Advanced Rudimental Etudes for Snare Drum – Book/DVD– by Dennis Johnson

With this latest book, Dennis Johnson offers us an exciting and challenging compilation of rudimental drum solos.
Yes, this is, as stated, an advanced collection; but there are some only moderately difficult pieces. One piece, "The Old Timer", which is dedicated all of those over 40, is an updated variation of old time traditional rudimental drum pieces and reminiscent of “The Downfall of Paris”, “Hell on the Wabash”, “The Connecticut Half-time” and others.

Dennis champions his flams – being well representative in all his etudes – especially (and obviously) in his, “You Want Flams With That?”
It’s a testament to Dennis Johnson’s creativity to be able to compose an interesting and technically helpful drum score using primarily, flams!

I also very much like his use of 32nd note duple (or triplet 16th note) entries into his paradiddles phrases – very effective and great exercise!

Some of the solos in this book are affectionately dedicated to Dennis’s family members: his wife – “The Porcelain Doll”, his son – “Solo for David”, his dad – “Kenny Boy”, friends and even his cats – “Three’s a Crowd” and “Katula”!

Dennis Johnson has spent the last two-and-a-half decades teaching and arranging for school bands throughout the State of Alabama. He studied music at Auburn University where he performed in marching band, wind ensemble, symphonic band, jazz band and the percussion ensemble.
He marched for the DCI drum and bugle corps, The Spirit of Atlanta, under Tom Float.
Dennis is now on the threshold of a new career as a drummer for stage bands in the popular theme parks of Tennessee.

Pop into your player the DVD included with Advanced Rudimental Etudes for Snare Drum and see, hear Dennis Johnson perform the contents of the book and then know why any orchestra in the country would fortunate to have him.
Best to you Dennis on your new life in Tennessee!

See also, Dennis Johnson’s previously published, Let’s Learn to Drum – an excellent beginning snare drummers’ instructor.

-Joe
 

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Rock and roll artists have a tendency to think that they invented the concept of rebellion. That before their genre came along, everything was goody-two-shoes and Miss Manners. What they forget is that the music industry has always been a place of innovation a source of social uproar. Even the waltz, when it was first introduced, was considered an outrage at first because of how close couples had to get to dance to it! Yes, rock and roll artists are just following in the industry ‘s grand tradition of scandal, a tradition that at no time has been more prevalent than in the era of swing jazz, or swing music. In its day, swing music was the ultimate revolution, a violent break from the Charleston of the previous decade. Swing music was characterized by a strong rhythmic drive and, and the bands that played it were anchored by equally strong rhythmic sections. Such sections tended to be led by drummers whose personalities were as big as their music, and a number of the jazz drummers of swing remain legends even today.

Sonny Greer (1895-1982) is best known for his work with the legendary Duke Ellington. A native of New Jersey, he eventually became Ellington ‘s first drummer in 1919 at the age of 24. Greer was not only a drummer; he also designed the instruments with the Leedy Drum Company. This job enabled him to put together a drum kit worth over $3000, the equivalent of nearly $36,000 today. This gentleman did his part to live up to the image of jazz music as a genre of debauchery. He was a heavy drinker and a pool-hall hustler and unfortunately, these qualities eventually led to a permanent estrangement between him and Ellington. He continued to work as a freelance drummer and briefly led his own band, but Greer ‘s association with Ellington marked the pinnacle of his success.

Gene Krupa (1909-1973) was known for his highly energetic and flamboyant style of drumming. He was a member of a number of bands, although the biggest name he ever played with was undoubtedly Benny Goodman. Krupa ‘s drumming is featured in the flagship of swing music, Goodman ‘s "Sing, Sing, Sing." His association with this song made him an immediate national celebrity. Although he, like Greer, had a falling out with his band leader and left the group as a result, his career did not falter. In spite of the occasional stint in jail due to possession of marijuana, Krupa continued to perform into the early 1970s.

William Henry Webb, aka Chick Webb (c.1905-1939) was a precocious child who saved up enough money from his paper route to purchase a drum set; he first played professionally at the age of 11. In addition to being a drummer, Webb was the long-time leader of his own band, which was the house band at the famous Savoy Ballroom. The Savoy often hosted "Battle of the Bands" contests, in which Webb ‘s band was pitted against the likes of the Benny Goodman and Count Basie Orchestras. The biggest name associated with Webb is Ella Fitzgerald, who he began to feature as a vocalist in 1935 when the singer was 18. After Webb ‘s early death (due to complications from a childhood bout of tuberculosis), Fitzgerald continued to lead his band for four years before leaving to focus on her solo career.

