The Science of Practicing a Musical Instrument - How long and How often.
By Jim | May 27, 2008
The Science of Practicing a Musical Instrument - How long and How often.
By: Jim McCarthy
The Science of Practicing a Musical Instrument - How long and How often.: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadCheck bottom of post to see video hosted on youtube
This blog entry is very valuable for ALL musicians - no matter what instrument you play, and no matter what level you are at. The two most common and most pertinent questions about practising are very simply “How often should I practise?” and “How long should my practise sessions be?” Opinions on these topics see to vary, but over the years most music teachers have come to realize that there are some predictable results from particular variations in these things. There are some “magic numbers” which can give you the best results from your practise. And believe it or not there is actually a little bit of science behind why these magic numbers are what they are. SO let’s address the second issue first…
How long should my practise sessions be?
The standard thinking has always been that the longer you practise the better. Well this is certainly true, but only to a point. The quality of the practice is more important. In order for your practice to be truly effective, you need to be practising the music exactly as it should be. If you get lazy and start playing the notes almost right, then that is what you are practising - almost right. You don’t want the end result to be almost correct, you want it to be 100% correct, so that is the way you must practise it. That may mean of course that you need to go through things more slowly than the final tempo in your practise. Ok - so given that the quality of your practice is so important, the length of your practise session becomes more important. The problem with long practise sessions is that your brain gets tired. Your concentration drops after a time, and you can get lazy and start playing things almost right. So while it’s true that “the more practise the better”, it would be better perhaps to say: “The more practise with 100% concentration the better!”
So how long can you practise with full concentration. Well this of course varies from person to person. In fact your concentration stamina is something you can exercise and build just like your physical stamina. If you wanted to increase your physical fitness, you wouldn’t go for a 50 mile run on your very first day - that would just damage you! You would go for a short run, and gradually build up the length of your runs over time as your fitness increased. Your mental stamina works the same way. You practise for a little while to start with until your concentration wanes, and gradually build up your mental stamina. At the height of my practise stamina, which was years ago working for my masters degree, I could get over 10 hours of useful practice out of a day. Not in one go - I could probably manage about 90 to 120 minutes on one thing then I would have to have a short break and continue with something quite different. Over the last 20 years I have taught hundreds of students, and this has taught me that young beginners may only be able to focus for 10 or 15 minutes at a time. This is a real issue for them as they cannot concentrate for the “magic number” of 20 minutes - so they really need to quickly build their mental stamina quickly to at least 20 minutes to get a worthwhile benefit from their session.
So the magic number for session length is 20 minutes - why?
Simply put - 20 minutes is how long it takes before the subconscious part of your brain starts taking notice. The conscious part - the part that you are thinking with right now - the part you are actually aware of, is actually only responsible for a small amount of your total brain activity. The subconscious is the much larger part that you are unaware of. This part never stops thinking 24/7, and is the part responsible for your dreams etc. It is also very powerful - unlike the conscious part, the subconscious is capable of working on many things at once. When you practise, you are focusing your conscious mind on a specific task, and over the length of the session it hopefully improves a little. When you stop practising though your conscious brain moves on to other things and the benefits stop. What you really want is to get your subconscious mind working on the practice as well. It’s not only a much bigger part of your brain, but it keeps working and thinking on a problem long after the conscious mind has moved on. How long? About 24 hours in fact. So how do you get the subconscious to start practising for you? Well you have to practise a specific thing for 20 minutes or more. It varies a bit from person to person, but essentially the magic number is 20 minutes. That is how long you need to consciously concentrate on something before the subconscious wakes up and says to itself - “hey this must be pretty important - I’ll start working on this too!” And then it does - for the next 24 hours!
SO what would you prefer - 19 minutes of practice using a small part of the brain - or 20 minutes PLUS 24 hours practising using the larger part of the brain?
20 minutes is the magic number - make sure you spend at least 20 minutes focusing on each specific thing you want to improve.
