May 17, 2006

  •  

    A Protected Post Follows



                                    Lil and her drum practice pad -


    As I understand, feel it, even before I lift my new Zildjian drum sticks, two things lie at the heart of a strong technique.  

    The first principle is that RELAX is the word for the ages.  Only those muscles actually in use are to be tensed, even those working at the least possible tension, with some allowance made for others preparing for a different stroke, sticking pattern, etc. 

    The second is that the stick does half the work.  The operative word here is REBOUND.  Bang the drum with everything relaxed, even the muscles in use, loose fingers, loose wrist, think only Down, Down, Downn, never Up (at least at this point)

    If you have this right, the stick will rebound, will literally jump up into your hand, raising your hand and wrist as it goes.  (It requires a special technique to stop the rebound with the stick close to the drum.)    

    THIS IS TRUE  Here's proof.   See lesson #6

    and so I speak of this to bird, who's been drumming forty years, feeling intrepid, also shy....

    lil: small miracle yesterday

    bird: tell

    lil: went through wessel's lesson on the buzz roll   (click here, then on #3)

    lil: all of this feels really easy, loose, relaxed - my chinese teacher's (who    emphasized relaxation, the first English word I taught him) influence

    bird: sheesh

    lil: and later on, just this side of the right tempo

    lil: stopped in astonishment at how well it goes

    lil: lol

    lil: there are things with this i will never get, lots and lots and lots and lots, way too late to start

    lil: but there are already things i do get

    lil: and that pleases me no end

    bird: am way proud of your spunk

    lil: tenks, babe

    lil: i love this

    bird: at times

    bird: you amaze me

    lil: bows head with lowered eyes

    bird: a-hmm

    bird: lift up, and amaze

    lil: thinking of all the times i fail to amaze

    bird: stop it

    bird: amaze now

    lil: will, will will will

    bird: continue to not self-flag

    lil: once one grasps rebound,

    lil: the concept,

    lil: the doing

    bird: difficult

    lil: no, easy

    lil: from the beginning, took less than two minutes to have it working

    bird: it engenders

    bird: giving

    bird: and taking

    lil: YES

    bird: dancing

    lil: YES

    bird: mais oui

    lil: the stick is moving down with my help, and up with its own motion

    bird: i see that you are beginning to understand

    bird: it is a unique musical instrument

    lil: once the first rebound happened

    lil: i sat here with m y mouth open grinning ear to ear

    lil: and then did it again another 100 times

    lil: staying loose and "dropping the sticks," and then going on

    lil: I LOVE IT

    lil: and want to say tenks for your willingness to talk to me about drums along the way, even though i knew nothing at all at the beginning

    bird: i will talk to you, till the end of time

    bird: even if the time machine is slow

    bird: this is just so fucking cool

     tis, bird, tis.  

     

    pearlbamboo

    copyright  e.p. hodges

Comments (3)

  • Hey, it's been a while.  Happy to see you drumming.

  • Awesome.......I can't wait to find out. Do you like rose petal jelly? I was told that in Iran they only use a special pink rose. I use any roses in my back yard that are not sprayed w/ any pesticides, with little lebanese rose water, lemon juice, sugar, and pectin. I wish I could find this person again but to no avail. It turns out beautiful, and taste pretty good too. This lady told me the "hell" spice would make it better. So ofcourse I'm dying to know, what she is talking about. I love to cook, and learning about how other cultures cook and eat as well.

  • that's incredibly awesome!!! :)

Comments are closed.

Post a Comment