Bernard "Buddy" Rich (1917-1987) was billed as "the world ‘s greatest drummer" and was known for his power, speed, and experimentation with technique. He, like Webb, was drawn to drumming at an early age, and when he was 18 months old, he made his musical debut in vaudeville. He never received any formal drum education, and may have had more raw talent than any other drummer of his generation. During his career, he was associated with a number of famous names, including Tommy Dorsey, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.

About the Author

Victor Epand is an expert consultant for guitars, drums, keyboards, sheet music, guitar tab, and home theater audio. You can find the best marketplace at these sites for drums, jazz, swing, sheet music, guitar tabs, and home theater audio.

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From Charlie Terzi:

"Since 1998, Fife & Drum Music Chat has been organized as a vehicle to support the fife & drum community. Our goal is to foster information and communication about that community through an interactive chat session that takes place each Sunday at 7:00 PM ET.."

 
You are cordially invited to the resumption of
 
” Fife & Drum Music Chat”
 
On the new site:
 
FifeDrumChat.com

Time:      7:00 PM ET

Day:       Sunday, Yes, Sunday               A  New Day
               
Starting on    January 25, 2009

Where:  FifeDrumChat.com              New Site
 
The site is now open if you want to give it a test drive.

You can also view pictures of the CyberAncients from past musters and see the CA video from DRAM 2008. Let me know what you think.
 
We built this room for you!!! Please join us on Sunday at FifeDrumChat.Com.
 
Notes: The chat room is on a different platform. Some new features have been added and the “look” is different*** When the chats continue on Sunday, the chat room will only be open during the scheduled chat day/time (Sunday -7 PM to whatever). All other times the chat room will be closed and the “maintenance “sign will be present. The site itself will always be open. Additionally, we ask that when you sign in, please use your real name. See directions below.
 
See you live on January 25th !!!
                            
 Need more directions?

To get to the chat room, first go to FifeDrumChat.Com by clicking on the following or pasting it to you browser:

http://www.FifeDrumChat.com

After you get to the site, click on the word  "Chat" on the top of the page.
This will take you to the chat room.  In the field titled “Name” overwrite your name in the field (put your name in the field). You are signed in!!!!
Try it out if you like.
 
See you on January 25 !!!

-Charlie Terzi

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PASIC 2008 update and follow up…by Dominick Cuccia
   
    WOW!  To say that was a lot of fun would be an understatement! 

    So as many of you know I did a clinic at PASIC 2008 on Thursday November 6th at 10am.  I was joined by “The Not-So-Traditional Players” featuring Therese Cuccia, Rick Jones, Brendan Mason & Mark Reilly.  What an honor it was for me to share the stage with such great musicians!

    Nick Phillips from Innovative Percussion introduced us and we started off the session with Therese on fife, Rick on bass and me on snare playing Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine featuring drumming by Ed Classey, Jr. and the fife melody arranged by John Ciaglia.  Next I played a snare solo from my book The Beat of a Different Drummer titled The Lonesome Scot & Rocky Road to Dublin.  From there we gave a basic recreation of a jam session featuring Ed Lemley’s Crazy Army (fife played Whup Jamboree) and Harold Green’s Black Watch. As an exclamation point to this opener we tagged the medley with a drum beat I wrote for this session titled The Austin Army ’08.  Finally, as a salute to some of the fife & drum corps who have influenced all of us we played an arrangement from the repertoire of the Civil War Troopers titled Tribute to the Sons, Regimentals, Yanks & Blues. 

    Next I got into the clinic portion of the session talking about “Groove & Interpretation.”  I opened up with a long roll breakdown and then outlined the many differences between the way you would play it in a Northeastern competition and a modern day drum corps contest.  Following a discussion on the interpretation of the 7, 11 & 15 stroke rolls Dennis Delucia joined me on the stage to introduce The Jersey Fulltime, a fun “contemporary ancient” drum solo he wrote.

    The next group of rudiments we talked about were from the drag family.  We focused on the ratamacue and then Mark Reilly took the stage to perform The Next Generation, a solo I had written for him and another former student of mine, Josh Dukes. 

