shredders in guitar center can't sight read.
@@TestSubjectQWTD That's the joke? That it's like someone took the bumbling noise in a guitar center and jammed it into sheet music?
@@RyanTCassidy The only difference is zappa meant it haha well before his time clearly
Transcribing drum solo pieces is inherently going to generate nonsense lol a drummer that has a hand in the writing of the overall background instrumental can just feel what they have in their head
3:40 ”Yo dawg, I heard you like tuplets”
Thank you for this great video! I knew it was a difficult piece to play, but I never knew it was this HARD.
'Jazz is not dead, it just smells funny' -FZ. Shawn, thank you for making this video! You have huge balls, and great ambition and passion for even trying to play this. You are clearly knowledgeable and skilled to come close to playing this difficult piece. I remember Frank was known to give this to auditioning drummers to test how good they were. He had some renown drummers over the years... Terry Bozzio, Vinny Colaiuta, Chad Wackerman, and Chester Thompson. Colaiuta probably enjoyed it, as he was such a freak of musicianship! Keep up the good work bro. I enjoyed the video!
I just watched an arrogant, dogshit video about how a professional drummer tells if a drummer has got..."It". Then I saw this video and my faith was immediately restored; you're playing a piece, and you're having fun learning it. Turns out enthusiasm is better than arrogance.
Pretty sure I know which video you're talking about and I agree entirely. Annoyed me too
what video?
I'm guessing
th-cam.com/video/SBlUNQ31ujU/w-d-xo.html
i came here, walking the same way :)
@@diebydeath oddly seeing that video was what brought me here. it's like news used to be. tell about an event and let you decide what happened. the other video "told you how to feel" then you decide if it was really the truth.
"Talking about music is like dancing to architecture," is a famous quote that is attributed to many other artist, including comedian Steve Martin. However; there is a recording of bassist Roger Waters of Pink Floyd telling a reporter this in 1967, and is the earliest instance of the quote sourced. When you also consider that Roger was a former architecture student who didn't like giving interviews (unlike Zappa), it's not hard to believe the quote originated from him.
@Zak McKracken so was Syd, the real Roger and the real Pink Floyd
Zak McKracken> Waters made music for teenagers on pot? Zappa wrote songs about stinky feet, having the clap, having sex with weird Goth women, sex, sex and more sex, UFOs and other pretty silly stuff. Sounds like Zappa made music not only for teenagers, but grade-school kids as well.
Zak McKracken> Don't eat the yellow snow.
Zak McKracken Bobby brown
Zak McKracken I don’t care about wywh only saucerful
Not being facetious - i love your dry, down-to-business approach to discussing this. No pedantry, no apparent appetite for attention; just focus and passion. LOVE it. Thank you.
I remember listening to 'Baby Snakes' on a constant loop back in college. Black Page #2 was one of those pieces that, even as a casual listener, changed your perception of reality. But, not in the way you'd think.
The more you listened to it, the more things made sense.
dance of eternity crying in the corner
AAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA
That made me laugh!
Hahah, yes. Every time I see someone rattling on about how "difficult" that song is, or how "complex" Tool's rhythms are, I can hear Frank Zappa laughing his ass off somewhere in the Comos.
(and of course, this is only if we're restricted to the real of rock music. There's loads of contemporary classical stuff that are much harder than this)
To be fair... The Black Page #1 only has one time signature :-)
Now I would like to see saw Shawn doing that too
@Randy Carpenter
But if someone (like me) who has no idea of how to write using nested tuplets, would use several different time signatures to achieve the same thing.
I think it'd never reach as many as Dance of Eternity, as it's a much smaller song, but it would certainly have many time signatures!
One time i was helping a buddy move. We accidentally dropped his drum set down a flight of stairs.
It sounded spot on.
th-cam.com/video/CmV3Bf2veAg/w-d-xo.html
R/thathappened
Do you feel better now? This guy CARES. His emphasis on the value of counting is invaluable for young students. Look at all of the EFFORT. Gratuitous cheap shots. That's what the world is today. It is so disappointing.
I think it's funny.
right on. "hard to play" does not equal good music.
I had heard about Zappa's compositions being difficult...and when top-level session guys call something "difficult", we normal humans translate that as "f*%#ing impossible". Steve Vai supposedly got his start with Zappa by transcribing "Sinister Footwear" onto paper from hearing it, and sent Zappa a copy. Zappa was so impressed, he auditioned him and hired him.
