Drumming and sport

Pollyanna

Platinum Member
I've noticed that ever since I've really gotten back into drumming my tennis playing has really improved. I don't think it's a coincidence. A lot of drum solos are like a circus acrobat show embedded in a song more than something really musical (not all, though).

I don't do many things in "real time" in my life, where I have to retain a steady focus and aim for perfection (which of course never happens). Even when I drive I don't try to do it perfectly, just good enough to get from A to B without hassle. When I'm at work or drawing cartoons or reading or writing I can generally tune in and out when I please.

Another thing: the scale of movement in drumming is probably greater than other instruments, so it's probably more like sport than they are. Dooes anyone else have that feedback loop between sport and drumming?
 
Hand eye coordination for sure, and the fact that it takes all four limbs.
 
I don't really play sports, but I know for sure my balance is better than most, and I attribute it to the quest to make the left side of my body as capable as my right, through drumming of course. Drumming strengthens the part of the brain (the corpus callosum) that is the nerve bundle responsible for the crosstalk and coordination between the right and left hemispheres of the brain, and therefore, the body. The individual sides work better together, because of drumming or at least I like to think they do ha ha.
 
Yes, my five-limb coordination ...

Raggle, you did a typo - you seemed to have substituted a "b" for a "p" *evil grin*

Does drumming help with bedroom sports? This may be the cue I've been looking for to revive the Feel vs Technique debate!! I mean, how can people who have never trained in love arts and can't even play a basic bonkadiddle in the Kama Sutra Guide to Rudimental Intimacy presume to call themselves "lovers" or "partners"?? *evil grin #2*

Umm, moving right along ... Larry, that makes sense. I've heard that music has been used with kids who have suffered traumatic brain injury to help get their hemispheres working again.

After seeing all the petrol-heads in the car thread I figured more of us would play sport ...
 
I think musical training in general (not just, but including drumming) and sport training (sea kayaking, fencing, cycling, tennis in particular -- hmm closer to Rommel than is comfortable ;) ) have informed one another for me

at least in terms of approach (the wife is a neuroscientist, so I'll leave that analysis to her)
some things that come to mind
1 - focus, just learning to concentrate well for extended periods of time and to shift focus to different areas when needed
2 - STRONG FUNDAMENTALS -- both have demonstrated how the fundamentals are important and not "the beginner stuff" that you go through til you get to "the cool stuff" -- it IS the cool stuff and the flashy stuff tends to be either just fundamentals strung together well b/c they are solid OR nont very functional
3 - an I think this is a blend of the former two. "Prctice doesn't make perfect -- praactice makes permanent, PERFECT practice makes perfect".
If you practice sloppily, that's what you practice...being sloppy
and when it's go time....sloppy
 
Well I think just your general fitness helps when your behind the drum kit.

I like tennis, badminton, squash, table tennis etc. And recently I've been on my bike quite a bit


And justjim;

3 - an I think this is a blend of the former two. "Prctice doesn't make perfect -- praactice makes permanent, PERFECT practice makes perfect".
If you practice sloppily, that's what you practice...being sloppy

You nicked that from my sig!! ;-)


Trys
 
And justjim;



You nicked that from my sig!! ;-)

and an excellent sig it is!!! :D


funny/stupid story -
I think the first time I heard it was from a skydiving instructor -- there was a bit on the line for him getting us strong fundamentals so he was a big stickler for clean technique

Nw this was abt 25 years ago so I started with solo static line parachute jumps instead of tandem jumps like they do now (so, while the first few jumps were hop n pops, the difficult side is we had to do our own chute work and landings)
so on the first jump everyone starts running at the aircraft and I just strolled out thinking everyone was just excited
- what didn't dawn on me was it's a stack...last one in is first one out!!!


now for the embarrassing part - OK, I post about clean, perfect practice...with a typo :(
 
i like surfing, windsurfing, mountain biking, and snowboarding, as well as some other sports. i've had to cut back quite a bit on mountain biking because it's so dangerous there's actually a pretty good chance i could injure myself to the point where i can't play drums, at least for a while. that would mean canceling shows for my band also because there's no one else who could jump in and replace me on short notice. snowboarding is pretty dangerous too, but not as bad as mountain biking.
 
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