Another rudiment practice question

[frozen_dup1]

I was doing my rudiment practice and I have noticed that my left stick does a circular type movement ( looking from overhead ), when going quickly. Is this normal, or should I be trying to avoid this movement. My right stick seems to go straight up and down?

 

Brad

[DrummerCafe]

Good for you for being concerned.

 

I've spent hundreds of hours of the years perfecting my technique so that the sticks always move up and down. I'm a firm believer in working with gravity, not against it.

 

If I was a gambling man, I would bet that you used to (or still do) use Traditional grip. A lot of students have passed through my studio over the years, many having a similar problem. You probably have some rotation in your wrist that should not be there, either directly in the wrist or in the forearm.

 

Try working with a mirror and work just on the left hand. One effective method I have used with great success is to turn my body angle, while in front of the mirror, so that my left stick is pointing towards the mirror. While playing left hand strokes, I can watch to see the my stick is traveling straight up and down. Think of your left stick being attached to the string which pulls the stick/hand straight up.

 

I'm sure others have some great ideas about this. If you need more explanations of my description, just let me know.

 

 

 

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Bart Elliott

http://bartelliott.com

[frozen_dup1]

Well, if you were in Vegas, you would have lost. LOL. I don't really have an excuse for the improper left hand movement. I use the matched grip and have tried the traditional grip; didn't care for it. I only notice it when I'm doing 1/16's or 1/32's at a high bpm. I will do the mirror thing and see if it also does it a slower rate. It probably does and because it's slower I don't notice it. Your description is clear on the mirror technique, thanks....

 

Brad