all about control........advice needed.......

[drumbumLEE]

i know this topic has probably been discussed a million times, but if u have a little time any advice wud be appreciated....

i ve changed from practicing on surfaces with no rebound such as pillows, to practicing only on surfaces with rebound such as real feel pads or the snare drum and the kit and i ve found this has actually improved my stick control way more than it did when i practiced on surfaces with no rebound, i mean, getting used to the feel of the rebound has dramatically improved my rudiments.............what has it been like for u guys? is there anything u can say upon this matter? how come i ve improved more by practicing on surfaces that offer gud rebound, is there any science behind this that i shud know about?

[Knowbuddy]

I've been diligently practicing rudiments for 1+ hours a day for the last couple of weeks, and I always use a vic firth practice pad. I have noticed my paradiddles doubled in speed, and my flam taps and accents have probably tripled.

I've never used a pillow, a old teacher of mine (who has some insanely fast hands) said it always worried him that he was going to damage his wrists (which I don't think is really the case), but he never used that technique. I just figured if his hands were as fast as they were from using a practice pad, that would do for me too! :D

~B

[Boomka]

i know this topic has probably been discussed a million times, but if u have a little time any advice wud be appreciated....

i ve changed from practicing on surfaces with no rebound such as pillows, to practicing only on surfaces with rebound such as real feel pads or the snare drum and the kit and i ve found this has actually improved my stick control way more than it did when i practiced on surfaces with no rebound, i mean, getting used to the feel of the rebound has dramatically improved my rudiments.............what has it been like for u guys? is there anything u can say upon this matter? how come i ve improved more by practicing on surfaces that offer gud rebound, is there any science behind this that i shud know about?

Well, controlling a stick means - in part - controlling its motion after rebounding off the playing surface. When playing on a non-rebounding surface such as a pillow, your hands/wrists/forearms are responsible for moving the stick both downward and upward. While this can develop strength it doesn't help you learn to control the sticks off of a rebounding surface such as a drum or cymbal. The only way to learn that kind of dexterity is to do it - i.e. play on rebounding surfaces and learn to control the sticks in that circumstance.

Pillows can be helpful as an additional tool for developing certain aspects of technique. However, in the end, most of the instruments we play do not behave like a pillow when struck, so we need to devote a greater proportion of our practice to developing the ability to control our sticks for that purpose.

[Casper "DrPowerStroke" Paludan]

Well, controlling a stick means - in part - controlling its motion after rebounding off the playing surface. When playing on a non-rebounding surface such as a pillow, your hands/wrists/forearms are responsible for moving the stick both downward and upward. While this can develop strength it doesn't help you learn to control the sticks off of a rebounding surface such as a drum or cymbal. The only way to learn that kind of dexterity is to do it - i.e. play on rebounding surfaces and learn to control the sticks in that circumstance.

Pillows can be helpful as an additional tool for developing certain aspects of technique. However, in the end, most of the instruments we play do not behave like a pillow when struck, so we need to devote a greater proportion of our practice to developing the ability to control our sticks for that purpose.

Yes, exactly. Joe Morello recommends 10-15% no rebound practice. Dom doesn't recommend it at all. I have never done it, but as long as the centerpiece of one's practice routine is on a rebound surface, no harm done.
Casper

[Deltadrummer]

Great posts giuys. The practice pad, esp VFs, is an idealized surface. That's what I love about it. But I also like to do some work on a no rebound surface with a weighted stick. VF MS4. All I can say is that it works; but don't over do it.

[jamesvg]

If you do any zero-rebound practice just make sure you're doing something specific and then immediately apply what you're doing to a pad or drum.

For instance, work out paradiddles on a pillow/towel/couch until you're not cheating the double-stroke and then go directly onto a pad to focus on retaining your technique. Don't even pause the metronome.

[Dedworx]

obviously drums don't respond like a pillow, but by playing with no rebound and using your fingers to pull the stick when needed develops strength. so then when you play on a drum set or practice pad with rebound, you have more control over what you do with the rebound.
you would need to do both.

you may have already built up control from your pillow practise which is now helping you go further using rebound surfaces.

if you have sound technique i would say pillow practice is a great thing to have as part of your routine.

i practice singles doubles and 16th note triplet endurance on a pillow and also odd grouping stickings. for me it has worked great as then when i move to play on the kit i feel like i have far better control over what my hands are doing, and can play faster and cleaner with added help from the drum's rebound.

[larryace]

I like practicing on the snare drum, it is so sensitive and it gives you an accurate "score" of how even your strokes are. But anytime your sticks are in your hand hitting something, it's a good thing, be it pillows or snare drums.

[dairyairman]

the only similarity between drumming on a pillow and real drumming i can think of is drumming on a loosely tuned floor tom. a floor tom doesn't bounce very well, so practicing on a pillow could prepare you for that.

[Chris Oyens]

As my teacher Murray Spivack used to say, "don't practice on a pillow unless you intend on making a living on playing pillows!"

A good quality practice pad should give you a response similar to a snare drum while muffling the sound. Rebound is a vital part of drumming, so I don't see what would be the point of practicing on pillows anyways.

[Crazy+Hands]

http://www.epadco.com/

these pads have less rebound than realfeel and other equivalents, making them feel more like toms than snare drums. I have the "Hooked" pad which is kinda like a chain wallet mixed with a knee practice pad. Its great for warming up before a show. Any of these pads would be more helpful than a pillow.

[IneptDrummer]

I usually do a few quick rudiments on a towel or pillow as the last part of my pre-stage warm up just because it gets the muscles warm a little quicker. I wouldn't recommend doing it a lot though, just because as far as developing technique goes your time would probably be better spent on a practice pad or your actual kit.

[Dan Lane]

i know this topic has probably been discussed a million times, but if u have a little time any advice wud be appreciated....

i ve changed from practicing on surfaces with no rebound such as pillows, to practicing only on surfaces with rebound such as real feel pads or the snare drum and the kit and i ve found this has actually improved my stick control way more than it did when i practiced on surfaces with no rebound, i mean, getting used to the feel of the rebound has dramatically improved my rudiments.............what has it been like for u guys? is there anything u can say upon this matter? how come i ve improved more by practicing on surfaces that offer gud rebound, is there any science behind this that i shud know about?

Heres the science: playing on surfaces with rebound is what drumming is. Playing on a pillow has nothing to do with drumming. The end.

Obviously I have a strong opinion here. Not to diss any of you pillow people out there... I just wouldn't touch one those things (except to sleep on) with a ten foot pole.

[Dedworx]

to each their own, for sure with this kind of thing.

but for me, i've tried both. the practice pad was fine though often a lot of drum surfaces don't offer as much rebound as a pad so you expect to get more rebound back when you go from pad to kit surfaces.
on the other hand, pillows give you nothing, so when you play surfaces with varied rebound you can get the most out of it, in my experience, because you've built up the hand control.

i don't use a pillow to work on rebound, i do that separately on my kit, but i do use a pillow to further my hand control so when i do use rebound i have more control.