Tips for Practising Today

But then I often think that, while I’m technically the educator, I’m also the student, and therefore, how can I keep on the ball and practise what I preach? How can I stay engaged as a super busy person?

I thought this would be a great opportunity to share some practice tips that have worked for me in the past. Some are well known, some might be new, and there are so many more. It matters not. Here’s six tips for practising today, for the busier humans.

Mileage

This is nothing new but it’s great. Take the drum vocabulary you already know and then see how many ways you can use it to get more mileage from every idea. This might be as simple as orchestration variations – use the toms instead of the snare, or perhaps, your favourite fill/groove/ idea could be played over a new subdivision – 16th notes into triplets for example. You might substitute a limb for another and incorporate a bass drum into the hand pattern you’d been working on. Perhaps, you have a fill that’s super comfortable. Add one extra note to it and see what the result is. The key thing here is that you don’t have to keep reinventing every idea from scratch. Experiment with the concepts of variation and extension to get more from the ideas you already know.

Practise Slowly

A tip from the masters. Practising slowly is a real thing. The way it was explained to me has stuck with me. The body needs to know what you’re asking of it before you try to get it to do it fast. We crawl before we walk and so on. When you think about it, it makes perfect sense. If it’s not feeling great or solid at a slow tempo, how can it be super clean and awesome at a faster tempo? It seems counter intuitive, but it’ll save you time.

DON’T FORGET THE RUDIMENTS

Yep. I know you’ve heard it before, but the rudiments are great. In a lesson recently with a brand-new student, I explained that every single time I play the drums, I use the three basic rudiments. Everything we do is (usually) a combination of singles and doubles anyway so, get back to practising singles (RLRLRLRL), doubles (RRLLRRLL) and paradiddles (RLRRLRLL).

You might branch out a little further and experiment with some of the other paradiddles – my favourite is the inward paradiddle (RLLRLRRL), which lends itself well to grooves and even Latin patterns. Try adding accents too, as this transforms the rudiment into an applicative musical idea with dynamic variation. Then, move the accents around the drums – toms, cymbals with a bass drum underneath etc. Remember to keep the non-accents soft for full effect. You’ll be surprised how much technique this requires.

I recently watched a friend of mine Danny Farrugia – a great drummer – apply himself to learn, practice and perform The Solo by Steve Gadd. As I watched the video he posted on Instagram, I was amazed to see this drummer, who plays for the likes of Tina Arena, set himself the goal of working on that piece and attempting to perform it to a recording standard to share on socials. How inspiring to see someone go back to perfecting the fundamentals. Oh, and The Solo is loaded with rudiments. Perfectly arranged and orchestrated in a musical way.

NO TIME? GET IN THE ZONE

This one is hugely applicable to me as a full-time teacher, Dad and musician. When do I make time for practice in the crazy busy week? I suppose the philosophy of the wealthy that suggests paying yourself first could be applicable here. I could certainly reassess my week and find the time somewhere. In all honesty though, I tend to ‘live to work’ these days. However, there is a practice tip I use and it works for me. If I’m on the drums or the practice pad –between students, classes, early on the gig – even for five minutes, I try to get in the zone. I try not to just play the stuff I always play but, in that moment, work on the new idea, the pattern, the phrase. Make the most of that five minutes and avoid the distractions. In. The. Zone.

Overall, the busy lifestyle lends itself well to pockets of time to practise – 5-10 mins here and there. It’s not much but if you have a few mins, get on the kit, and make the most of it!

Goals

Seems cliche I suppose but let’s face it, we need to set goals. Perhaps right now, not the blue-sky thinking type goals for this context of practising today.

Try just having a few key short term practice goals. It could be a fill idea, a coordination/ independence concept, a piece from a book, working with a metronome better, learning a groove from a new style/genre and so on. Even better, write them down. That way, when you’re in the zone, you have material to draw from to keep working through.

NEED INSPIRATION? WATCH SOME VIDEOS – AGAIN

If you’re a regular on YouTube, you’ve probably seen a lot of the great drum videos. But a practice tip for today is to revisit some of them again. Go watch Gadd, Weckl and Vinnie smash it out at the Buddy Rich memorial concert again. I sent a video of Vinnie Colaiuta playing at the Baked Potato to a student of mine recently. But then, I watched it again. So inspiring! You might think you’ve seen all the Gadd licks but blimey, they’re still so good! Some of the original videos and drummers who inspired you will keep inspiring. Take the time to revisit these moments in drumming history. Of course, new inspirations are just around the corner so keep looking for new things too!

It’s hard to keep on the drum wagon when you’re busy but I hope these tips resonate with some of you. In fact, it’s inspired me to get back to it myself. Perhaps, the classroom marking can wait after all.

BY ADRIAN VIOLI