To create sound movement must occur. With this movement comes the opportunity for either efficient or inefficient motions, and accurate or inaccurate execution, and all causes can be found in two places: the mind and the body. Closing the gap between what’s in the mind and its manifestation through the body is key to creating more fluid and immediate responses in our playing.
1) What Do We Use?- whatever instrument we play, there are specific body parts that we use in specific ways. Knowing exactly what those parts are, how they interact with others, how they move and how their movements affect the sound is key to being comfortable with playing anything.
2) When Do We Use?- what are the circumstances that call for a specific movement? Maybe it’s a subito piano, or a faster tempo. Explore those scenarios and figure out what is being used at those times. The more scenarios you study, the more knowledge you’ll have about what you do, good or bad, and if it can be “better” or if it’s fine.
3) Why Do We Use?- why in those situations do we use what we use? Are there other options or is this the only way it will work?
4) How Do We Use?- is there ease or difficulty in the execution? If difficulty, is this caused by lack of experience, lack of physical facility, tension, etc.
What are we developing the physical technique to do? What effects are we trying to create?
1) Timbre- what general sound are we going for? Even if the required sound is darker or brighter, the core of the sound should be stable and match the beauty of your normal sound. What in the body facilitates that (a bright, dark and general sound)?
2) Dynamics- can we maintain the quality of sound while playing different dynamics? The common tendency is for the sound to get brighter as the dynamic increases and darker as it decreases. How do we make the character of sound consistent, and what does the body have to do in order to accomplish that?
3) Tempo- can we maintain the quality of sound while playing at different tempos? What does it feel like to play fast, slow and everything in between, within the confines of a bright, dark, general, etc. sound?
How do we develop the technique? Exercises that specifically target each part of the body that we will eventually use in a performance, in various situations including dynamics, tempos, timbre, lengths of notes, etc. Explore and experience.
1) Long Tones
2) Articulation
3) Dynamic Contrast
4) Subito Dynamics
5) Tempo
6) Rhythmic Integrity
7) Efficiency
8) Fluidity
Expanding your Movement
It's something that I've been interested in since I began studying with Marc Damoulakis in college, and essentially what makes my Spatial Studies book unique. The fact is that many drummers out there don't know their own physicality very well, if at all. Movements towards a low tom tom or ride cymbal can be erratic and inefficient, wasting energy and causing the resulting sound to suffer. Unless there is a knowledge of a "better" way, or that they can relieve some unnecessary tension, etc., the movements may be left unchecked, often resulting in injury, broken equipment, etc. So, what is the "better" way, and how do people discover and explore it for themselves?
Essentially, whatever the most efficient way of accomplishing a goal is, is the "better" way. That being said, in my book I encourage the student to continually take note of how their body feels whenever they incorporate or execute a new movement. If it feels bad, adjust until it feels good, or natural. It's a guarantee that if you strike the instrument, no matter how you move, as long as it's relaxed throughout the stroke, it will produce a good sound. That being said, because we are all different and unique, our movements will not be exactly the same. Yes, the variables of efficient movement and relaxation may be the same, but how we interpret that and execute it will inevitably produce a different sound from person to person.
The trap for us orchestral musicians, in my opinion, is that we are a very stable group. We only really move our arms, hands, and occasionally our legs when moving up and down the keyboard. In part, I think this is because of the nature of our job and instruments, but also I think it stems from a desire to be accurate. "The more you move around, the more likely you will lose consistency," or something to that effect. So, I feel like we are the most at risk of having our movements stifled and habitually small, compared to the movements of a marching drummer or a drum kit player. We can counter this by incorporating the exercises or habits of those genres in our warm-ups and practice sessions. However, I've gone beyond even that. I've studied dancers, martial artists, methods of movement like Feldenkrais and Alexander technique, acting philosophy, etc. All of these have something in their pedagogy that can benefit us as drummers.
I encourage you to take the time and think about how much you actually move while playing your instrument. Forget about missing notes, or having every eighth note sound the same on your drum. How would you play if you didn't have to worry about accuracy, or staying in a fixed stance or position? How far does your arm reach in all directions? How do you bend your knees as you move around the keyboard? Questions like these can really inform you on how much you move, and honestly, it might help you figure out why you can't accomplish certain tasks. In my book, I give exercises for exploring your physicality, but again, outside of the music field, there are many resources for you to dive into as well. Take a little time and try these ideas out, and see where it takes you.
Motivation and Discipline
People can have a lot of different reasons for doing or not doing a certain thing. You eat because you're hungry, or you don't because you're sick, etc. While those types of causes and actions are geared towards sustaining your life, basically, we tend to treat our work in similar ways. I.E. "I want to get work as a musician, so I can eat. So I gotta practice." I usually say that people can rationalize any action they choose to take, no matter how crazy it may seem to the beholder. The main issue is taking that step to rationalize yourself into the action you wish to take.