On to the other issue:
How often should I practise? - how many days of the week should I practise?
Obviously in an ideal world you would be practising every single day - maybe even two or three times a day! Well unfortunately most people - even professional musicians - simply can’t find that much time to practise. Let’s face it it’s a balancing act between the different things in our lives, and it’s also a matter of priorities. How often to practise is a decision every musician has to make for themselves, but if you understand exactly what the relationship between practice and progress is, then you are at least making an informed decision. I recommend for most of my students that they work towards doing a solid session at least FIVE TIMES A WEEK.
Let’s look at why…
What is the purpose of practise? To improve? What does that mean? I like to think of a line which represents our current abilities at one end, and where we want to be at the other end. In between can be divided up into a whole bunch of little steps - steps of progress if you like, towards your goal. It should look a little like this.:
BAD__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__GREAT!
Now for every day of the week you do a decent practice session you will progress towards GREAT. For every day you don’t practise, you actually tend to go a little bit backwards towards BAD. You won’t lose all your hard earned progress straight away of course, but over time things get rusty and you forget what you learned. You never forget it all!!!, but you do go steadily backwards. From 20 odd years of teaching experience I can tell you, a pretty accurate ratio for most people over one week, would be two to one. By that I mean that every practise session will gain you two steps of progress forwards, and every day you don’t practise will lose you one step.
If you do the math, you can quickly work out that practising once or even twice a week leaves you with essentially zero progress at the end of the week! Practising three times in a week is kind of a quantum leap, because you actually end up with two steps of progress at the end of the week which you get to keep! After that, for each extra day you practise you will improve that final number by THREE steps of progress - two more gained, and one not lost.
So:
1 session p/w = 0 steps of progress
2 session p/w = 0 steps of progress
3 session p/w = 2 steps of progress
4 session p/w = 5 steps of progress
5 session p/w = 8 steps of progress
6 session p/w = 11 steps of progress
7 session p/w = 14 steps of progress
Once we look at that table, it’s not hard to see that if you practise at all in a week, it’s worth practising a minimum of three times and preferably more. Mostly the average person finds it impossible to practise 7 days a week, but 5 days is quite manageable - especially if you consider that all we are asking for is a 20 minute session. 20 minutes is less time than it takes to watch one episode of “The Simpsons!”
NOW…
Let’s look at the difference between doing the minimum 3 sessions per week and the recommended 5 sessions per week. With the recommended 5 sessions per week we have reached a target of 8 progress steps in the first week. If you were doing the minimum amount of practise - 3 sessions per week - you would only get 2 progress steps each week, so it would take you FOUR WEEKS to reach the same target of 8 progress steps. Not only that, but in total you would be doing TWELVE practise sessions - more than double than in the 5 p/w scenario!
So if your target is 8 progress steps away… which of these would you prefer?
- 5 sessions over one week - or…
- 12 sessions over four weeks
Pretty amazing numbers when you look at it that way!
Or another way to look at it…
Let’s say you have just done your minimum 3 sessions for the week so far…
Now which of these options would you prefer to reach your goal…
- Stop for the week, have a rest - then do another three sessions the next week - then do another three sessions the next week - then do another three sessions the next week?
- Do two more sessions later that week.
Now you have the information, I bet you are keen to do that extra practise!
This information is based on ideas taken from the book “Stick Technique”. Find out more at www.sticktechnique.com.
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5 tips for building up the weaker hand - week 10
By Jim | May 23, 2008
5 DRUMMING TECHNIQUE TIPS-A10
5 tips for building up the weaker hand - week 10
By: Jim McCarthy
TIP 1 - TIP FOR TRADITIONAL GRIP USERS.