    Another drag rudiment that causes problems for many drummers is the double drag.  I talked about playing it at different tempos and the possibilities of interpreting it as either a 16th note or quintuplet base.  To demonstrate the 16th concept I performed a solo by my friend, the legendary Jack Pratt titled Farmers Museum Muster.  It utilizes the double drag in a standard form, but then inverts the rudiment and creates many variations.  This is truly a clever piece of music!

    The next portion of the session dealt with “not-so-traditional drumming” in both the solo and ensemble settings.  For me, one of the most influential snare drum solos is the Cormier 2/4.  It definitely affected the direction of many drummers to follow and is as enjoyable for me to listen today as it was 25 years ago.  Brendan Mason took to the stage to play it as he is a disciple of the legendary Paul Cormier.

    The final two pieces we played as a drum ensemble came to be about 20 years apart.  Rice Pudding was a solo I wrote when I was a student at Wilkes College.  My teacher, Bob Nowak, asked me to write some rudimental drumming to perform on a percussion ensemble concert.  He kept referring to it as “Dominick’s Rudimental Smorgasbord” and I decided Rice Pudding was as good a dessert as any to finish off a meal…I mean concert!  The influences on the piece were both obvious and subtle.  You can definitely see (& hear) the influence of 1980’s drum & bugle corps.  The ending is definitely influenced by the late-Dan Mullen/Old Guard classic Opus 1.  What might not be as obvious is the influence of legendary percussionist and teacher John Beck.  We had performed some of his music in percussion ensemble including Jazz Variants.  The whole theme and variation idea was extremely appealing to me and the entire first half of the solo is my version of what I learned playing his music.  I should also mention it was awesome having Steve Fidyk and Steve Primatic in the audience as they were both in the original ensemble that performed it and are two of my dearest friends!

    The final piece we did as an ensemble is titled The Drummers Heritage and is dedicated to my friend, Robin Engelmann.  It is a tribute to the historic concert which took place at PASIC 2002 and its artistic director, Robin.  I had the great honor of performing that night with my wife Therese and Nick Attanasio.  It was truly one of the greatest moments I’ve ever experienced.  We performed it with the following instrumentation.  Brendan on a Cooperman rope drum, me on a Yamaha sfz, Therese on an LJ Hutchen snare, Mark on a Swiss drum and Rick on a Cooperman bass drum.  My thought was to have a mini-recreation of the concert finale when everybody performed on their own drums as one large beautiful wall of sound.  As different as all of our drums were, they sounded incredible together!

    To close the session I invited the PAS Allstars to the stage to join us in a salute to the fife & drum musters of New England with a performance of the Downfall of Paris.  As the group was getting setup up it gave me an opportunity to pay tribute to all of the legendary drummers who came before us but never had the chance to take the stage at PASIC.  I was also able to share the names Dan English and Dan Mullen with the audience.  These were two incredible drummers from different eras who died much too young.  There is no doubt in my mind that if they had not left us so soon everybody in that audience would know both names and their legacy would be studied by all of us!

    The PAS Allstars were comprised of the following outstanding drummers…Steve Fidyk, Andrew Porter, Willie Calloghan, Eric Sheffler, Jeff Prosperie, John Wooton, John Brennan, Dave Loyal, Garry Kvistad, Lalo Davila, Ken Green, Robin Engelmann, Jeff Moore, Tony McCutchen, Dave Smith, John Roche and Matt Reilly.

    I’d like to thank my sponsors for all of their support.  They are all great companies and I’m proud to be associated with them!
Cooperman Company
Innovative Percussion
LJ Hutchen
Meredith Music Publications
Yamaha

    AND…The Percussive Arts Society, Jeff Hartsough, the Marching Percussion Committee and Neal Flum!
   
    Of course I need to thank Therese, Rick, Brendan & Mark.  There is no way I can express how grateful I am to them for their dedication, commitment and sacrifice for this project!

Below are links to the the hand outs for this session:

Hand Out Cover Page

Warmups

Austin Army ’08

 Please email me with your thoughts, question or comments at dominick@dreadeddrummer.com

    Thanks to everybody for your support and I’ll look forward to seeing y’all at a muster, parade, day of percussion or contest real soon!

