Drumming basics

It's A Snap!
Are you the type of person who can't keep your hands or feet still when you listen
to your favorite music? Do you just have to tap out the rhythm or somehow move to
the beat? When you are driving your car with the radio playing, do you often find
yourself drumming along on your steering wheel? If so, Instant Drumming will show
you how to take your natural love of beat and rhythm one step further as you learn
some of the basic techniques of drumming.
Just in case you thought that this might be hard work, here's a little rap that will
give you a good idea of how easy and fun Instant Drumming will be. Just rap the lyrics
and snap your fingers at each X:




Beat It
What you just snapped your fingers to was, of course, the beat. Beat is such a
basic element of music the world over that just about everybody has an instinctive feel
for what it is. While it is true that some people can't carry a tune in a bucket, everyone
can tap out a beat or clap a rhythm.
Your awareness of the beat began even before you were born. Think about it, your
mother's beating heart was among the first sounds that your developing ears heard
while you were still in the womb. As an infant you cooed to the soothing, swaying beat
of the lullabies your parents sang to you. In school you enjoyed moving to music with
different beats: the marches, dances, and songs of childhood. Your adolescence was
probably accompanied by the driving beat of popular music.
Adult musical tastes usually broaden to include jazz, country, classical, folk, new
age, or any of the many other styles that make up today's varied music scene. No
matter how different these musical styles may sound on the surface, they are all held
together by the very same thing. You guessed it, the beat.
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Not Much To Look At
If we could draw a picture of the beat, it would look something like this, a simple
series of evenly spaced lines:
I I I I I I I I I I I I
Beats are evenly spaced pulses as represented by this series of evenly spaced lines.
Fast Or Slow, Keep It Steady
The musical beat is much like your own pulse. The speed or tempo of the beat
can change depending on the type of music that is being played: it can be fast, slow,
or anywhere in between. But, no matter what the tempo is, the beat is always a
steady pulse:
lullaby I
march I I I I I I I I
rock I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
The beat can be slow (widely spaced), fast (closely spaced), or anywhere in-between. No matter what the speed, the
beats are always evenly spaced.




Counting Beats Not Sheep
Feeling the beat is an important first step toward becoming a drummer. You, like
everyone else, took that first step when you were a child. To take the next step you
need to understand what your body has naturally felt for years.
Musicians usually begin this process by counting the beat. But since most songs
are hundreds of beats long, counting the beats straight through from the beginning to
the end, as if they were sheep, will never work. This method of counting will probably
put you to sleep, and it is certainly not the way anyone feels the beat.



In The Night
To get started with Instant Drumming you will need at least one drum that goes
"thwump." Two things determine a drum's sound: its size and what it is made of. For
example, a thick book like War and Peace will have a much different sound than Mad
Magazine; a solid oak table will not sound the same as a snack tray; and a steel
bucket will have a much different thwump than a vinyl one. Experiment with what's
available, and find a thwumper that will work for you.

Hands Now, Sticks Later
The easiest and most natural way for you to start drumming is to use your bare
hands. In fact, many drums are meant to be played using your hands: bongos,
congas, tablas, etc. In the "Table-Top Drumming" section that follows we will
concentrate on getting your hands thwumping. Stick playing will be introduced when
we get to the "Rock Drumming" section on page 24.


More blogs soon.