@@Frunobulax74 That is fucking insane. So beyond normal people.
Steve Vai transcribed for Zappa for a few years before actually joining the band. He was 18 when he started transcribing stuff for him. Zappa said he was too young to join the band at that time.
Steve did his transcription after years of music education, and left Berlkee to work for Frank and look for his long-lost bunny.
I heard a story, from Steve Vai (on video) where he said he was on a plane with Zappa on the way to a show, and Frank gave him a piece of music to learn on the plane (with no guitar) for that night. Steve said he used his arm like a guitar neck to figure it out.
Vai transcribed The Black Page and that got him the job as transrciber.
He then was tasked with transcribing guitar solos one of which was one called Persona Non Grata.
Then, Vai was invited into FZs brand new studio to overdub that very solo and with the accompaniment being replaced with studio overdubs it became the theme from the 3rd movement of Sinister Footwear.
The full Sinister afootwear is a 25 minute ballet.
I was always mindblown at how beautiful the phrasing is for such a discombobulated rhythm
Frank always said he was a composer that just happened to played guitar. He was a needed genius.
I’m not even a drummer, but I already gave up
Same the math just instantly melts my feeble brain.
Clean up on aisle 3, my brain exploded...
That's a great comment...!!
zorrosg Your comment was great because it made my day :D Thank you :)
When Bozio auditioned for The Mothers, Frank told me he'd only been playing at home. He screwed up horribly and left the building, demoralized.The amazing thing was, he turned around and went back to ask if he could try again. Frank gave him a do-over, and he crushed it. Bozio is a brilliant drummer, and with The Mothers came completely out of his shell, turning into a wild performer...adding vocals and the best scream this side of Steven Tyler.
Frank's densepacked sheet music was even a challenge for the LA Philharmonic. This is a terrific video. It's lovely to see those black pages again...💕🎶
Lorraine Chamberlain hey Lorraine are you interested in having a sugar baby? I need pampering let me know 💕
Don’t lie
Same thing happened to me. There was a local band I absolutely loved and I never dreamed I would ever get a chance to join it. A friend of mine got me an audition with them and I was so nervous, I completely blew it. I couldn't do anything right. They ended up talking to my friend and he said I was better than that and got me another chance. The second time, I nailed it. I was comfortable and calm for some reason. So I got the gig. Ever since then, any time I was involved with someone auditioning for anything, I always insisted on giving them a second chance. And that's really worked out well many times.
I thought he played with Azteca before he auditioned for Frank’s band.
That cheeky smile over the 11-tuplets right near the end was such a delight.
There was someone handed stuff in there right when to smile I've been playing longer than I care to mention I haven't even tried to learn the song and I've heard it a hundred times
Frank Zappa the only man in history that can make a 2minute song seem like an eternity
Was thinking, where's the joy in learning a piece written just to be complex? Seems like Zappa sat down and wrote a math theory. Except instead of striving to simplify he makes things as hard as possible.
@@A-Milkdromeda-Laniakea-Hominid Imagine a world without this diversity though. This music might not be your thing, but you should be glad that it is a thing. Joy may not have been his aim. Or consider that different people have different ways to find joy. There are those who find joy in complexity, and math, for example.
@@KitZunekaze I love math. But when I play I prefer to just throw in what sounds good.
I'm unconvinced that excercises like this have to exist for there to be musical diversity. You hit the proverbial nail on the head: Zappa found joy through this, the average person wouldn't even notice the difference between nested tuplets and regular triplets played fast lol.
@@A-Milkdromeda-Laniakea-Hominid Well then you found your own answer. There's joy in it for other people. Simple as that. That's all I was trying to show.
@@KitZunekaze Pretty sure I had that answer already though. Actually I was saying more like, unless you knew him personally (or own a TH-cam music channel) there's prob limited joy for anyone else in taking the time to learn this. Only music theorists would be able to.
Later days amigo.
Frank was trolling the band, obviously.
One listen of the recorded spoken parts of Playground Psychotics proves this point.
Now that I understand what's behind the Black Page, it makes me want to listen to it even less. Sort of like Dream Theater...
Who knows? Possible scenario might just be this: Fido chases a butterfly or something, when he's for once not biting into studio cables, and FZ follows the dog's head movements and turns that somehow into music.
Not just his band but all musicians.
Trolling the band and the listeners, it sounds just horrible in every way...