Users of traditional grip face a fairly basic and fundamental coordination challenge every single time they pick up a pair of drumsticks. It is this: Your two hands are essentially using completely different motions. The right hand is using an up/down bend of the wrist along with an up/down bend of the elbow. The left hand is using a twisting of the forearm along with an in/out swing of the elbow. After some thinking I’ve come up with a cool exercise for you to help coordinate these two different motions together. It’s kind of like a pat the head and rub the belly exercise but this one is actually useful from a musical point of view and something all drummers and percussionists might be required to do at some point anyway. You will need to find a tambourine - any sort will do for this exercise - and a shaker. You can always make a shaker out of some rice or little stones in an old tin can if you don’t have one.
The left hand will hold the tambourine and perform a sustained roll. The idea is to hold it in front of you with a bent elbow, so it is similar to a traditional snare drum grip playing position. You use a twisting motion of the arm to perform the roll. The right hand will hold the shaker up in front of your face with the fingers out and the thumb behind. If you have never learnt to play shakers or tambourines then I highly recommend going along to www.percussionsecrets.com to learn how. All drummers should have some basic training in hand percussion instruments and this represents a fantastic and easy way to learn. The www.percussionsecrets.com website is not live yet, but should go live in a week or two. The motion of the shaker is kind of like an upside down right hand snare drum grip. The motion is partly from the elbow and partly a back/forth bending of the wrist.
So the exercise then is to perform a sustained roll of the tambourine with the left hand whilst simultaneously performing a steady rhythmic shaking with the right hand. This is a pretty useful thing to do as a percussionist anyway, but it is also an alternative way to practise the essential muscle movements required to play with an unmatched grip.
TIP 2 - TIP NOT INVOLVING DRUMMING.
This week’s tip is a cool one for drum kit players. Snare drummers - don’t worry - you can do it as well with just a few cents investment buying a bolt and wingnut from the local hardware store. Drum kit players and most percussionists already have bolts and wingnuts built into the end of their cymbal stands! 
Drummers have you ever noticed how every single time you set up and break down your kit, the urge to use your strong hand to twiddle the wingnut is almost overpowering? Let’s start doing it the other way around. Use your weaker hand to twirl the wingnuts - and no cheating by using the ole’ “hit n’ spin” method we all love to speed up the process. No I want you to actually turn the wingnut by gripping and twisting the whole way. A little thing, but over time this will improve the abilities of your fingers and wrist on the weaker hand.
TIP 3 - TIP FOR EVENNESS AND MATCHING THE HANDS.
This week’s tip for improving evenness is simply a technical explanation that in my experience few drummers actually ever consider - even though it is one of the most important. It is for playing even double and triple strokes. Most drummers become aware at some point that you need to use some form of active finger control if you want to play doubles or triples fast and strongly. Some even realize the fact that you need to incorporate a movement from the elbow for each bounced group if you want to maximize speed and power. What many drummers never understand, is why their doubles and triples always seem to fade when they play very quickly or very strongly. Here’s some explanation.
At top speed, multiple strokes rely purely on rebound, and finger power around the fulcrum between thumb and finger. The volume of the initial stroke is not really limited because it can have all the motion of the forearm behind it. The forearm is only moving once for each multiple stroke, so in effect it only needs one quarter of the speed that the rebounded finger notes need. This means there is plenty of time to get some stroke height. SO - as I said - the initial stroke can be as loud as you like. Unfortunately the same thing is not true of the successive notes. The volume of the rebounded finger notes is quite limited. It is limited to the stroke height that can happen purely with rotation of the stick through the fulcrum - and in practise not even 100% of that, as faster speeds will not allow enough time for full rotation.
The problem most drummers have when they start using a combination of forearm movement and active finger control, is that they add the finger power to ALL of the notes. This always creates an uneven sound. The initial note has arm power AND finger power, but the second and/or third note/s has only finger power. Of course the initial note is always much louder and the double or triple strokes sound pulsed and uneven. The real challenge is to let the initial note of each group be powered ONLY from the arm. The rebounded energy should rotate the stick through the fulcrum a little, then the fingers should power the stick back around a little past the initial contact angle to create the second note. The initial note is powered from the arm and the other notes from the fingers. As long as the power of the initial arm motion does not exceed the potential power of the fingers, it is possible to create even doubles or triples.
