The Drum Theorist's Blog

I’m sure that most of us have read or listened to interviews with drummers that talk about how they used to “woodshed” for 8 hours a day, everyday. They loved the craft so much, and wanted to be so good, that they devoted themselves to such an intense practice schedule.

Good for them, I say.

However, I’m willing to bet that most of us can’t make that claim. Not that we don’t love the craft, and not that we don’t love drumming so much that we don’t want to practice. But really, several factors prevent most of us from taking on such a regimen: school, work, people, short attention span, easily bored… Any one or a combination of those factors prevent the majority from sacrificing the rest of our lives in order to practice, practice, practice.

Some drummers, unfortunately, are worse; they don’t practice enough. I know that, having taught for 14-plus years, most of my students fit that mold.

As a teacher, it’s part of my job to find a way to inspire my students to practice. One such method involves a 5-minute practice schedule.

That’s right. I said, “5-minute practice schedule.”

One of my favorite stories to tell students is that I learned how to play flam stutters in 5 minutes. I sat down in front of the TV one night and, during a commercial break, I broke down flam stutters, starting slowly to get the coordination down and then gradually speeding up to a medium-slow tempo. As a result, flam stutters were no longer a mystery and all I needed to do from that point on was to continue playing them until the rudiment was committed to muscle memory.

The most important thing about practicing isn’t necessarily how long you practice, but how well you practice. Practicing for 8 hours a day isn’t going to help much if all you do is sit there and mindlessly drum, not really working on anything. Think about what most drummers might do if they sat down at a drumset or a pad for 8 hours. They might play one thing for a little while, then move on to something else because it gets boring, then another, then another, all the while not really thinking about what it is they’re doing; not noticing the things they don’t like and need to work on; not determining if they’re being consistent while playing repetitive patterns; not concentrating on keeping a good tempo; not focusing on good technique; not playing well…

Playing for long periods of time will certainly help any drummer just through the physical act of drumming, which can help increase stamina and coordination through sheer repetition, but it is important to focus on what it is you’re playing and making sure it sounds and feels the way you want it to as opposed to playing just for the sake of playing.

The 5-minute practice schedule encourages students to pick one thing they need to work on – a rudiment, a pattern, a phrase, a tempo issue, chops – and then focus on that one thing for 5 minutes. It should be easy to find 5 minutes in a day to drum. When they get home from school, do they eat a snack before they do their homework? They should drum for 5 minutes when they’re done. Do they normally go to bed at 10:00 PM? Then they should go to bed at 10:05 PM.

When I talk about practicing to my students, I tell them how they can practice 30 minutes a day, everyday, if they use this method. A particular example would be:

• Get up in the morning, get ready, and head off to school. Once at school, pick one thing and drum for 5 minutes
• During lunch, drum for 5 minutes before heading to class
• Get home and, before doing homework, drum for 5 minutes
• Take a break from homework. Drum for 5 minutes
• Eat dinner, then drum for 5 minutes
• Drum for 5 minutes before going to bed

That scenario outlines 6 instances of drumming for 5 minutes. At the end of the day, they’ve practiced for at least 30 minutes. If they focused on one thing for each of those 5 minutes, whether it’s the same thing or something different each time, then that’s 30 minutes of focused practice.

I know this doesn’t really promote long-term focusing, but this method at least encourages the student to find and make time to practice. And the beauty of this method is this: if the student really loves to drum, really loves the physical act of drumming, they just might end up drumming for more than 5 minutes at a time.

For years now, I have wanted to write a book on drumming. I have, in fact, started one and it has been in the process of being written for, oh… I have no idea how long. At least since 2002.

The problem is, I continued to learn new things since I started jotting down notes that it’s hard for me to say, “Yup, this should be included in the book.” And every time I revisit the book, I keep finding new ways to refine or change what I’ve written. Not to mention the fact that whatever it is I write, I rethink, re-experiment, re-evaluate, and re-analyze what I’ve written because if I’m going to write it down, I want it to be as accurate and clear as possible.

Too anal, I guess.

So, I’ve started this blog. I will still keep working on the book. However, at least with this blog, I can offer my ideas regarding the art and craft of drumming and the blog will evolve with me as I continue to improve as both a drummer and an educator. The idea of “Conceptual Drumming” is to examine what it is we drummers do and try to figure out why we do it; to figure out ways to drum better; to approach the art and craft of drumming better; to learn how to teach better; to learn how drumming relates to the rest of our lives. These are the things I’ve wanted to write about but, alas… my anal retentive, over-analytical nature has gotten in the way of completion.

My flaw as a writer of things drum-related, however, brings me to my first online lesson:

Teachers – no matter what you are teaching, when you convey your lessons make sure that you are conveying it as a near-universal truth. In other words, there are almost always going to be exceptions to the rules you’re teaching, but it is vitally important to say what you mean and mean what you say.

I have encountered many drum instructors that say one thing in their instruction, but they mean something different or they don’t demonstrate the lesson they’re giving. For instance, if you tell your student to use all fingers during a legato stroke exercise, that isn’t universally true. You can’t use “all fingers,” because your fingers alone won’t lift the stick up for the upstroke. An example consisting of a minor detail, sure, but students that are eager to learn and try to utilize the information you’re giving them take the information home to practice (hopefully) so that they can learn to put it to use. Giving them information that isn’t necessarily true, or information whereby you did not say what you mean, can only serve to potentially confuse the student.

As students go on to learn from other people, they will be introduced to different methods, different perspectives, and different techniques. Provided there’s a logic to each thing being taught, they’re all valid. However, students will eventually have to decide what methods, perspectives, and techniques are right for them depending on their situation(s), and in order to make smart decision, the information they are given needs to be accurate.

I’m sure this all goes without saying, but I’ve encountered plenty of situations where the instruction just isn’t accurate. It doesn’t matter if I agree or disagree with the method, perspective, or technique in question. I want accurate logic and an accurate explanation of the lesson. I’ve talked to too many students and felt the need to give them this advice: When you’re given a lesson, figure out if the instructor is saying what they mean or saying one thing while meaning another. Use your discretion to figure out if the instruction is accurate and helpful.

We’re drummers, right? If we’re striving for accuracy in our drumming, we should also be striving for accuracy in our instruction.