Dude...
This video is one of my favourite things to watch. You've made a clinical, unpretentious and super informative documentation on your approach to the piece, without a hint of ego souring it (even though someone with your talent and insight would arguably deserve to be a little big-headed!).
I send this to all my muso friends and watch it all the time. I don't even play drums, but love the piece so much.
Thanks for passing on the sheer joy of music to another music nerd (and I mean that positively!) across the world.
It says "Drink more Ovaltine" when you decode it lol
A crummy commercial???
son of a bitch!
Your sight reading skills are just wow 🤦🏿♂️. Absolute goals
Jordan Johnson he has a teleprompter
,The teleprompter is the sight part of his incredible sight reading skills. He sees advanced music on a page (or screen) and can translate it on his instrument in real time. I play guitar and thought this video would be guitar related when I started it. Shawn's talent as a teacher and player kept me watching til the end.
Sight reading means "at first sight" or "a prima vista" in musical language eg when you play a musical piece from paper which you've never seen or played before. You really think that's what's happening in this video?
George Lucas that's what he said in the beginning never before seen or played
@@Jordarr8994 Yep but he did hear it before. A prima vista means, you walk in (the studio), receive a sheet with freshly composed music and start playing the whole piece through.
Ah, so nested tuplets are just as much of a headache in music as in programming.
KodyXXVll I think he might mean programming as in software and computer stuff
George Woolley No shit Sherlock. As opposed to programming music on an abacus?
@@KodyXXVll I think he means as opposed to programming music? On software?
You can't program an abacus.
@@KodyXXVll the reference he's making to a tuplet has nothing to do with music, "Sherlock"
@@KodyXXVll ...you're just making yourself look like a fool.
Sixteen years after his death and his compositions are still challenging & baffling gifted musicians.
Great video. Most enjoyable.
FZ = Salvadore Dali of music. Desperate to be unusual.
I was heavily into Prog-Rock in the seventies, but when you listened to Frank, it was actually Dimensional Rock -- it was dimensionally beyond anything anyone has ever really heard in that era.
I've read the quote (in a FZ interview in Guitar Player magazine) as "Writing about music is like eating tennis".
King of one-liners. I saw him at the Omni in Atlanta, a venue he described as being "acoustically designed for basketball". He was dead right...worst sound ever.
Writing about music is like having sex with a light bulb
I think he also said about rock journalism: "People who can't write interviewing people who can't talk for people who can't read."
@@riffedwood5597 All over in a flash?
I would love to see a video of Ruth Underwood breaking this down- she was always the essential "spice" that made Zappa's music special. Plus she was just a stunning virtuoso
Her enthusiasm and sharp memory of her time in Zappa's band always makes for a great interview.
Jen Moore Ruth could play ANYTHING. She regularly blew Frank away with her incredible musicianship. But he loved teasing this secretly shy woman. One night, when introducing Ruth, he said “ and on marimba, percussion, chimes, all manner of things she can hit....RUTH UNDERWOOD AND HER TWO FRIENDS!” Ruth bowed her head, her hair barely covering her ample breasts in a little tied halter top. Modest about her SELF...but not so much her CLOTHING. She’s one of my favorite musicians, one of my favorite people.
ruth is a jewel, and the joy she had playing frank’s music is evident in every recording... her description of the rhythm of bar 15 of “the black page” as “falling down the stairs” is perfect.
There is a beautiful and deeply moving part in Alex Winter's recent documentary "Zappa" where Ruth Underwood (on piano, this time) and Joe Travers (on drums) play The Black Page #1. Magnificent and magical. And, as i said, deeply moving, as it comes right after Ruth reminiscing about her time working with Frank.
@@mrstock7986 there is a lady on the tube here someplace that has made a video of herself playing the piece. It's very moving and wonderfully performed
This is a beautifully conceived and executed video, and I really appreciate it. It’s the first time I’ve really made the effort to listen to an out-there Zappa piece, but in actual fact it was you who made the effort for me ;)
During my percussion study in Amsterdam I’ve been lucky enough to perform this twice on cowbells and marimba.
I studied it soooo bloody much that I still do a karaoke version :D
Masterpiece!
You and Adam are going to duet this right?
it does sound like a sungazer song lol
It sounded like he made some other intro for Drunk
Joseph Fox Drums great idea!! 👍
Does Neely even like Zappa? Don't believe I've ever even heard him mention him...