DC

In the spirit,
Dominick Cuccia

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The Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) will be held this week in Austin, Texas. Needless to say, I should have been more timely in mentioning this: if you are involved in or enthusiast about percussion in any of its forms, you will love PASIC.
We at Black River Music Word are particularly proud that our friend and contributor, Dominick Cuccia, will be conducting a workshop at the convention on Thursday, November 6th at 10:00 AM. I encourage any reader that may be attending the convention to check out Dominick’s class on “Not-So-Traditional” rudimental drumming. (His presentation at the Massachusetts Percussive Arts Society’s “ Day of Percussion” was excellent.)
Although I had earlier planned to attend the Austin PASIC, I regret that I won’t be there. An important probative meeting for the founding of a new rudimental drumming club is being held on November 8th in Pittsburgh, PA. Those who have been following this blog may remember that the American Patriots Rudimental Drummers Club disbanded this last August. The upcoming meeting in Pittsburgh is to hopefully initiate a new national club in the spirit of the John and Barbara Flowers’, APRDC.

-Joe

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Hey everybody,
I wanted to let you know that I’ll be performing on Sunday October 19th along with the “Not-So-Traditional Players” at the Massachusetts Day of Percussion.  It is being hosted by Sam Solomon at the Boston Conservatory. 

I’m really looking forward to the event and performing with the “Not-So-Traditional Players.”  The group is comprised of some of my favorite musicians and it is an opportunity to combine rudimental drumming, contemporary fifing and saxophone.  The talented performers who will be joining me on stage are Gus Cuccia Jr., Therese Cuccia, Rick Jones, Deb & Jason Malli, Brendan Mason and Mark Reilly.  Within this group are talented musicians who have performed with, composed for or taught The Hellcats from West Point, Spirit of America from Walt Disney World, The Old Guard Fife & Drum Corps, Northwestern State University of Louisiana, Top Secret, Civil War Troopers, Connecticut Hurricanes, Connecticut Patriots, The Regulators, Madison Street Project, Colonel John Chester and the Young Colonials.  They have won more championships than I can name here, and are some of my dearest friends in the world.

The equipment we’ll be using comes from some of the greatest companies in the world including Cooperman, Innovative Percussion, Yamaha and LJ Hutchen.  The music we’ll be performing was written by some of the legendary figures in rudimental drumming including Ed Classey, Paul Cormier, Dennis Delucia, Harold Green, Ed Lemley, Larry Lizlo, John McDonagh, Les Parks, Charley Poole Jr., John S. Pratt, Jon Ressler, Mike Severino, Steve Varhol, and Bill Westhall.  We’ll also be performing music by the talented composer, Jason Malli (http://www.junderground.com/menu.html ) and drumming from my book The Beat of a Different Drummer published by Meredith Music Publications. 

We will be presenting a clinic at 10am and are performing at the concert that begins at 5pm.  Other artists performing throughout the day include Thom Hannum, Lee Vinson, Mark Walker and Lee Caron.  I look forward to seeing them all!

If you can make it we’d love to see you there. Also be sure to visit Joe Gillotti and Black River Music Plus as he will have a booth setup for the event.  For more information please check out the Massachusetts Percussive Arts Society Day of Percussion schedule.  

Thanks to Sam Solomon and the Massachusetts chapter of the Percussive Arts Society for making this great day possible!

We’ll see y’all down the road!

In the spirit,
Dominick Cuccia
www.dreadeddrummer.com
 

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I’ve recently subscribed to Google’s GoogleAlerts for news and blog posts with the keywords: drums, drumming, drummers, etc. Within the article and news releases for drum related video game, brake drums and barrels I find some relevant, well written items. This article was salient for me for two reasons. Beth’s feelings about the sound of contemporary drum and bugle corps or marching band drum line and familiarity I immediately felt regarding the author.

My concern is with what is now being accepted as what a snare drum should sound like. (Beth goes beyond the snare drum in her discussion.) The modern high-tension, floating head snare drum is barely a snare drum at all. Drop of the snares on one and the difference is little. The snares are so thick, the heads are also thick as well as extremely tight that what is heard when played is so high, the snares matter little. Beyond this, the sound of impact projects straight up off the head, deafening the performer and giving little sound to the listener. (I once while waiting for the step off of a firemen’s convention parade I came up behind a drum line I occasionally marched with at the time and could barely hear them. This line had about 10 snare drummers playing 13" high-tension snare drums! Many times playing solo with my little fife and drum corps, I had comments that I can be heard a half-mile away).

This probably means nothing to many. But as I said above, I am concerned that generations of drummer will think that a marching snare drum should sound like a ping-pong ball hitting a paddle.

 There is so much I can say about the corruption of the art of rudimental drumming since the introduction of these over torqued beasts. What was the beautiful discipline of motion involving arms, wrists (and some fingers) has become a showy display of finger diddling. This new evolution (or devolution) is fast, impressive and some times even creative. But I don’t think it’s rudimental drumming.

