Odd Time Stickings: Drumset Book

Chaffee's approach to odd meters moves far beyond dry technical exercises. By presenting multiple sticking phrases for each meter and encouraging students to derive their own feels and solo vocabulary from them, the book teaches musical thinking rather than rote patterns. It's an essential resource for any drummer serious about contemporary music literacy.

Working through these pages reveals that odd meters need not feel alien or purely cerebral. As patterns begin to settle in your hands and you find the pulse within 7/4 or 11/8, what initially seemed fragmented becomes groove-able and expressive. The book opens up rhythmic vocabulary that makes musical conversation in complex meters feel natural.

Intermediate to advanced drumset students who are ready to move beyond standard meters and want to develop fluency in the odd-time signatures that define contemporary jazz, progressive rock, and art music. This book serves drummers preparing for ensemble work in settings where metric flexibility is essential.

• Start with shorter odd-meter cycles (5/4, 7/8) before expanding into more complex divisions. Internalizing the pulse in one meter first makes building independence across hand and foot combinations much clearer.
• Use the sticking phrases as compositional seeds. Play one pattern with your hands while experimenting with different bass drum and hi-hat punctuations underneath. This transforms exercises into actual musical exploration.
• Practice each sticking at multiple tempos and with different note values. A sticking that feels natural as sixteenth notes may reveal fresh phrasing possibilities when played as eighth notes or triplets.

Recommend this for students in jazz ensemble or contemporary chamber settings where the repertoire demands comfort in shifting meters. It also pairs well with compositional projects where students write or arrange pieces in odd time, using Chaffee's stickings as a starting point for their own rhythmic vocabulary.

• Reading and executing stickings in meters including 5/4, 5/8, 7/4, 7/8, 9/8, and 11/8
• Developing independent hand and foot coordination across meter changes
• Creating original feel and solo ideas from foundational sticking patterns
• Translating sticking patterns into actual musical grooves and solos
• Building metric flexibility and internal pulse stability in non-standard time signatures