Hopefully playing music is something you enjoy. If it's not, well, it's going to be hard to make yourself practice when you don't want to, but more on that later. If you like it, that's only a piece of the rationalizing puzzle. For me, liking or loving what I'm doing is an emotional motivator, which may or may not be strong enough to fight against being tired, or grumpy, or discouraged. So, I had to find a way of thinking that would counteract those variables when they appeared. Thinking about the process in a way that had nothing to do with how I felt, but where I wanted to go really helped me find healthy ways of responding to my discouragement or fatigue. If I was feeling like I wasn't progressing, I would look objectively at what I had accomplished during the day. Literally, any accomplishment, no matter how small, is a step forward in my mind now. So what I didn't learn the entire first page of a piece. Maybe I only learned the first 4 lines, that's progress.
I've practiced when I was exhausted, and probably shouldn't have, but somehow I made myself get out of bed, grab the sticks, and hit something, even for a few minutes. Honestly, that's from watching movies or seeing someone I respect do the same when they are really down and out. If you know the story of Rocky Balboa, you know how crazy his workout routine was to prepare for a match. The slogan of one of the films was, "no pain." Clearly he was in pain, but the mindset that they cultivated was that pain didn't matter, you keep going anyway. Of course, with a grain of salt here, but the spirit of it is what I'm getting at specifically. Also, my parents are extremely hard working, and I figured if they can work for hours and still come home and take care of us, I can at least get up out of bed and play stick control. What's the least I can do, even running on empty? Ask yourself that when you are exhausted, or just fed up.
Like anything, cultivating discipline is a habit you have to form, and I really believe that it starts with how you think. The previous scenarios are only two processes of thought, but for me they are the most important. Discouragement and fatigue were and continue to be my biggest foes in my career, especially now given my current health circumstances. In spite of that, I'm releasing a book, doing Facebook live streams, practicing for a concert, basically doing exactly what I've been doing and then some. How? It starts pretty small, like playing five minutes of stick control every day. Take five things like that a day, and you have a twenty-five minute practice session. Do it every day, and you have a practice routine. Consistency is the most important part in cultivating that muscle of discipline. If you let yourself lax on a day, or an exercise, you'll do that for two, or three, and eventually you'll lose a day, a week, etc. Start small, start where you are, and build to where you want to go.
With starting small it also can be encouraging to see yourself complete a task of that size. Again, combining multiple small tasks can result in one bigger task. Rather than trying to take on 4 hours of practice a day before you've even done stick control daily for five minutes, can result in failure and then discouragement, leading you to never attempt it again. Start with something you know you will be able to achieve, take pride in it, put all of your attention and drive into that task, enjoy the process, and do it every day. When you are ready, add another task until you reach your ultimate goal.
If you are like me, the feeling after completing a task is motivation enough to begin it. The fear of not being successful or completing the task deters me away from even beginning at all. You must go into it knowing, or convincing yourself, that you will complete the task. Even if it isn't where you want it to be in the end, there is always tomorrow to come back and try again. One day is not a reflection of the future or yourself as a musician. Really fight the urge to characterize it as such. It's only a small segment of the work that you've done and are going to be doing. Even the end result is only a small segment, because you still have so much to learn and improve on. Really embrace the fact that you will always be improving on something, and take it as not only a challenge but a relief, because you never have to be perfect at anything, you simply have to improve.
Decisions, Decisions
Something I had to learn, especially in the fellowship programs, was the difference between being a student and a "master" or professional. While I had performed with several orchestras before, that did not necessarily make me a professional, nor did my experience or knowledge gained by those performances. At Detroit, it was impressed upon me to make my own musical decisions, and showcase them in both rehearsal and especially in the performance. This was weird, because for years I was just regurgitating whatever was done historically, or in recordings, or whatever was on the page. I did have good instincts to fall back on, but I was not used to making conscious decisions about what I wanted to do with the music. This was a skill I had to develop and nurture, and having mentors, and asking myself questions about what I wanted was a huge step in that direction.
It's definitely a balance between the appropriate, historical, or performance practice options, and your own musical identity and preferences. Until you become knowledgeable and comfortable with your personal choices, or if you are not adequately informed about the music, there will be no balance. Studying music has become easier over the years, mainly because of the sometimes immediate access to information through many media sources, like Spotify, YouTube and IMSLP. Studying your musical identity might not be so obvious, and even though these may seem trivial, here's some things I asked myself to get me thinking about it.
- What type of sounds do I like to hear?
- What type of sound do I like to make?
- Put these sounds in order from favorite to least favorite: Warm, Dark, Bright, Light, Heavy
- Put these dynamics in order from favorite to least favorite: Loud, Soft, Medium, Medium Soft, Medium Loud
- What characteristics define the above items? (What makes a Dark or Loud sound? Be specific)
- What kind of music do I like?
