httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLrWEfsircY
In the previous episodes, I have talked about how to develop the double stroke roll. (Double Stroke Rolls and 5,7,9 Stroke Rolls.) Please make sure to review those videos for more information. In today’s episode, I introduce the “concert style roll,” aka the Triple Bounce Roll. Let me know if you have any questions and comments.
Level: Intermediate/Advanced
Today’s guest post is by return contributor Ben Wahlund. Ben is a percussionist, composer, and educator based in the Chicago area and earlier this year shared Of Drumming and Farming (his PASIC Manifesto) on DrumChattr. He returns today with a great article that I think most of us can appreciate and hopefully institute into our daily lives. If you have something you would like to contribute, please send it us and we will be glad to check it out.
Musing on a Career Teaching Music in the Private Sector
By Ben Wahlund – Black Dog Music Studio
These are ideas that I’ve compiled in no particular order while sitting in a comfortable chair at the end of a long day. I may change my mind tomorrow, but these are the thoughts at my fingertips now (BW – 11/12/13).
Your career is only that – a career. Life is much bigger than your career. Invest time and energy appropriately. (more…)
On Friday, I posted three tambourine videos by Christopher Deane, Associate Professor of Percussion at the University of North Texas. (If you missed them, stop reading and go watch them. It will be the best 10 minute investment that will improve your tambourine technique forever.)
Periodically, I plan to post tips and tricks that I have learned and used over my experiences playing percussion. Since I posted the tambourine videos on Friday, I wanted to start with a tambourine tip. If you watch the first Christopher Deane video, you will notice that he is playing an incredible finger roll (sometimes called the thumb roll) in the Britten excerpt. I call it a finger roll because he is using his second finger. (BTW, I prefer that way for soft rolls, but I will talk more about it when I post my tambourine technique videos.) If you are not familiar with soft roll technique on a tambourine, you may wonder how he is able to do this. There are many ways to execute the soft roll and they all require putting something on the tambourine head. This leads to today’s tip: (more…)
For everyone in the United States, we are in the middle of a “long” three day weekend known as Labor Day. It is also a great time read some new articles and get in some extra practice time. After you have read these articles, please leave a comment with something I should check out.
25 Most Useful Websites And Apps For College Students That Will Make You Smarter And More Productive
Understanding the Problem at Hand.
The Extraordinary Benefits of Learning Music
50 Top Parenting Tricks and Hacks That Will Make Life Easier And More Fun
Christopher Deane, Associate Professor of Percussion at the University of North Texas, discusses some specialized tambourine techniques in three masterclass videos that feature the Black Swamp Percussion Tambourine. There is a lot of great information in these videos and I would highly recommend checking these out over the long weekend.
Masterclass 1: Delicate Roll and Articulation Techniques
Masterclass 2: One Handed Triplets
Masterclass 3: “Opposable Thumb” Technique
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself, any direction you choose.” — Dr. Seuss
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The photo in this post is used under the Creative Commons License: Attribution – NonCommercial – No Derivs 2.0 by Brandi Korte on Flickr.com.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt4yLHTxXAw
In today’s episode we take the next step in our double stroke rolls and talk about 5, 7, 9 stroke rolls. When executing bounced strokes, make sure you are letting the stick do all of the work. If you have a good fulcrum, a relaxed grip and you allow the stick to bounce, over time you will develop a good sounding roll. Remember: One Arm Stroke, Two Bounces.
Please feel free to leave comments and/or questions below.
Level: Beginning/Intermediate
The last two episodes have featured my reviews about different drum pads that are available. Check them out here:
Episode 016: Practice Pad Reviews Pt. 1
Episode 017: Practice Pad Reviews Pt. 2
In the videos, I talk about the two types of drum pads: rubber and drumhead. Both types of pads have their advantages and disadvantages. For most of my warmups, I use the bdl Percussion Pad, because I really like the feel and sound. If I am relaxed, I can hear the vibration of the stick. I have never had that experience with any other pad and that is one of the reasons that I endorse their drum pads. (Full Disclosure, I endorse bdl Percussion and Remo). In my studio, I use the Remo pad if a student is playing through a piece for the first time.
But remember, a drum pad will never replace a drum. It does have the same feel and if you always practice on a pad, your sound on a snare drum will suffer. In general, I use a drum pad for warmups and when I am learning or working on a new piece. If I am playing snare drum on a concert, I will make sure that I use a snare drum leading up to the performance.
Below are the links of the different pads that I used in the videos. Please support these companies. They are making great products.
Recommended:
Remo 8″ Practice Pad with Stand
Other Examples:
Remo 6″ Practice Pad
Hopefully you had a chance to set-up your RSS reader last week. Now that you have collected some articles, what are you reading? Please leave a comment below if there is something I should check out.
Here are some suggestions to check out this week:
6 Ways Your Brain Tries to Kill Your Ideas and How to Fight Them
Stop Trying to Please Everyone or Chase Impossible Goals
Six Things I Learned from Teaching That I Still Use in Everyday Life
Have a great week!
For the past four years, I have written posts on DrumChattr.com. I co-founded the site with Tom Burritt and Shane Griffin. We have worked hard at building a community for percussionists and it is a lot of fun connecting with so many musicians from all over the world.
Over the summer, we host BookChattr, a book club for percussionists. We have read Public Parts: How Sharing in the Digital Age Improves the Way We Work and Live by Jeff Jarvis, The Percussionist’s Art by Steven Schick, The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, and The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey. Currently, we are reading Learning to Listen by Gary Burton.
Along with reading this book, I have created some listening guides to accompany the book. I hope you will consider reading the book. I just finished it and I would definitely recommend it. Check out these links below for the resource guides and a Spotify playlist.
Gary Burton Resource Guide: Part One
Skype Lessons with Dr. Gerhart