Free Stroke and George Stone's "Accents and Rebounds"

delta

Member
Hello all. I recently got the George Stone book "Accents and Rebounds". I'm trying to develop my control with dynamics and figured it would be a good starting point. I want to make sure I'm approaching the material correctly.

I had questions regarding "when" to apply the free stroke and how it seems like it doesn't make sense to use it in certain occasions. For instance, the very first line has this (accents are capitalized, notes are 8th notes in common time repeated):

R-l-R-l r-L-r-l (repeat)

So accents occur on beats 1 and 2 for right hand and the AND of beat 3 for the left hand. Applying free stroke so that the stick rebounds naturally makes sense for the first right hand accent on beat 1 since beat 2 is another accent. Using free stroke in this case and taking advantage of the maximum rebound possible allows you to more easily prepare for the accented beat 2. However, applying the free stroke on beat 2 with the right hand does not make sense since the right hand note of beat 3 is unaccented. So once I strike accent beat 2, I'll choke the stick more so that it doesn't rebound "as much" in order to prepare for the unaccented note on beat 3 since it's closer to the head.

Is this the right way to approach practicing accents and rebounds?? Please let me know if I need to clarify anything!
 
Yes, the unaccented notes will be control strokes where the rebound is controlled. The accented notes will be prepped with full stroke or free stroke rebounds, depending on the dynamic.
 
Get a copy of Dom Famularo's book "It's Your Move".

He goes over the techniques for free strokes, down strokes (aka control strokes) and up strokes (aka pullouts).

A down stroke is used when going from high to low and an upstroke is used from low to high.
 
Get a copy of Dom Famularo's book "It's Your Move".

He goes over the techniques for free strokes, down strokes (aka control strokes) and up strokes (aka pullouts).

A down stroke is used when going from high to low and an upstroke is used from low to high.

You got my curiosity there. Because you gave a definiton of the up stroke that I agree with and that I pass on to my students. But I must say I disagree with calling an upstroke a pullout! It sounds very contradictory to me. But I will keep an open mind and read what Mr Famularo has to say about this since I know he is a really great teacher.
 
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