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Playing Tips for Percussionists
Once you've sorted-out your kit set-up and posture, you may
like to consider the following tips.
Choose from the following links to go straight to the heading of
interest on this page. Alternatively, start at the top of the
page and work down.
Work WITH your drums, DON'T fight against it.
Allow your sticks to BOUNCE by playing 'off' the drum head.
Think of it like picking the beats off the drum using your
wrists rather than playing into the skin with tight wrists and no
bounce.
Play from the wrists, NOT from the shoulder or waist. Your drums
will sound much better and your skins will last longer.
Play 'off' the cymbal or with a slightly glancing
blow using a relaxed wrist. NEVER play into a cymbal with a
rigid stick; it will not sound good and the results could be
terminal for the cymbal.
If YOU CRACK A CYMBAL, CAREFULLY drill a small hole at the end of
the crack nearest the bell if the crack radiates from edge
towards the middle. If the crack is PARALLEL TO THE EDGE, drill
a hole at BOTH ends. Although this will extend the life of the
cymbal, its days are numbered!
![[Repairing a cracked cymbal image]](images/crackcymb.jpg)
Repairing a Cracked Cymbal
The best advice is DON'T CRACK YOUR CYMBALS IN THE FIRST PLACE.
IF you play the cymbals with your fingers or
hands, DO NOT glance across the edge; this is like running a
razor blade across your skin! Hit the cymbal with the back of
your hand or fingers for a harder sound, and with the pads of
your fingers for a softer sound. ALWAYS play with a relaxed
wrist and allow your hand to 'bounce' out of the way immediately
after hitting the cymbal.
There are many scars on my hands which demonstrate how sharp
cymbals can be when hit across the edge.
There are so many toys to choose, but these fall into two basic categories of
For those instruments you hit with sticks, apply
the principles outlined in the 'Drums' and 'Cymbals' sections
above.
For those you hit with your hands, ALWAYS play using RELAXED
wrists and fingers. Getting a good sound has more to do with HOW
you hit it rather than HOW HARD you hit it. Remember that if you
leave your hands/fingers in contact with whatever you have hit,
you will 'kill' any ring or sustain. Remember that 'ringing' and
'muted' sounds are often used to build-up rhythms, especially on
triangle or crotales.
The main point here is CONTROL. You should
practice playing with a relaxed wrist and fingers to give a
smoother sound. If you 'tighten' the muscles in your fingers and
wrists to produce a 'throwing' action you will produce an accent
(louder beat). By mixing soft and accented beats you can build
up exciting rhythms with shaker. If you are playing a
tambourine, you can add accents by letting the tambourine hit
your hand on the forward and/or backward stroke to produce the
accents.
If the music has a syncopated ('jumpy') feel to it, then shaking
up and down (vertically) rather than forwards and backwards
(horizontally) will produce a syncopated rhythm.
Practice, first to create a good, constant sound and speed, and
then experiment with different accents and shaking
techniques.
REMEMBER that to improve your playing takes a lot of TIME and EFFORT. But take heart, the top professionals have often taken many years to perfect their best breaks.
The difference between an amateur and a
professional is this:
Amateurs practice until they get it right; professionals
practice until they can't get it wrong.
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Page Last Revised: 06 Dec 2007 17:18:09 -0000 .
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