TIP 4 - PLAYING MORE NOTES WITH THE WEAK HAND or LEADING WITH THE WEAK HAND
Here is a cool little groove to play with the hands on a drum kit. You can expand it by adding a pattern for the feet to play simultaneously. You can also change the essential pattern if you like or continuously vary it - in this case it’s the basic idea which is important. To explain: A fairly common way of playing fills and grooves on kit is to lead strongly with the right hand - the right hand playing accented notes around the kit to a certain rhythm. The left hand then fills in all the gaps with very light (or ghosted) snare drum notes. This exercise is a reversal of that process. The left hand is the one playing the accented rhythms and moving from drum to drum, while the right is filling in all the gaps with much softer floor tom notes.
This example written below is written as usual for a standard right hander on a standard right-hand drum kit. Lefties will have to swap things as appropriate.
TIP 5 - GENERAL WEAK-HAND SKILL EXERCISE.
This week’s general skill exercise is a really tough one to do quickly! As usual it is written for a right hander, so lefties swap the sticking pattern. The obvious difficulties are that the weak hand is playing an extra note, and that its notes are faster - less gap between them. More difficulty is brought by the requirement of the weak to change speed in the middle of its triple stroke” and also of course the requirement to go from soft to loud to soft. The points to watch are one: getting a quality up stroke on the last note, making sure you begin lifting the arm as early as possible and lead the lift with the wrist joint rather than the tip of the stick. Two: The accented double stroke is performed with height from the elbow. The second part of the double stroke is purely rebounded from the accent and controlled from the fingers only.
As usual - the Blatant self promotion: Check out the “Stick Technique” book at www.sticktechnique.com for heaps more info on drumming technique.
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5 tips for building up the weaker hand - week 09
By Jim | May 17, 2008
5 DRUMMING TECHNIQUE TIPS-A09
5 tips for building up the weaker hand - week 09
By: Jim McCarthy
TIP 1 - TIP FOR TRADITIONAL GRIP USERS.
Here’s a tip that orchestral percussionists might appreciate - or marching enthusiasts. Your average big bass drum is mostly played with a beater in either hand, and one hand on either side of the drum. In most scenarios this is actually the best way to play it and will get the most control over the sound and the smoother sounding rolls etc. The exception of course is particularly when the heads on either side of the drum are different or differently tuned. In this case it might actually be easier to play with both hands working on the same head of the drum. Traditional grip drummers will have an advantage here. Matched grip players will find the required playing position quite difficult with a vertical bass drum. You could of course mount the drum more horizontally, but this usually involves a significant compromise in the sound produced - much less sustain. Traditional grippers can use the left hand quite easily on the same side of a vertical drum as the right hand - after all this is really very similar to an angled snare drum anyway - the actual reason for the existence of the traditional grip! Trying to play strong notes with a big bass drum beater using traditional grip is hard work though, and fantastic for building up strength in the fulcrum. Here’s what to try. Find your latest snare solo or exercises, and try playing them on a vertically mounted bass drum at least once a day this week. Watch your fulcrum build!
TIP 2 - TIP NOT INVOLVING DRUMMING.
Here’s something you can do with your weaker hand if you just happen to be doing some home decorating. Painting! Sound strange? Well some of you might remember the old “Karate Kid” movie and the instruction to “paint the fence”. Half the panels had to be done with one hand and the other half with the other hand. It doesn’t have to be a fence of course it can be pretty much anything, but you may have noticed in the past that it’s quite easy to perform good long strokes with a paintbrush in the strong hand, but we tend to dab and swish with the weaker hand. Next time you are painting - use the weak hand and really concentrate on making good long vertical strokes. Make sure the wrist is bending up and down smoothly with each stroke.
TIP 3 - TIP FOR EVENNESS AND MATCHING THE HANDS.
