A Drummer’s Dilemma
Two years ago, I didn’t even know my passion for music could become something important. I thought I would only be good enough to surpass my friends at school. I never saw myself pursuing drums outside of my middle school music class. Until distance learning happened, I never focused on making myself better outside of school. All that mattered was going home, fixing my grades, and watching Youtube gameplay videos. When my middle school band teacher Mrs. Miller introduced me to marching band, I had never thought about making myself better with rudimental percussion. All we covered in that class was a proper matched grip for concert band. But because marching band is different from concert band, I needed to learn a different grip specifically just for marching. This grip is called the traditional grip. This grip is difficult to learn and master, as it is an entirely different skill set you need to play cleanly with it.
Before I get too ahead of myself, I have to realize where I started. Like I said, it all began when Mrs. Miller introduced me to marching band by showing our 8th grade distance learning class the Bluecoats 2014 show, entitled “Tilt”. Still one of my personal favorites today, that performance showcases the best parts of marching band. DCI (Drum Corps International) is a world class music tournament where only the best of the best marchers compete for a prestigious title. The Bluecoats are a group of performers that compete in the DCI tournaments that almost always place top 3. The articulation and work that went into perfecting each section including the percussion, was very evident.
After that, I couldn’t stop watching marching band videos on Youtube. Just seeing other people being able to play such difficult music and execute it well was very inspiring. Chills and goosebumps ran down my spine whenever I heard the music contrasting from other shows as I would imagine myself playing with them. Since then I continued practicing and refining my skills. Now, I’m learning music that DCI musicians learn. DCI will let you move up in the music world because these competitions and tournaments are very prestigious and difficult to get accepted into. This opportunity lets you hone your skills and become a better musician. Overall, it is a great experience to be in these music groups because these musicians have fun doing what they love, and they get to compete to be the best!
Though I admired all of the great works of these performers, I still needed to work and actually get there myself. I had a few things that, looking back now, I realize I was doing wrong. Something I didn’t quite understand was the grasp: the grip on my stick. It was WAY too far up and it really wasn’t helping me play faster. Obviously, you don’t want to be too far back on the stick because then it’ll be too hard to control. But choking up on the stick too much, will also be a problem. That would result in you not being able to use rebound to the point where the stick comes back up so you can push it back down for another quick hit. Which leads me to my next problem.
I wasn’t using the rebound to the fullest. What ends up happening is if you try to stroke everything out by using your wrist, you’re not going to be able to play faster. You need to use the rebound as much as you can because that’ll use gravity against itself. Allowing your stick to bounce back up, getting an extra note in, and letting you play faster. Aside from the physical traits of being able to play music, there’s also the more technical part to music. Reading actual music, like the more confusing part of it:polyrhythms.
Polyrhythms are complex rhythms that loop in and out of your tempo. Essentially making you fit more beats than normal, into one metronome click. It’s hard to explain, but the simple explanation is that it messes with the amount of beats you fit into a normal measure. For example, in a regular 4/4 measure, you can fit 4 total quarter notes in it. But you can mess with it and put 3 notes in for every 2 beats. That is called a quarter note triplet, and it’ll let you fit 6 beats into a measure where usually only 4 quarter notes would fit. It’ll make you think really hard because it’s not what you’re used to. As a result of my exposure to music from DCI groups, I’ve had to learn a lot of polyrhythms such as fivelets, sextuplets, sevenlets, and ninelets. This has made me a better musician, both in being able to play, and read music.
Here are some things that allowed me to improve my musicianship. What worked for me was really putting in the effort to practice outside of school/when I’m told to. Not only practicing hours on end, but also utilizing my practice time wisely. Meaning practicing the right things. Not things that I was already good at, but practicing what I was bad at, until I got it right. I also had to become more musically mature. Meaning I had to be more disciplined in my practice time. Not only practicing the right things, but if I mess up a certain part, restarting, and making it better the next time. Sometimes people might feel like skipping past their mistakes so they don’t feel bad about themselves, but really putting in that hard work and discipline is where it counts. I also had to get used to performing in front of other people. Showing my family first, and easing into showing my friends, really helped me for auditioning in front of people who would critique my playing, but also performing in front of an audience for a competition. *reference the “WeVideo after the progress was made”*
Something that held me back was getting through the mental part of it. Sometimes I would feel like I’m not good enough. That no matter how much I try, it’s not enough. Getting over that would prove to be hard. Also receiving ridicule from others, as they say that what I do isn’t good enough. That really got to me. They kept saying my playing was only good enough for beginners, and that I couldn’t make it into the higher levels of the music world. But also my hands weren’t conditioned enough for the fast playing that I was trying to achieve. Not only playing fast but playing cleanly to where each note can be played with good sound quality. My doubles were one thing that was really slow. When I tried to go faster, I just couldn’t. Even when I was able to pull it off, it wasn’t as clean as it should’ve been. I didn’t make use of that rebound I was talking about earlier, so it just made it a whole heck of a lot harder for me. **reference the “WeVideo before progress was made”**
This doesn’t mean I’m perfect now, and I don’t have anything to work on. Yes I feel musically skilled, but that is not good enough. I still have room for improvement. I asked my instructor Dylan for feedback on the same video that is in the “WeVideo after progress was made”. He told me that my left hand is too tight, and I need to loosen up on my left hand to get through the faster diddle phrases and not crush those diddles. This results in a bit of ticking through these denser passages with polyrhythms that switch up the hand speed, but also the metric modulation in slowing down the diddles while still being in time. This advice can be applied to those who seek to improve their traditional grip as well. So make sure you loosen up on your left hand grip, as it is a different grip from your right hand.
All this in mind, if you wish to improve your drumming skills, take what I said to heart. Don’t let people talk trash about how you play, don’t let that get you down. Instead use that as motivation to get better so you can show them that they were wrong; that you can be good enough. Don’t choke up too much on the stick, and make sure you review proper grip and hand placement. Make sure you use rebound, I cannot stress that enough because I remember it made things so much harder for me by not letting the stick bounce back up. When you practice, make sure you are disciplined and if you mess up, restart and try again until you get it right. If you find something interesting you want to try, even if it’s not marching band, go for it!!
Here are videos of me playing before, and after making progress:
*WeVideo before progress was made:
https://www.wevideo.com/view/2467205361
**WeVideo after progress was made:
Awesome sauce – love the essay 🙂