Juilliard Jazz Prof Hears Nirvana For The First Time

Summary by Krater

Professional drummer Ulysses Owens Jr. listens to a drumless track of Nirvana's In Bloom without hearing it beforehand, creates and plays his own drum part, and then compares his version to Dave Grohl's original recording.

From the video

Answers: How does a professional jazz drummer play a Nirvana song without hearing it first?

• drumming to unfamiliar songs
• sight-reading and ear training for drummers
• Nirvana In Bloom drum cover analysis
• Dave Grohl drum style

What it concludes

• Ulysses Owens Jr. successfully improvised a cohesive drum arrangement for Nirvana's In Bloom on his first time hearing a drumless version.
• Ulysses noted that hearing the halftime feel earlier in the track would have changed his initial performance approach.
• The drummer observed that despite the genre differences, the structural building blocks and stylistic cues of rock and big band arrangements share similar mechanisms for ear-based interpretation.