Paradise Beach Percussion Band
Drum Stick Exercise 1
The most powerful tool we have as percussion players is DYNAMICS. We can emphasise the quietest and loudest parts of the music. The way we play and where we put the accents can change the whole feel of a piece. Unless there are accents on individual notes, the first beat of a bar is “very slightly” louder than the middle beat, which is “very slightly” louder than the others.
It feels quite natural to play with a small emphasis on the first beat of the bar. So to get better at that our first exercise is to play as evenly as we can, we want every drum stroke played with either hand to be the same volume.
Our first exercise is to play 16 bars quavers or "eighth notes" sticking Right, Left, Right, Left, Right, Left, Right, Left. then 16 bars of Right, Right, left, Left, Right, Right, left, Left.
We’re going to do this exercise at two speeds.
To help you know where you are a Bass Drum will play the first beat of each bar, and all 4 of the 4th bar, and a cymbal will play the first beat of the 4th bar.