The second thing jumping up at me when reading the blog article was that Beth is the person that had sent me a few months ago two novel leg-rests!

So much for my venting, please read Beth’s thoughts I’ve quoted below:

drumming thoughts

So I’ve been at it for about eight months now, practicing in earnest since late January. Between finding free exercises on the internet, trying out different drum sticks and practice pads and cobbling together a marching snare drum from assorted used parts, I’ve developed not only a passable roll but some opinions about the state of drum corps and marching percussion these days. In no particular order:

1. Today’s marching snare drums are tuned too high. The resonance has gone out of them, and so has the depth. There are differences between a drum line of 1980 and 1990, between 1990 and today. Back in 1990, the first high-tension snares had trickled down to some high school drum lines. The heads were very high tension but there was still some depth to the tone quality, some "bottom" to the crack of the rim shot. Today’s drum line have almost none of that left, as drums have been redesigned to be totally high-end, all treble and nothing else. Drum parts have evolved too; lots of buzz rolls, one-handed buzzes and other things that don’t reflect traditional rudiments in the same way. I would say there’s lots of finesse and precision in today’s drum parts, but not as much "beef", not as much rudimental focus. After comparing and contrasting the different approaches, I can say I have no desire to play a modern super-high tension drum. I LIKE my older drum with its beefier sound and slightly slower response. I have to work a little harder to get a clean roll but really, that’s okay.

2. As marching snares went higher in tension and pitch, so did the rest of the drum line. Tenors got smaller, tighter and higher. So did tonal bass drums (on further reflection this may not be a bad thing, especially if you have to carry one. Bass drums in 1978 were HUGE, and well beyond my physical size and ability to carry at age 15!). The whole sound of a modern drum line is pitched noticeably higher than its predecessor of ten years ago, which is pitched higher than ITS predecessor of ten years earlier still. Not sure I’m crazy about this trend. While it certain makes some drum parts easier to hear above the range of the middle brasses, it takes some depth and muscle out of the overall sound of a corps or marching band.

3. Three-valve Bb brass are marching band instruments: trumpets, french horns, baritones, euphoniums and over-the-shoulder tubas. But they’re most definitely NOT bugles. And while Bb band brasses offer diatonic possibilities like never before, they don’t *sound* like bugles. (Any decent brass player will tell you that in most cases that third valve is mostly for alternate fingerings in fast passages, and not absolutely necessary to enjoy a full diatonic range on the instrument.) Just as long as we’re clear.

4. The introduction of electronics and microphones and all the rest into drum corps for the 2009 season makes me really sad. It’s not drum corps anymore, and I’m not scared of sounding like a dinosaur. Drum corps has been an acoustic art form for nearly 80 years. Introducing electronics is simply more evidence that the "muscle" has gone out of the sound.

5. Personal faves, sticks and pads: (a) I’ve been liking the Corps Master series from Vic Firth, especially the MS-1. I think that I’m gravitating towards matched grip more and more, and this shorter, beefy stick feels balanced and nice to play. I’m still looking for the "perfect" stick. (b) I settled on the basic Vic Firth two-sided practice pad, in a 13" size that fits neatly on top of a snare drum for quiet at-home practice. The two sides offer two different surfaces to practice on for different purposes and it’s nice to switch back and forth when I want to clean a roll or really work on pulling strokes out of the head more.

I begin rehearsals with Pacific Crest Wind Symphony (PCWS) in two weeks. Meanwhile, I’ve also found the Spartans Alumni listserv, which I was encouraged to join last spring at the Sellwood drum reuinion. I finally did, receiving a friendly welcome and finding a couple of people I marched with in 1978. Heavens, that seems SO long ago now. Because it was. Sweetie’s been a good sport about it all, giving me time and space in the house when I need to practice on more than a practice pad. I am playing drums again and it feels really good. "

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 As of August 1, 2008, The American Patriots Rudimental Drummers Club (APRDC) is no more!

John and Barbara Flowers have decided to fold their creation. (Read more about the club: April convention of the APRDC).

The effort to continue the organization had become too difficult for the couple.  This loss has saddened much of the membership who has grown to love the club. Although the founders encourage the membership to continue a similar club, they request that the name, which they had given to it, not be used. This wish actually angered some. They believe it important that the name should continue. But John and Barbara want to have the club they created with the name they created cease to exist while at the pinnacle of its success. Their fear is that after their retirement from the club’s administration, the organization might fall into sad disarray. They prefer not to have their names associated with such a hypothetical club.