- What kind of music do I dislike?
- What pieces move me emotionally?
Asking questions like these made me decide, or realize, and accept what my musical preferences were. Personally, I love warm sound qualities, like those of a clarinet, and extremely soft or loud dynamics. Knowing these tendencies informs me on what I'll be prone to do. Maybe I will play something too soft, or too loud for the hall I'm in. So, I will I have to be aware of that and adjust appropriately. It's very important to know yourself as well as you know the music that you play, so that you can make the necessary decisions and adjustments for said music.
One thing I am quickly learning as principal in Calgary, is that my musical identity is magnified because I am running a section. I have the opportunity to decide how every part will sound, literally catering it to fit my personal preferences. However, I choose not to do that, very often. I currently find that allowing the section to make their own decisions has rendered very interesting and positive outcomes that, had I told them to do a certain thing, would not have happened otherwise. In a way, our individual identities are influencing each others, just like in chamber music, or even in the orchestra itself, and being receptive to each others ideas improves us all. This is something that I really appreciated in Detroit and in Pittsburgh. I had the freedom to make decisions, good or bad, and if there was something that could'e worked better, we all communicated together about it and came up with a new idea. We all appreciated, admired and learned from our colleagues' musicality, and this is one thing I am very happy to see in the section here as well.
Making your own choices can be hard, especially if you've never done it to this degree, but even if the decision is not appropriate for that particular moment, own it. Mistakes happen, but the attempt is what really matters. It's what will nurture that sense of musical independence, and it's what will help you grow into a "master" of your craft. I am still getting used to being comfortable with my own musicality, because it is unique and sometimes very outrageous, but I continue to remind myself that, someone here in Calgary liked it, someone in Detroit and Pittsburgh liked it, and I really really like it. It's also important for me, and others, to stay open to new ideas in order to adapt and develop our musical identities, making us more mature and flexible musicians. I am constantly reminding myself to own and express my ideas, and I encourage you to do the same, no matter how outlandish they seem to be. Chances are, they aren't as crazy as you may think, but who will know unless you express them.
Limitation: Overcome or Overpass
I'd like to consider myself a very positive realist about myself and my life. I am well aware of my weaknesses, limits and habits, good or bad, but rather than think negatively about these things, I immediately try to find solutions to them. Jojo Mayer said, at PASIC 2016, that "the idea of limitation was extremely helpful, because limitation always brings challenges....and that's when we really become creative." It's important in these instances where you are confronted with a limitation, that you look at it objectively and not assign a negative connotation to them. This takes practice and patience, but there are books and even classes that can help guide you to that result of objective perception and removing negative self talk, and I will link to some resources at the end of the blog.
When I'm confronted with a limitation, I first acknowledge it, assess it, and then I ask these things before either abandoning or moving forward with the task I'm trying to accomplish:
- Do I need this?
- Has this been done before?
- How many different ways can it be done?
- What is hindering the execution?
- How can I work on this?
- Is there something else I can do to emulate the result I want?
- Is there someone who has a similar issue as me? How do they do it?
- Are there similarities to other things I do now?
- If it hasn't been done before, is it physically possible? In what way?
You can add or subtract from this list, but this really informs the actions that I take. Drum set for example, I cannot play double bass drum pedal rhythms to save my life. I am aware of how to practice to gain those skills, but I don't necessarily need them in my immediate career. Or how about the excerpt "New England Triptych: Chester." I have to play fast and soft, but it's difficult to play the way I want, which is to play it with single strokes. An option around that is to use double or even triple strokes to execute the excerpt. Recalling tempos can also be a challenge. Starting out, I had a difficult time remembering 120bpms for "Lieutenant Kije." However, it was fairly easy for me to remember the 3rd movement of "Scheherazade." So, for a while I'd use my tempo of "Scheherazade" for "Kije." My last example is speed, aka "fast fingers." Has it been done? Most certainly. What's hindering my execution? My fingers naturally are not that fast. I'm aware that my physique is not conducive to me being able to play at 250bpms using just fingers. So, I accepted it, and have moved on with that particular technique. However, there are plenty of other ways to play at that tempo, and I have both explored and figured out which strategies work for me.
When presented with any limitation or challenge, explore and exhaust all options that you know or come up with, research and inquire for solutions, and only after every option has been sought out, then move on. The key is to continue to be diligent in the inquiry, and to keep a level head during every aspect of the process. Again, this may take practice and patience to do, especially if this is something you habitually don't do. I encourage you to give this way of thinking and exploring options a try and see how it effects your practice, either positively or negatively. Below are some books and articles that I found helpful in this regard, and I hope they help you as well.
What to Say When You Talk to Yourself
Bulletproof Musician: Underestimating your Ability?
Bulletproof Musician: The Mental Adjustment
Bulletproof Musician: Feeling Stuck?
Bulletproof Musician: Not-To-Do List