06/20/2014
The Benefits of Slow Practice: What’s Your Hurry?
Hi, all -- Making some final preparations for re-entry after a lengthy Facebook hiatus. Gotta get the heat shield in place…
Several months ago I wrote a very short essay on the benefits of slow practice. To my surprise, it generated more interest on Facebook than anything I’d ever posted. If you missed it, here it is. Feel free to pass it along, and as always I welcome your comments! -- David Hocker
I was recently reading Jim Payne’s book, “The Great Drummers of R&B, Funk, and Soul” (which is fabulously entertaining and informative, by the way - if you don’t have it, get it!) and found a great quote from drummer Andy Newmark.
In addition to his work with John Lennon, David Bowie, and many others, Andy played on Sly and the Family Stone’s 1973 album Fresh, which includes the track “In Time,” hands down one of the funkiest tunes ever. He plays on every track on the record and absolutely kills that one. Andy’s philosophy on refining his technique through slow practice is about as close to my own as anything I’ve ever read. The concept was extremely valuable to me years ago when working on Murray Spivack and Richard Wilson’s material and I’ve been passing it along to my students ever since:
“It’s not about playing fast, but about having control over every note you play. Playing slowly, quietly, and having real control over every bounce. That’s the kind of valuable chops I always work on and strive towards. It’s not just speed, but having control over every grace note. This involves having the metronome down at 50 or 60 and playing very slowly and evenly, hearing all the air in between the beats, really feeling that air and giving every note its full value. In the end, that’s what really makes drummers swing.”
As performance psychologist Dr. Noa Kageyama notes on his website The Bulletproof Musician, “Since the whole point is to be able to think, monitor, and analyze our technique as we are playing, practicing at a moderate (read: brisk) tempo defeats the purpose. It’s too fast for us to observe, fully process, and tweak all the little details. The idea is to utilize super slow practice so that we can pay attention to all the subtle nuances of our mechanics, increase our awareness of what is actually happening, and find ways to make things better.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself! So take a big chill pill, set your metronome at quarter note = 40 bpm, and play some 16th note rebound doubles for a while (a wrist turn followed by a bounce, i.e., one motion, two notes). Feel the weight of the stick resting in the first crease of the middle finger (the fulcrum). Hold the stick loosely but securely. DO NOT squeeze tightly with the thumb and first finger. As you gradually move the metronome up one or two clicks, pay attention to the changes in pressure in the fulcrum necessary to control the bounce at each new tempo.
Now move over to the drums. Pick a groove, or just improvise for a while. I’ll bet your phrases feel more relaxed, the spaces between the notes are a little wider, and everything slots in a whole lot better.
