Getting Better

[tubacurt]

well i am no drummer, but i certainly know how to practice music.

first thing, never lose track of the basics, i know alot of kids who just jump right in to the very technical stuff, but never do the ground work that you need to do in order to be able to play it good. for brass that's stuff like whole tones and lip slurs and clarke studies-esque things. for drums i would imagine it's like rudiments or whatever you people do. :P

secondly, if you can't play it at 190 or whatever the cavies play it at, slow it down, WITH THE MET!!!! and play it perfect, and don't even think about uping the tempo until it's pristine. i like to do a little system of 1/2 2/3 3/4 7/8. so if the written tempo is like 132, i'll play it till i can play it five times perfectly at 63, then 5 times at 88, then 99, then 116, then finally at 132.

also, sometimes you get better in little increments, and sometimes it's enourmous jumps. you may wake up tomorrow and be able to play it perfect. you may wake up in six months and be able to play it perfect. or maybe you'll get a little better at it each day. that's just how it goes.

the main thing is to not get too down on yourself about it, but also be meticulous in your practice to actually get stuff done. it's a hard balance sometimes.

[CaviesFan1]

Yeah I know that I didn't focus on basic at first, but honestly I know I wouldn't be nearly as good as I am know had I not jumped right in. Lately I've been practicing a LOT of basics. Spent entire days on simple exercises. I suppose its helping but it just not obvious yet. I'll try your 1/2 2/3 thing. Sounds solid. Thanks! Any more? :)

[Iplaytimpani]

Big fan of the previously mentioned slow it down play it perfect 11 times at ____ now play it 4 clicks faster perfect 11 times and so on. Also, if Cavies is your goal, I'd SERIOUSLY recommend going to an open class corps this year. Get on a solid line and spend 3 months plus camps with a good tech in your face. You won't regret having the experience heading into auditions and I know they'll appreciate it as well.

[CaviesFan1]

Can't do Open class this year. Not sure I'd want to if I could anyway. It seems now that by the time I am practically capable of marching (2-3 years), I'd hope that I'll be good enough for Cavies.

I've got plenty of time left for drum corps.

And I'll be slowing down all my exerices. Any more advice?

[marimbaman89]

When I practice a lot on marimba and I can't play something after practicing it over and over, it helps me to find another exercise or just to find something else that I'm uncomfortable with and work on that. There's bound to be other things that you're uncomfortable with that you can keep occupied with. If you're practicing something you're really uncomfortable with, then it shouldn't take more than maybe a week or so to see some noticeable improvement in it. After you get to a certain point with that, go back to what you were doing before.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no expert on that, but I know Leigh Stevens in his Method of Movement book (for marimba) has like 590 exercises to practice. He says that you should focus on a few exercises at a time, and once you either become bored with them or you plateau on them, go to different ones. He says that it's like a cycle and you should go back to those first exercises after a while away from them.

Also, I completely agree to GO TO AN OPEN CLASS CORPS THIS YEAR IF POSSIBLE! There are LOADS of good drumlines in the open class, after watching the DVD from this year I was honestly shocked with how many good lines there were. It's a great experience!

EDIT: Just saw that you can't march open class this year. But saying you might not want to anyway, well to that all I can say is, you don't know what you're missing B)

Edited November 18, 2007 by marimbaman89

[CaviesFan1]

I mean. It's a little late isn't it? Auditions are, well now! I live in Georgia. So, who would you recommend? I was going to go to the Spirit of Jsu camp for experience but can't make it :( Should I go to an open class audition?

[Iplaytimpani]

I mean. It's a little late isn't it? Auditions are, well now! I live in Georgia. So, who would you recommend? I was going to go to the Spirit of Jsu camp for experience but can't make it :( Should I go to an open class audition?

an audition at least. I would really look into if you can spend the summer. It's the best way to get better. Even if you have the best hands in the world man, that experience is going to help in the audition process and will be factored in. Plus how much better you get in the summer is almost unmeasurable. You don't even realize it usually until you get home and go back to high school and start playing circles around your friends that you've been drumming with for a year or two. Honestly man, you should really look at this avenue. I think there's a lot of misconceptions with younger people, especially drummers, when it comes to open class vs. world and even then top 6 versus the rest of world class. Even a last place world class corps is cutting drummers because they aren't there yet. It's a tough world to make ANY drumline in ALL of DCI.

[tubacurt]

I mean. It's a little late isn't it? Auditions are, well now! I live in Georgia. So, who would you recommend? I was going to go to the Spirit of Jsu camp for experience but can't make it :( Should I go to an open class audition?

open class corps are basically always looking for people, although they usually have more percussion than brass.

Teal sound is close right? idk how the drumline is but, worth a shot.

maybe memphis sound too? they won div 3 last year so i assume their drums are fairly decent.

[niteblaze102]

well another tip

don't cut yourself, let them cut you!

[marimbaman89]

Definitely look at Teal and Memphis Sound. Teal Sound is in Jacksonville Florida, and Memphis Sound is in Tenessee somewhere (but I heard it's not actually in Memphis?)

Those are two great corps you can look at.