I sympathize with the founders’ desires to retire the club’s name. I also understand the consternation of the members that feel that not allowing the name to continue is selfish on the founder’s part. (I have related the story to a couple of members who called me after the announcement of the disbanding of the APRDC of the similar disbanding of The Hat Makers Drum and Bugle Corps in 1960 by the founding couple, Jesse and Gussie Saunders. At that time I was a member of the corps for about four years and had just graduated from high school that June. My father had been a founding member of the Hatters. My older brothers and aunt were at one time members. As with John and Barbara, Jesse and Gussie did not want to see the corps deteriorate in their lifetime. At the time I thought it was cruel and selfish of them to terminate the corps. It had been the only social life I had then)

My feelings have become that, since the APRDC has been in existence a relatively short time and has not become truly established in the minds of the drumming community, continuing with a rudimental drummers club with a different name would be satisfactory.

I hope when emotions regarding this event calm, the former membership of the APRDC can continue pursuing the original goals of the club under a new moniker, possibly of: the National Rudimental Drummers Club (NRDC).

-Joe

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Hello to all you "I cross my Right Hand over my Left Hand" players! Maybe, just maybe… you’ve been at this all wrong, huh?

Assuming most of our readers are right-handed (R.H.), playing with left hand (L.H.) on the Hi Hat isn’t all that new of an idea…as a matter of fact, this type playing or what is referred to as the "Open Handed" technique seems to be gaining more and more recognition in the drumming world…and rightly (no pun intended) so.

I remember seeing on MTV a video of the Romantics’ song "That’s what I like about you." The first thing I noticed right off the bat was their drummer/singer, Jimmy Marinos, was playing solid time with his L.H. on hat and R.H. whacking out 2 and 4 on snare.  That was in the late 80′s. I saw this and being a schooled and legit player (full snobbery in tact…I apologize to all I offended in the past…please forgive me…I have since seen the error of my ways!) felt I was seeing a raw and crude drummer with no regard to tradition or semblance of finesse. Of course being the closed-minded fool I was, I missed the boat on this type playing completely!  And that is… that this is a natural and effortless way to play.  Give it a chance…as a matter of fact, adopt that sucker…for good!

Now that I’m older (and hopefully wiser), I have spent many hours as of late practicing what Mr. Marinos knew all along…that this is a most natural, comfortable and easy way to play. All it requires is patience, time and a willingness to "practice till you get it" attitude…and when you "get it," one will possess a technique that lends itself to flow…ease of movement with R.H. on snare…no more R.H. on Hi hat cross stick accidents coming from L.H. getting in the way…easy access to toms on the right side…effortless crashing on the right side…in other words…once a few things are recognized about the open-handed technique, one can truly enjoy a free and happy R.H. on the snare and right side!

To get into the Open-handed technique I started right from the beginning…a simple kick playing 1/4 notes…1/8th notes on the H.Hat (L.H. of course) and a healthy 2 and 4 with R.H. on snare. From there I started adding ghost notes with the R.H. on snare around the 2 and 4…subdividing in my head a 16th note feel   e.g. Snare:  "one ee an da TWO ee an da three EE an da FOUR ee an da"  (The "EE" being the ghost note… as a matter of fact, experiment with ghost notes on any of the 16th notes…fun! )

Once I got comfortable with that, I realized that if I played the "old" way, R.H. on hat… L.H. on snare and watched carefully, all I had to do was copy that…and simply reverse the sticking…it really came quite easy after a while…and now I am almost to the point where I don’t think I will ever go back to crossing my R.H. onto Hi Hat  over my L.H. on snare…it just feels wrong! My R.H. now feel so free…and what a strong back beat  I get now…the doors have opened up and I am totally enjoying this journey!

Of course I still possess the ability to play R.H. on hat anytime I want…and I do sometimes…not much…but it’s there if I want it…and isn’t that a nice thing to not have to worry about!

You can teach an old dog new tricks…it just takes patience…have an open mind (something I wish I would have had WAY earlier! ) and a willingness to let go of preconceived ideas…maybe buck a few traditions…what the heck…you might find you don’t have a weak side anymore!

Good luck!

Best to all,

Michael Barton                                                                                                                                               www.ambadextro.com

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"Kicking the Can with Both Feet."

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