@@GeoffBosco He has a couple of times. I can't find the video but I know that I liked it. But he has also referred to Ben Levin as a modern Zappa.
Wow that's a GIANT hi hat!
good eye! the big stack is the same combo from that vid.
Love the way you expose yourself, it's good to see your progress and the flaws, it shows that with hard work anyone can to it. Thanks a lot for the lesson Shawn!!
Zappa's contribution to music might not be fully recognized for many years to come.
What contribution?...
He attributed his house to Lady Gaga.
@@carbonelectra6653 Gaga owns it now.
@@carbonelectra6653 Don't think it would've been his decision when she was only 7 when he died.
He contributed nothing but shit noise.
That performance was the music equivalent of watching a subtitled kung-fu movie
As a drummer, I've had the rhythms down for a long time. My main difficulty is keeping the left foot consistent while incorporating the right foot into all those odd groupings.
I think the thing to do is to practice repeated 5's, 7's, etc with several right foot-involved permutations against the quarter note left foot.
Excellent job.
That was incredible. That’s some goal to set. A crazy crazy achievement. Very inspiring. Thank you.
This is such a monstrously excellent piece of music it saddens me every time it finishes. This, and his “Revised Music...” from Studio Tan are the greatest epitaphs any composer could wish for.
Wal, I am an old guy who had the "Privilege" of seeing Frank perform live quite a few times over the years, I even got to meet and speak with him once in the mid '70's. I believe one of my favorite Zappa songs is "Watermelon In Easter Hay", it is a hauntingly beautiful composition, I hear it as a Loving Send Off Dirge for a Dear Friend. Perhaps Frank foresaw his own demise when he wrote this.
The 'solo' part in 'Revised...One of the most beautiful pieces he's ever done
… Wow. The black page 1 sounds like a troll on musicians.
It is lol
It was. Although, allegedly, Vinnie had no trouble playing this song (while sight-reading and eating his lunch, sushi). Zappa was apparently flabbergasted and Terry was so mad that he stormed out of the studio.
@@qty1315 who are vennie and Terry
@@marv5078 Zappa recorded with two drummers during a period in the 70s, Vinnie Colaiuta and Terry Bozzio. Vinnie is considered by a lot of people to be one of the greatest drummers of all time (at least on a technical level) and he has recorded with a ton of artists and bands. I think that Vinnie and Terry both played on the Joe's Garage album.
I think that the first time I heard Vinnie play was on a Megadeth album, not that I knew it was him at the time. Terry is a great drummer, and it's kind of unfortunate that for a brief period he was overshadowed by having to be compared to one of the very few drummers in the world who could outplay him. Sort of like how Jason Becker had to be compared to the legendary Marty Friedman when they were in a band together.
Gerald Weir Well Friedman had many years on Becker. Who knows what Becker couldve become, he already is one of the greatest shredders of all time.
Gotta love Zappa music... Listening to it of course, playing it must be a nightmare but extremely rewarding if you can nail it
Very impressive in many ways. Your playing, your presentation, your editing and your philosophy. to name a few. Thank you for the great video.
Great work in figuring this all out. Nice playing over the tune as well. That Zappa, man, what a guy!
I have no idea how to play the drums but I'm watching this anyway
isnt youtube a beautiful thing
Same
It is so rare to get testimony of people actually learning the music. So helpful. Thank you.
So how many notes do you want?
Frank: YES
hilarious.....
Underrated comment
Shawn, you are amazing! Thanks for putting in the tremendous work to both recording and showing and explaining! I instantly subbed your channel.
I know that feeling of just being unable to get satisfactory results on a certain day but coming back the next day and getting a sudden performance boost all too well... it's a weirdly universal thing that happens to a lot of people I know. My little theory is that the night's sleep you get after a whole day of practice lets your brain internalize and process everything it learned during the day so that it becomes more subconscious and natural the next day.
That's pretty much it.
It's the same when your plumber is at your door with replacement parts, you've got to let that sink in.
This is true for many things. I have found when I'm up late frustrating over something on guitar I'll pack it in, sleep, wake up only to jump out of bed and nail it perfectly and everything from the night before seems laughably easy. It may also have to do with simply being exhausted and tired, your brain just needs to refresh.
it isn't your theory.
