Percussion Performance & Education

I just watched a snippet of an interview with the great Eric Harland – one of my drum heroes – and he was talking about “grounding” a song – bringing it “back to Earth a little bit.” This is a great lesson to learn: when the song gets too far out into space, bring it back around to simple time and establish a solid groove.

If you’re just beginning to learn how to the play drums, then there are number of technique and practice issues you are likely to have questions about: “How do I work on my accents and taps?” “How can I speed up my hands and build endurance?” “What is the Moeller Method?” “How can I get better with each practice session?” “What do I do if I start to feel like I’m plateauing?” In this post, I’ll give you my tips for getting the most out of your self-education.

I’m doing my homework on Mel Lewis today, as I am meditating on how to best teach swing concepts to beginning and intermediate drummers, and I thought I’d share some thoughts with anyone out there who may be interested.