This week’s tip is quite similar to last week’s. Rather than using differing pitch to get the weak hand overcompensating though, we are going to use different feeling surfaces. The ultimate here is to use a snare or practise pad under the strong hand, and a pillow under the weak hand. This will really make the weak hand work extra hard, but a pillow is probably too soft to make a sound that is very useful in terms of trying to produce an even sound or feel. If you are working on drum kit, a great thing to do is swap the positions of your snare drum and floor tom (I’m assuming your set up is standard here). So now you can play with your strong hand on the snare, and your weak hand on the floor tom. Now go through a bunch of rudiments. Build the speed as you might normally do during a practise session until you are working at close to your top rate. This is where the softer surface of the floor tom will really make the weak hand work harder to stay in the same league as the strong one.
TIP 4 - PLAYING MORE NOTES WITH THE WEAK HAND or LEADING WITH THE WEAK HAND
This tip is a really good one for drum kit players. Not only is it great because it makes the weak hand play twice as many notes as the strong one - but also it is a good “cheats” way to play typical double kick rhythms when you don’t have two bass drums, or a double pedal. As usual it is shown here for a right hander so swap it around if you’re a leftie. You can see that the first note of each beat leads with a bass drum note followed by the strong hand playing a floor tom note. This is the “simulated” bass drum that is useful if your foot is not so fast or getting tired. The weak hand then plays a double stroke on any drum you like - higher pitch. I’ve shown it here going from the snare to the two rack toms, but you can make any pattern you like of course. You might even like to actually lead with the weak hand by swapping the halves of each beat. This means the weak hand starts with the double stroke then you have the kick note, then the floor tom note for each beat.
TIP 5 - GENERAL WEAK-HAND SKILL EXERCISE.
Here’s another great skill exercise that is useful for drum kit players because it actually creates a nice groove. A bit like a double time feel. Not only does the weak hand play an extra note, but it has to be quicker as well. The little double stroke in each beat will take some conscious work from the weak hand to get it sounding strong and clean.
The version above is a simple version played on the practise pad or snare. You can easily adapt it to create nice kit beats by adding foot patterns underneath, or moving some of the notes to other drums. Below is a simple example I’ve created just by moving the first note of each beat to a different drum. These notes can be accent if you like to further emphasize the beat.
As usual - the Blatant self promotion: Check out the “Stick Technique” book at www.sticktechnique.com for heaps more info on drumming technique.
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5 tips for building up the weaker hand - week 08
By Jim | May 9, 2008
5 DRUMMING TECHNIQUE TIPS-A08
5 tips for building up the weaker hand - week 08
By: Jim McCarthy
TIP 1 - TIP FOR TRADITIONAL GRIP USERS.
This week’s tip for users of traditional grip might seem a little strange and counterproductive, but bear with me. To put it simply it’s this: This week try using matched grip instead. Now some of you might already be pretty good at both so it may be nothing special. Some of you reading this will not even use traditional grip at all - in which case - for something different - why not have a go at traditional grip - in both hands even! It will certainly make you feel uncomfortable at first! In fact - whatever grip you normally use in each hand, I want you to have a go at reversing it. This means that a normal user of traditional grip will use a matched style grip in the left hand and a traditional style grip in the right. SO what’s the point? Well partially it’s simply a matter of building your coordination by working at something you are less used to. You will also be using very different muscles than the ones you usually do which is good for your overall hand development. Now PARTICULARLY in the case of the normal traditional grip user, working with a matched style grip in the left hand for a while will improve your normal traditional grip. This is because you will be developing your fingers way more as they can actually power the stick. With traditional grip they play more of a controlling role so by developing them we gain more control.
TIP 2 - TIP NOT INVOLVING DRUMMING.
This week’s tip is a bit of a rip off from week 2’s tip, but worthwhile nonetheless. Your hair! Which hand holds you brush/comb when you fix it in the morning? This week do it the other way around. If you are anything like me, you will feel quite uncoordinated when you brush your hair with the weaker hand.
