VandelayNJ
Junior Member
Thought I'd share this very recent experience and see if others have had something similar.
For the past 10-15 years, I've sat fairly high compared to most other drummers. I always felt like I wanted to get my legs extended without pushing everything further away and I like the feeling of my legs being stretched out a bit. Just last week, I realized I was struggling with positioning of my snare drum more than usual - or I'd always struggled with it but I never thought to do anything other than adjust the height and angle of the drum. For some reason I can't explain, I decided to try lowering my seat. It didn't seem intuitive to do it because I could adjust the drum's height pretty much with my seat height but I gave it a whirl nonetheless. So now I was sitting with my thighs roughly parallel to the ground. And it made a real difference in my stickwork! I don't totally understand it but perhaps it has something to do with a lower center of gravity. I'm thinking I was probably having to do more subtle things to stay balanced when seated higher up and now my hands are freer than before as a result. The main thing I feel is a lot less tension in my playing. I don't have to think about relaxing as much as before it just happens a bit more.
The biggest challenge for me now is that I feel like I'm falling every time I try to sit at the drums because I'm expecting to land on the seat much sooner.
For the past 10-15 years, I've sat fairly high compared to most other drummers. I always felt like I wanted to get my legs extended without pushing everything further away and I like the feeling of my legs being stretched out a bit. Just last week, I realized I was struggling with positioning of my snare drum more than usual - or I'd always struggled with it but I never thought to do anything other than adjust the height and angle of the drum. For some reason I can't explain, I decided to try lowering my seat. It didn't seem intuitive to do it because I could adjust the drum's height pretty much with my seat height but I gave it a whirl nonetheless. So now I was sitting with my thighs roughly parallel to the ground. And it made a real difference in my stickwork! I don't totally understand it but perhaps it has something to do with a lower center of gravity. I'm thinking I was probably having to do more subtle things to stay balanced when seated higher up and now my hands are freer than before as a result. The main thing I feel is a lot less tension in my playing. I don't have to think about relaxing as much as before it just happens a bit more.
The biggest challenge for me now is that I feel like I'm falling every time I try to sit at the drums because I'm expecting to land on the seat much sooner.