back to basics, and then some: warmups

Even with my dreams of playing again with UBB dashed for who knows how long, I still really want to play. This weekend I went back to basics, spending time with my old copy of Stick Control, playing nothing but eighth notes in various stickings, end on end.

Stick Control is the most boring drum book in the world. And it's designed to be. The whole purpose of the book is to give the drummer a series of patterns to be played over and over again, with various stickings, at different tempi, al of which is designed to build chops and ease of motion.

I use a metronome, of course.
A metronome is a great help. It keeps me honest, and lets me know whether my evenness is slipping and I need to re-focus.

Below is the first page of Stick Control. I use it often. (If you click on it it should open larger in a new window.)

This weekend, I obtained a few new warmups, in use in modern (post-1990) corps.
Here's a nice eighth-note exercise that mixes up sticking to keep things interesting.


A more challenging exercise utilizes sixteenth notes with a check pattern in between each variation.

Finally, I got this diddle exercise, which moves the diddle around inside a fivelet pattern, requiring both timing and flow. This one is really fun to play, but I have to take it really slow and count.

Because I'm applying for a part-time job that may suck up ALL my free time, it's possible I won't have as much time to hang out with my practice pad for awhile. But when I do there will be plenty of material to work with.

Happy chopping!

when drumming is therapy: drummitation (drum meditation)

This week, plans were upturned when we got the news that my father-in-law had entered into home hospice care. His cancer treatments have been unsuccessful in stemming the growth of the disease and he is preparing for the end of his life, which we're told could come in weeks or even less time.
We leave for California on Monday to spend the remaining time with family.

As you can imagine, this is a stressful time as we rush to make travel arrangements, figure out pet care, and cancel holiday plans.

And when things get intense and our nerves get frazzled, as has happened repeatedly in the last few days, Sweetie advises me to go into the other room and drum.

Yes, really.

Drumming is something I've often done throughout my life to relieve stress. Today has been especially difficult as we juggle various details of our need to rush to be with family. So more than once, I've retreated to the back room in our little house and chopped out.

In the morning it's been as simple as playing slow and steady eighth notes to a metronome, gradually increasing speed and continuing until my hands get tense, then backing off of that a little and hanging out at the fastest comfortable tempo for several minutes. This is usually enough to calm me down and clear my head.

If after that I feel a desire to chop out on random stuff I can do that too, like in the videos below.
This "drummitation," as I like to call it, has helped repeatedly in my quest for calm during tense times. I recommend it highly.

Numerous studies have shown that repeated drumming can calm the fight-or-flight response in the brain, can improve blood flow and lower blood pressure, and can help to relieve stress in much the same way that gentle exercise does. I must have known all that instinctively before I'd ever read about it, when I was a kid; my childhood was filled with a great deal of stress and drumming was something I could always do to calm down. About eighteen months ago I began to turn it into a morning meditative practice, with a metronome and a rubber pad (to avoid disturbing Sweetie, who worked in the dining room and asked me not to meditate on an actual drum while she was home).
It has become a regular part of my meditative practice and a cherished part of how I wake up and come to "full density" in the morning.

Wherever your drumming takes you this season, I hope it's enjoyable and fulfilling.
Happy Holidays.