About ankle stroke

Aaliyah

Member
Hello guys~~ A minor question crossed in mind about ankle snapping during the leg is lifted, so I wanna ask about it.

Many drummer say, to practice the ankle stroke, I could tap the floor with the toes to use ankle snap while my leg had been raised.
But usually I just consider it as drop my forefoot (instead of toe) on the floor to tap the floor to use ankle snap like heel-down technique.

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Is this also the right consideration to use ankle?
 
Hi ! I'm not sure I understand you right - if you're talking about double strokes like heel-toe, this is what I ended up doing
(not that I'm great at it yet)-

I've always played heel-down from the ankle, so as I play the first stroke from the ankle, I'm raising my heel, which lifts my leg -
then I drop the leg as if I'm doing a heel-up stroke for the second.

If I was a heel-up player, I'd do the same in reverse - play a heel-up stroke with the leg, then tap from the ankle, with the heel rising.

SO - for practice, to do the ankle tap I'd have my leg raised and tap down from the ankle. Whether you strike the pedal/floor with your toe-tip or the flat of your toes is up to you, tho... I generally use the flat, but you could maybe get some extra 'spring' from using the tips.

Any good to you? =o)
- Terry
 
I think that sounds about right. Particularly if you consider the footboard as analogous to the drumstick in the hand. Both have rebound, albeit the pedal rebound is a function of both the preceding stroke and the spring tension.

But Moeller doesn't care. It only wants rebound of some sort. With rebound you anticipate and in this case, the ankle snap while lifting the heel/leg is in anticipation of a subsequent stroke with the heel coming down.

Also, I think the default rest position has an impact as well. People that bury the beater have the advantage of a more consistent default starting position, as well as an additional point for anchoring the body (drumming can be a physical sport depending on the style).
 
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I'm generally in that position but just raise my heel an in or so. I note some do the slide which always reminds me of shuffle kick in tap dancing-I like the slide too. I like my heel up just slightly so my toe/foot pad and ankle is my bouncy fulcrum-I can use my toe or thigh to move it so I can twist my pad or slide it up or down-which I do all the above. Sometimes I'll lay on my heel and play heel down but anything with any intricacy that heel rises up slightly so it's like bouncing/dribbling on your toes or I twist or slide it. I like a really loose spring.
I agree Rhumba burying the beater does give an advantage of the same starting position-since my kick leg is always bouncing (drives me crazy watching my videos-I can't seem to stop it). it helps me from extra unwanted notes (mostly-some slip in if unported reso or anyways). But burying the beater is problematic for some songs because the bass sounds too closed-then if heel up I have to raise my thigh more so I can back off the beater. So expend more energy. I've always considered burying the beater as sort of the lazy man cheat-but obviously I'm not above that LOL.
 
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When you drop your forefoot...is your heel up or down?

If up, how much?

Are you doing a hybrid between heel up and heel down, or are you playing all heel up, or all heel down?
 
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