When learning anything you will be better the next day. The reason for that is, your brain goes over new information while you sleep, reorganizing itself to better deal with what you learned. This allows it to perform better when in the same situation again, allowing you to perform better when trying to play it again. Anytime you hit a brick wall, call it a day and sleep on it, and you’ll likely get beyond it the next day.
Clayton Macleod kinda like a video game
Yes. Happens to me all the time.
@Tom Hamilton I’m not going to contradict brain researchers. ;)
I can almost count the damn thing. I was thrilled watching you find the joy in playing it. BRAVO!
amazing. A documentary on an advanced musicians journey to learn a piece. So awesome, so human and ultimately so educational. You did the hard work and passed on your knowledge to the rest of us. You are awesome!
"...and the way you develop that [internal timing] is through the voice."
Billy Rimer of Dillinger Escape Plan said that he remembers the insane drum phrases in their music by equating them to a vocal phrase of a certain number of syllables. Interesting.
Yeah, that's quite common among drummers - even when I was learning, my drum teacher taught me some really simple phrases that help to memorise even the most simple rhythms.
Keith Moon played fills to the lyrics
Yep. Portnoy has espoused the same technique. I assume it is quite frequently employed within technical music.
indeed, this is correct.... like a South Indian Raga. learning a piece with the vocal centers of the brain makes it solid.... in India, no matter the instrument, one learns the music vocally first. peace y'all, and rock on...
A heroic endeavour! And your comments on having a good work ethic are spot on. I hardly ever post comments but this was exceptional. RIP Frank.
Shawn: Can't sightread quintuplets nested within triplets
Also Shawn: I give myself a D minus.
Just goes to show how amazing this guy is. I can hardly imagine me ever getting to a point of proficiency where I would fail to sightread nested tuplets and consider that "not that great". Huge props for doing as well as you did on the first try, and for learning this monstrosity of a piece!
Neither could Terry. No one can sightread that junk. You just synthesize pneumonics to practice it, just as synthetic as the structures, and pray that nobody has the actual ability to tell the difference.
@@flamindigo people can absolutely sight read subdivided polymeters. The example cited here is easy by comparison.
Dude, I have watched like a gazillion versions of The Black Page and yours has to be my favorite. Such a beautiful interpretation!
I performed it from my degree recital years ago.
One of my biggest and proudest accomplishments
Took me ages to learn the solo and to find a band that could play part 2 alongside me.
Regardless, it happened and I'm so pleased it did.
It's super fun too, once you know it well enough.
Legend has it this piece of music drove Bill Burr into comedy...
Wait, seriously? What's the story behind that? I know Bill loves drumming but I never heard of that
Hazardous Jazzgasm Its a joke because of his dark humor
@@hazardousjazzgasm129 you're adorable
excellent!!! work and Thank You! for putting all the time and effort into this one Shawn
Great ! I loved the attitude, so honest and really just pure love for music! And off course the absolutely fantastic drumming and hard work invested in this video🥁✨
I'm not even a drummer, but this video's message is applicable to just about anything in regards to succeeding at life. Great job. Great message.
Zappa was way ahead of his time!
Sure do miss his live performances!
Nice work! I saw the one handed part in the finale. Splendid!
This was a hilarious piece of One/upmanship by Zappa. He Always had musicians good enough to play these things, but most musicians would look at this or “Inca Roads” and just leave, and go back to playing top 40 stuff. Steve Vai allegedly transcribed this at 17-18, and showed up for his audition with Zappa and gave him the transcription. According to Zappa, that meant he already had the job, but he let him go ahead with it and Vai played with him for a few years.
Much as I admired Zappa..there comes a point in this video when you think...why...???.
Thank you for your patience and (immense) knowledge Shawn.
Because its VERY musical.
I love that pic
why ? Because!
Love the smile at 14:15! I'd smile too if I could play this nightmare!!
Master drummer, excellent explanation. The kind of musician we need to teach music to us common people.
Thank you for this detailed analysis of this piece Shawn. I have been 'reinspired' to get back to that piece with much more rigor!
Man, this is so good on so many levels! The honesty, the message and the PLAYING!!!
I'm not even a musician, but thanks, it's pretty inspiring. Keep up the good work!
Mmm do you have perfect pitch?
@@abstract0407 do you have the money?
@@dco1019 relative pitch?
@@abstract0407 absolutely
Respect.
I want to say two things:
1. What amazes me about this piece is that it makes sense melodically. Meaning, it’s crazy hard but it makes sense to my ear. It doesn’t just sound like a jumbled mess which really shows Zappa’s skill.
