Catagory: lessons
Drumline, according to Kelley
In response to the last installment, Pompadors wrote:
I’m a bit skeptical about “playing as loud as you can comfortably”… my interpretation on what you were really trying to say is that you should be able to play something at any height, and have a consistent confident attack at every height and dynamic level regardless of how loud or quiet it is.
I can understand being skeptical about the theory. I’m not sure if I really explained it as well as I could have. Let me try to be a bit more descriptive.
What I really mean by “play as loud as comfortably possible” is to play each height to it’s fullest potential. What this means is if you come across a passage where there is no dynamic marking and only a height it is assumed that your height should have a set dynamic. Basically, the way I break it down to my students is like this:
Now, with practice, you can play any dynamic at any height. In fact I urge my students to learn how to play ff at 3 inches to build their chops. But, if you’ve ever tried this you can relate to the second half of the rule: “…as comfortably possible”. When you play a louder dynamic than the specific height would be generally be used for it becomes uncomfortable to play.
A Technical example would be a bucs pattern. In my experience it seems in general, that most bucs patterns utilize two main heights or dynamics, these being 12” (ff), and 3” (p). These two heights must be played to their full potential in order to be articulate and dynamically effective. If you under play your taps then you risk losing tempo. The most important part of a bucs pattern is keeping the taps in tempo. The more confidently you play at each height, the less likely you are to lose tempo. This is most important in lower heights as they are usually harder to play at their potential.
This concept leads us into the next topic on my mind. Generally, for a student’s first lesson, I like to focus on basic technique. After showing the correct grip I ask each student to perform a basic 8’s pattern. What I watch for is the way they control their sticks. Most people have a very stiff style when starting out. They attempt to control every motion of the stick.
The way I explain basic stroke technique is by using three key terms: legato, staccato and semi-staccato. Here’s a break down of each terms essential meaning.
Legato: Smooth, connected. You allow inertia to carry the stick back to it’s original playing position. Use as little energy as possible. Control only the initial energy exerted at the apex of each stroke.
Staccato: Separated: Control almost every aspect of the stick’s motion.
Semi-staccato: Stroke that begins as a legato stroke, but is interrupted and stopped at a specific height. Generally applied when playing a low note following a higher note.
I’ll have more on this in the next installment, but I want to see what kind of reactions I get based on these definitions. I didn’t go into much detail about each stroke because I want to get some input from everyone about they’re stroke technique.
Oh, and don’t forget to practice…