Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 4:38 pm
I've taught and written for groups with as few as 3 basses, and as many as 7.
I don't know that there are specific challenges that exist with five drums as opposed to 4. I actually find it easier to write for 5 than 4. There are a few things compositionally that I use to my advantage that have to do with my tuning scheme. The bottom three drums are tuned to a power chord (root, fifth, root) and the top three drums to the corresponding major triad (root, third, fifth). That allows me to use those different sounds in place of a unison if I want a multi tonal sound without the full range of the basses. The roles that the drums play aren't drastically different. Lower drums probably aren't great for writing rolls or difficult hands exercises, while the upper drums aren't going to give you a ton of power or resonance.
I don't know that I approach teaching the basses any differently. It depends on who the students are more than how many of them there are. Everyone gets the same fundamentals program with the idea that I'm developing younger players to be my advanced players in a year or two, and the advanced players can get more detailed than the younger players. The only thing I can think of that might make things more complicated is the fact that the line will take up more space, and thus will have more distance between the end players. If you're approaching bass drum the right way, that shouldn't make a huge difference, as those students should be keeping time themselves rather than listening and reacting to each other.
In general, I've had the most success teaching bass lines of any size by tailoring the exercises to things they can work on without the rest of the line. I use a lot of two part rhythmic exercises (1-3-5 play one part while 2-4 play the other), check patterns, timing exercises etc. In general, the better the kids are at rhythms, the easier it will be to play anything with their feet. I also do a lot of clearing of the checks in splits. For example, you're working on a sixteenth note split, I'll do a rotation of 4 versions of the split. One with all 8th notes (everyone plays the right hand, nobody plays the left). Players on the beat play the lefts (so you hear 1e& 2e& etc), Offbeats play the left (1 &a2 &a etc), then everyone plays. This isolates each individual with nothing to cover their inaccuracies. If they can get each of the first three variations perfect, then putting it together should be cake. All of this is stuff that translates to pretty much any size line, and leaves every individual with a way to practice by themselves. That's one of the hardest thing I've found in terms of teaching bass lines, is that they find it difficult to get any work done outside of rehearsal.