2. The first time I ever heard Zappa, my friend (also a musician) and I were at a guy’s apartment buying weed (in college). We get stoned, and unbeknownst to us, the album “Make a Jazz Noise Here” was on the stereo (something we used to use to listen to music). As we sat there hanging out and this music is playing, my friend and I looked at each other in disbelief and just started laughing. We couldn’t believe what we were hearing. We couldn’t stop laughing. It was so incredible. I’ll never forget that moment of being introduced to Zappa.
I'm very impressed at how well you did! I definitely appreciate the hard work you put in.🥁❤
Awesome work. I can't even begin to comprehend this piece.
Didn't realise that you are in Sungazer until the outro. I love it.
Anytime I hear the word subdivisions I always sing the Rush song "Subdivisuons". Solid work my friend
Respect that you got along as far as this!!! Wow!
Shawn, I was so impressed with your explanation of this piece that I subscribed to your page. I studied polyrhythms with Gary Chafee in Boston while I was going to Berklee long ago. And I really like how you explained it I even think some non-musicians could understand what you’re talking about. Very good.
this was so interesting, You've improved so much with just a few vids, keep it up!
"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture" is a Thelonious Monk quote
love monk.
@@michaelkenyon3372 ME TOO
Hey! Same guy.
May I do my take on Bauhaus? *doing a bad robot-dance
I'm pretty sure some greek guy told that
Hats of to you Shawn, this is a tall order and you did a great job!
Great video. Thanks for talking about your process........... that's huge and often overlooked.
Appreciate this. Amazed that I came across it so soon after it was uploaded. Saw Bozzio play back in 2006 or 2007 on the Zappa Plays Zappa tour. Amazing talent.
great show.
Very interesting video, i didn't know about this piece until now. You explained it very well, thanks!
Enjoyed it immensely. Learned so much. Person at work told me to check out The Black Page. So glad I did. That is how I came to your TH-cam video. Drumming ain't easy!
Awesome video Shawn. Super nicely done!
Fascinating. I actually enjoyed that more for having seen it broken down and then put back together. Really enjoyed. Thanks.
Awesome man! You did a helluva job on it. Zappa was an absolute genius. Like I feel like most people partially misrepresent him as simply being a musician. No this dude was a straight up _composer_ (I kinda feel this way about Prince, too). Always happy when I see others appreciate him, like you have done in this vid. Thanks!
This is probably one of the only vids on here that I really enjoyed. You’re conceptually looking at everything. I’ve been a pro player since I was 16, playing since 4…but instead of a kit degree I got an orchestral scholarship in college. THAT made looking at the in between and the whole much easier on a piece like this. Really nice presentation.
And Terry Bozzio had it nailed in 2 weeks doing 20 minutes a day.
About 4 and a half hours of practice to master it. Plus already being super talented and taking advantage of “sleeping on it”.
If he did it in D minor, we would weep instantly, and constantly.
Or F Major ;)
I find it's really the saddest of all keys
And what's it called? "Lick my Love .........."
This goes to 11....
Funny! I laughed out loud! Thanks. Needed that.
Wonder if we'll be seeing a Sungazer black page-like composition in the future now!
Shawn, thank you so much for explaining this the way you did with all the parameters of learning and being excited about music. Frank was, IS a force to be reckoned with and you helped me out a lot.
Thanks for this Shawn, this little tune has been in the back of my mind for a long time, never had the never to approach it after I saw the chart lol. Your performance of it was great! I learned a lot from this vid. Aside from the main topic of the vid though, I have to say I adore your snare sound. So crisp and clear at any volume. cheers
Steve Vai transcibed it by ear.
Go figure...
Source
@@lukasantos6991 Vai, in a few interviews, has stated sending Frank a transcribed black page. Zappa proceded to hire vai to transcribe his music and eventually play in his band. I believe Vai was still in his teens too.
Vai is a virtuoso of highest order, what else can you say about him
Absolute crap to listen to. One of the worst pieces ever.
@@PreservationEnthusiast that's cool but no one asked
Thanks for your efforts and your take on the "Black Page". I loved this piece the first time I heard it, back in 76' or 77.
Damn dude, that was an amazing doc on the tune and your adventure getting to a point where you performed it. Loved this man 🤘🏼
Awesome video. Putting in the work and a love for learning.