TIP 3 - TIP FOR EVENNESS AND MATCHING THE HANDS.
We have already discussed in this series, the concept that we always tend to associate a slightly higher pitch with a louder sound. We discussed what to do when your actual sticks have slightly differing pitches - put the higher sounding one in the weak hand to make the sound subjectively louder.
Now it’s time to use the same principle in reverse. I want you to put the higher pitched stick in your STRONG hand and play some simple combinations like single strokes and double strokes. The key is - you need to LISTEN VERY CAREFULLY! By really striving to match the sound, you will in fact be working your weak hand slightly more to compensate for the pitch. It will really help the general evenness of your playing once you get into the habit of not being lazy with the weaker hand.
In fact - even if you do not have a pair of sticks which are un-matched you can still do this exercise - or if you do you can make the difference in sound even more extreme. The idea is to use two different playing surfaces. The idea is to find things which are similar to a drum to play, and similar to each other, but just ever so slightly different in the pitch they produce. Ideally you will use two practice pads with one tuned just a little higher than the other. The high one is played with the strong hand, and the lower one is played with the weak hand. You could even use a tabletop where it sounds a little different in different spots - often a table will sound slightly higher right over one of the legs for example.
TIP 4 - PLAYING MORE NOTES WITH THE WEAK HAND or LEADING WITH THE WEAK HAND
Here’s a very simple but very good pattern for building the weaker hand - as usual its written here for a right hander, so lefties swap the sticking pattern! This pattern works the weak hand in three ways. ONE: it leads with the weak hand. TWO: it involves more notes in the weak hand. THREE: the weak hand has to play slightly faster than the strong one. I really recommend working at this exercise with a metronome, otherwise it is just too easy to make all the notes the same speed as we get faster. Start slowly and make sure the rhythm is correct. I recommend setting the metronome to a quaver pulse.
TIP 5 - GENERAL WEAK-HAND SKILL EXERCISE.
At the end of April, I wrote an article to go with my videocast about backsticking. You can see that article HERE. Hopefully by now you have started working on a little backsticking so here is a good little exercise that particularly works the weaker hand by using backsticking. As a point of interest, it also involves leading with the weaker hand which I always try to incorporate into these exercise wherever it’s possible. As usual its written for a right hander, so lefties - swap it around. Not only does the weak hand have to work hard because it is constantly flipping the stick over - it also works hard because the fulcrum is always a little further forward on the stick than is ideal. That is in the nature of backsticking, and if you’re not sure why, then I recommend taking a look at April’s article HERE.
As usual - the Blatant self promotion: Check out the “Stick Technique” book at www.sticktechnique.com for heaps more info on drumming technique.
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5 tips for building up the weaker hand - week 07
By Jim | May 1, 2008
5 DRUMMING TECHNIQUE TIPS-A07
5 tips for building up the weaker hand - week 07
By: Jim McCarthy
TIP 1 - TIP FOR TRADITIONAL GRIP USERS.
DON’T BE FOOLED! Don’t waste time working on using the index finger for finger control with the traditional grip, because it is not physically possible to power the stick this way! Now before you argue that many great and professional drummers say you can and should - just have a closer look, and a hard think about it. These players don’t actually use the index finger at all although they can make it LOOK that way. The index finger cannot bend sideways at the middle or end knuckle without being broken - it just doesn’t hinge in that direction. Sure you can turn your hand palm down and use the finger that way on top of the stick, but if you do that, you might as well use matched grip! The tip of the finger often sits on top of the stick with traditional grip and its job is to control - or more accurately prevent in a controlled way - the rebound. If you want to power the stick without rotating the forearm, then you need to use the thumb. Pressing the thumb over the top of the stick just inside the fulcrum is the only way to employ “active” finger control with the traditional left hand grip - no matter who says otherwise, it’s just common sense!
