Posts Tagged ‘Drum Set Technique’

This ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to Drum Set (Drums) Technique, is published on this website in a PDF format. It is very detailed and practical. It will give you the physical tools you need to take the limits off of your ability to create the accurate drums technique you want without sacrificing your body.
This ebook is also for sale on all AMAZON websites in a KINDLE format.
Located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. (MOVEMENT THERAPY)
WHY DO SO MANY DRUM SET PLAYERS STRIVE TO PLAY BETTER AND BETTER AND DON’T IMPROVE?
I see this same phenomenon in the gym all of the time. Most people who work out regularly don’t look like they’re working out, even though they work out hard. So it is with drums players, who practice but never get any better. Why is it that most drum set players DON’T improve as players after years and years of practice, when it is what they want most?
Let me talk about a change that can be made to a drum set player’s practicing that will probably create an improvement in playing, but the price is usually too high, leading to injury. It is what people who go berserk in exercise do. They change their workouts to a manic, non-stop, don’t tolerate backing off workout, ignoring the pain.
You see this all of time in commercials advertising brutal short workouts. These commercials show people becoming more lean and muscular, if you buy and do their workout video. What they fail to mention is that these kinds of workouts make you look good for a while, then you get injured, and then you have to stop. But this not a problem for the seller, since he or she has your money, whether the workout injures you or not. Also, most exercise gurus see injury as inevitable, not as a result of them selling a very flawed product. Buyer beware!
A drum set player who commits to improvement this way will also end up injured, if he or she practices longer and harder with greater and greater tension and pressure to become a better performer.
So, what is the solution? Let me restate the question. The question is, “WHY DON’T MOST COMMITTED, DRUMS PLAYERS BECOME MEASURABLY BETTER DRUM SET PLAYERS OVER THEIR WHOLE LIFETIME?”
STOPPING SHORT OF COMPLETION is the answer! What do I mean?
Let’s assume that the drum set player has clarified what his or her weaknesses are on the drums, and has defined what steps need to be taken to become an extraordinary drums player, and after years of being a pretty good drums player doesn’t improve, then FAILURE TO COMPLETE is the answer.
You can spend a lifetime striving to become an amazing drum set player, but if the intensity of your commitment to attaining the goal, and doing so without poor posture, without poor technique, without tension, and without self-attack, is not carried through to completion, then you can spend a lifetime as a drums player on the edge of greatness.
What is it that is happening that keeps you poised for greatness but never arriving, given you truly know what needs to be done? YOU AREN’T COMPLETING THE STEPS TO SOLVING YOUR TECHNIQUE INADEQUACIES.
You may put in lots of practice time to solve a specific technique weakness, but never quite put in enough time with FAITH IN SUCCESS to eliminate the weakness. Ex: You practice finding the minimum muscular engagement it takes in the hands, arms, and shoulders to play with high dynamic, but you never do quite enough to make this an internalized way of always playing the drum set. In other words, you strive for the above, but you never make it an effortlessly habitual part of your technique.
If you are truly truly honest with yourself, you may discover a whole bunch of these weaknesses in your drums playing that you “practice at” fixing, but never quite fix. Why?
“Practicing at” has become a self-sustaining habit in and of itself. In other words, you “practice at” solving your technique weaknesses on the drum set, telling yourself you’re making progress when you aren’t. YOU’RE STUCK!
To admit to yourself what you’re doing on the drum set isn’t working and hasn’t for years can be pretty difficult, but it is the only way out. There are three reasons you may not do this, and they can be pretty confrontive psychologically. But doesn’t the alternative to muddling through unconsciously, striving for a transformation of your drums playing, and never arriving really suck?
The first “reason for resistance to what works” is after years of realizing you haven’t done what works, is the pain of confronting yourself with years wasted. The answer to this is, “Why waste more years, if you’re NOT going to give up your goal of being a great drum set player?”
The second reason to not change a thing about your drums practicing is the unconscious fear that if you reach your goal, you won’t have a purpose. This is a fancy way of saying, “If you don’t have any more insurmountable technique problems on the drum set, then why play.”
This is truly crazy, but crazy is incredibly self-sustaining when it is unconscious. “Unconscious crazy” means you’re not even aware of a belief that is making your goal impossible as you strive for the goal.
The third reason is practicing hard has become its own goal. What do I mean?
PRACTICING IS THE MEANS THAT HAS BECOME THE ENDS. SO. THERE IS NO REAL GOAL OF BEING A GREAT PLAYER. THERE IS ONLY PRACTICING AS ITS OWN REWARD, BUT YOU’RE STILL BEING DRIVEN TO BE A BETTER DRUM SET PLAYER HIDDEN FROM YOURSELF UNDERNEATH ALL OF THIS.
As an act of self-love take a look at whether what you’re doing on the drums is working. If it isn’t, do something different and finally complete your goal of becoming an amazing drum set player. DON’T SPEND ANOTHER MINUTE STRIVING TO BE AN AMAZING DRUMS PLAYER!
IF YOU’RE NOT THE DRUM SET PLAYER YOU WANT TO BE, YOU’RE DOING SOMETHING WRONG. SO, PRACTICE SMART, AND COMPLETE YOUR JOURNEY AS AN ACT OF SUPREME SELF-LOVE!”