Crawl before your walk, walk before you run, play slowly before your play fast. In drumming like anything in life its important to take it step by step when starting out. Baby steps are good!
Be it playing the drums or building a drum. You have to learn the basics first. The means search out and find out what are the fundamentals. Once you find out what fundamentals are, it’s time to practice them.
Practice makes perfect. There is no side stepping practice. The time you put in equals what you get out of the drum when you play. No one is free from this equation.
There is no skipping these steps if you want to be a complete and well rounded player. People who try to solo on their drum at once with out learning how to make the proper sounds, phrases, chains and techniques will never sound or feel right.
If you try to put a skin on a drum with out learning how to do it properly from someone else that really knows, it will never look or sound right. There are ways to do it right and tricks of the trade that can only be learned over time. Take your time. What is the rush?
I see people teaching djembe drumming with no knowledge of arrangements, history, cultural context, proper technique or rhythm structure or dunun parts. You need to know dunun before you teach djembe. They are not hitting or playing correctly themselves, how or what are they teaching? Meditation and relaxing? Come on!
The first thing you have to learn is how to hold your drum correctly. There is a correct and “natural” position.
The second thing is your posture. If you are sitting slumped over in a lounge chair you are never going to be able to hit the drum correctly. It about form, and function.
The third thing is how to hit your drum. And their is not only one technique or only one way to play . Everyone has a different style. And this is completely valid. Finding the one that works for you is your journey.
I see people leaving there hands on their drum resting. If you do this you are working against nature and working twice as hard. Not only that. it’s going to interrupt your flow.
I recommend imagining the drum is a hot plate
and you don’t want to leave your hand there. I see people completely dropping their hand or hands to the sides of the drum. This is very inefficient and it can slow you way down. It is just sloppiness and not knowing or caring.
On djembe in my playing technique it’s with a bounce. Like you are bouncing a basketball. Moreover, in my technique I use and teach its floating and lifting more then banging or pounding into the drum. Technique combines the motion you use, your strategies and thoughts, your hands and arms position.
Drumming is a natural process. And your body needs to be natural when you play. This means you must be sitting or standing in a natural position. You must be breathing naturally, and your posture needs to be supporting what you are doing.
When everything is lined up correctly, the energy flows through you evenly and it’s much easier to play. If you have pain in your wrists, arms or other places often it can be remedied by a simple change in posture, positioning and even attitude you are playing with. A qualified teacher can see this and help you in a short period of time.
I see people quite often with flailing arms, eyes closed, head to the side pounding away. I see people bent to one side , leaning over or hitting the drum or pounding the drum mercilessly.
I don’t suggest playing the drum when you are angry or upset. All of my teachers have advised against it. As do I. it is a drum for unity and bringing people together.
If you hit the drum wrong you will indeed hurt your body. If not in the moment then over time. If you have just started playing or if you have been playing a while and want to continue to play on and on then it is important to consider your technique and the fundamentals of drumming.
The bottom line is this. You do need to learn to drum correctly, There is indeed a right and wrong way. You don’t need to be in a rush to be the main man, the teacher or a performer. Learn the basics and go step by step. There is plenty of time!
I am available over Skype or Facebook Messenger for online lessons and I can indeed show you how to play the drum correctly, more effectively and have more fun while using less energy and not hurting your body.
www. michaelpluznick.com
michaelpluznick@gmail.com