Originally Posted by
fiacovaz
Thank you, Rat...I had much of the same impression. Stokes, you maintain a steady tempo and that is good. As Rat, suggests, you need to concentrate on sticking and execution. From my perspective, your RH is dominant and always higher in rebound than your LH. They have to be the same. Your Flams are beginning to "Pop" because you do not keep the LH low to the snare drum when playing. Any adjudicator will pick out these subtleties quite easily. You have a very good start on what you are doing and need to "Fine tune" the presentation. Make your hands and wrists "Snap" the rudiments. Focus on the accents, they are written for a purpose. You obviously have memorized what you are playing...good for you. Now, take a look at the sheet music and notate where the dynamics are written. You are playing at only one dynamic level and I am willing to bet that there are dynamic highs and lows in the piece you are preparing. Open the rolls a little more to make them very precise and distinct. Always keep your fingers on the sticks, especially your LH...the bottom two fingers tend to drop off. What Rat mentioned about the penney on the pad is an old trick that many of us had to work with years ago as students. This is a technique that forces stick control. Keep your head straight and face front at all times...it tells whether you have confidence or not. Also, from the video, it appears that you are a tall man. It lookd to me that you are having to reach down to play on the pad. This may account for the laxity in the LH I see. You want to keep the pad, or drum, about waist high so that you are arms are approx. 90 degrees with elbows. I don't have any vids of me playing but I can tell you that I am a Memer of N.A.R.D. ...National Association of Rudimental Drummers. I have played in Drum corps, have been a band director, have instructed Drum Corps and high school drum lines and have written several drum/percussion features, cadences, street beats over a 30 year period and have adjudicated Marching Band, Solo/Ensemble contests and All - State tryouts for the Iowa High School Music Association. I truly hope that some of my suggestions will prove helpful to you.
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