TIP 2 - TIP NOT INVOLVING DRUMMING.
This week’s tip in this category is a good one because it still involves music and who knows - it may even lead to a total prevention of all those misguided drummer jokes!! Find a piano or electric keyboard of some kind and learn to play a simple scale. The purpose of the exercise is not to become an expert in harmony or music theory (although it never hurts!) so it can be any scale - just C major will do. Try to get somebody who actually plays to show you or find out by researching the internet - just make sure you are using all the fingers rather than simply poking with one finger as that would defeat the purpose of the exercise. The idea, is that by playing a scale a few times a day with your weaker hand, you will greatly improve the strength and dexterity of your fingers. If you ever want to take up percussion in the broader sense and play some tuned instruments like vibraphone, xylophone or marimba, then knowing a scale or two is a great start as well.
TIP 3 - TIP FOR EVENNESS AND MATCHING THE HANDS.
Hopefully as a drummer who is keen to improve, you have more than just one pair of sticks! Hopefully you will have a range of different sticks to cater for various types of music and playing situations. With a bit of luck you will also own a pair of brushes and perhaps some of the many varieties of things which are half drumstick and half brush like “flix” or “hot rods” etc.
Some cool effects that are often overlooked by drummers, can be achieved by mixing these up and using different tools in each hand. This creates an uneven sound which may give a song that unique feel, but can also be used to force a bigger work rate from one hand. Try using a responsive stick in your strong hand, and something very unresponsive in your weak hand - say a hot-rod or even a brush. Play through some things that you would ordinarily play with a matched pair of sticks. It doesn’t really matter if it is a chart on the kit, or rudiments etc on the practise pad - the idea is to aim for the same sound you would normally get with matched sticks. This should really help any habitual laziness with the weak hand!
TIP 4 - PLAYING MORE NOTES WITH THE WEAK HAND or LEADING WITH THE WEAK HAND
This week’s tip is about leading with the week hand, and it is really focused on drum kit players. Have you ever wondered why most types of traditional popular music have 95% of all drum fills basically descending in pitch? You rarely hear a drummer work their way from the floor tom up! For that matter why do we set the kit up that way with the high drums on the left? (for a right hander) Pianos and just about all other instruments with a liner layout have the low notes on the left, but we have the low notes on the right - and for that matter most Latin percussion instruments like congas tend to have the high drums on the left as well. Interestingly enough most classically trained percussionists are quite used to having their setups the other way around - like a piano or one of the tuned percussion instruments that they will probably have to be able to play - like xylophones, marimba, glockenspiel, vibraphone etc.
It seems that the answers lay in making the strong hand dominant. In popular music where melody etc is not a concern for your average drummer we tend to have the high drums on the left so as we play descending lines, the right hand can lead with less crossing over of the hands. As to why we mostly play only descending fills - well come to think of it there’s just no really good reason - to me it seems mostly a matter of habit and tradition and perhaps ease given that we have set the kit up that way.
TIP 5 - GENERAL WEAK-HAND SKILL EXERCISE.
This week’s exercise is a relatively simple one - as usual written for the right hander, so lefties swap the sticking over. Even though it’s simple it will really get your weak hand working hard. Not only that but the weak hand is playing all four of the “work” strokes - the ones utilizing the extreme ends of the dynamic range where the natural rebound is very little help. This is all about developing control in the weak hand, particularly with changing dynamic levels. The strong hand is just ticking over playing soft notes. The weak hand however should be playing a “full stroke” then a “down stroke” then a “tap stroke” then an “up stroke”. If you are not sure what these are, then I strongly urge you to find out asap because you really should know. Ask your teacher to explain it to you or alternatively check out my book “Stick Technique” available at www.sticktechnique.com
As usual - the Blatant self promotion: Check out the “Stick Technique” book at www.sticktechnique.com for heaps more info on drumming technique.
Topics: drum kit, drumming technique | No Comments »