[30daysv3] Day 5 - Getting into a groove?

From: Kristofer Bergstrom <kris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: 30daysV3@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 2009 05:57:36 -0700
For many participants, right around days 4 and 5 we hit our first
motivation slump.  If this is true for you, this is normal!  But don't
let it get the best of you!  Read on!

We've come to the end of the honeymoon, where simple excitement about
the program was enough to help us overcome the challenge of making
time to practice.  We now need to find real-world techniques and
habits to make practice happen.  THIS IS WHAT THE 30 DAYS TO BETTER
SHIME PROGRAM IS ALL ABOUT!

More than practicing shime, we're practicing how to practice.  And
right now, you have the opportunity for *real* progress!  On those
days when you don't feel motivated, if you can find some way to get
yourself to practice, you have achieved the best improvement possible!
 I can't say this strongly enough - great players are those of us who
can make themselves practice!

So take a moment to make it easier to overcome the inertia of
non-practice.  Grab your batchi and practice pad and put them on the
living room table, or in the bathroom... some place central where you
can pick up your sticks and start practicing without even having to
decide to practice.

You're off to a great start!  Don't slow down now!  Call me if you
need some live, military-trainer-type encouragement.  :)

Kris

Q/A, Errata/Suggestions, Thoughts

Q - Kinda wanted to get your opinion on this.  Do you think its better
to hit exactly the same spot with both hands or to give each hand
their place?
Certainly to make every hit sound the same, hitting the same spot with
the same strike in both hands should produce the same sound
(harmonics/timbre/etc), but it trains your body two motions that when
they start fighting for the same space due to timing issues... leads
to bachi clicking...
so train around bachi clicking? compromise timbre? or play two
different ways at the fast and slow end and some gradient for
everything in between?  -- Chris

A - This is a great question, and to be honest, I don't know yet.  I'll
hazard an answer...
   I rarely practice hitting in exactly the same spot with both sticks
because it feels like I can't let the batchi move in their simplest
paths.  If I want both tips to hit in the same spot, instead of the
tips of the batchi moving in a simple, perpendicular path, I have to
control them to move in a slanting direction.  Usually when working on
small-drum technique, my focus is to get more for doing less.  I'm
always trying to relax and let the batchi move simply.
   So I have two spots, one for the left and one for the right,
immediately next to each other, and I try and get each stick to hit
its own spot every time.
   In terms of timbre, most of the time I want the tone that the shime
makes when I hit it just off center.  But I do think it's useful to be
able to make that duller, center-struck tone, and to do it with both
sticks.  And a case could be made that practicing that way sometimes
is another, interesting challenge for the brain and would improve
one's ability to control the sticks.  --  Kris
[30daysv3] Day 5 - Getting into a groove?

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