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Heh! 🙂 I think a bit of doing something is an order of magnitude better than not doing something, and I have long experience of setting unrealistic targets! 🙂
Day 11 … skipped ahead in the book to play some intervals. This was glorious … more below.
Day 12 … busy day, only managed 10 minutes or so, but really enjoyed it. Just did the fun stuff.
Day 13 … off to do that now.
Playing intervals made me think about the reason I decided to play the harp in the first place. It did seem like a decision out of nowhere at the time. I had always thought if I were to play a second instrument, it would be the cello; however, I was watching a prom last summer which included a piece with a prominent harp solo … and I suddenly had the thought: I could play the harp … having never considered it before. I started to look into it and came across the piece Glenlivet (arr. Kim Robertson, played by Duygu Aydogan) … and that was it! The funny thing is, I've never really played much traditional music on the violin, I just prefer classical. But for the harp – a different story. Anyway, it seems that this piece is included in the ABRSM grade 7 syllabus, so I have a way to go yet!
But, going back to the intervals … something I've always missed about playing the violin is not hearing harmonies as I play … you do play more than one note at once at times, but it's not the norm really; and I found not playing the piano a real disadvantage while studying harmony at school ... the other students would bring their harmony homework in on a Monday morning, and it would sound great when the teacher played it, but mine always sounded terrible … I didn't have a piano to try it out on, and I couldn't just hear it in my head. Hearing the harmony on the harp is part of the beauty of the instrument for me.
TLDR: What inspired you to take up your chosen activity? For me, it was a single tune and a love of harmony.
Day 13 ... featured the slowest rendition of Frère Jacques known to humankind.
Day 14 ... ran out of time and played nothing.
Day 15 ... played the violin and then the harp. The violin seemed so easy in comparison.
about 10 minutes being better than nothing
Often better than longer!
Hand has healed enough to be drumming for 10-15 minutes so have been focusing on a tricky shuffle pattern I’ve been trying to nail for months. Whereas normally would get bored with failing at it after a minute or two and then start bashing out along to some metal or funk for an hour instead. Healing-time having temporarily robbed me of that luxury I’ve instead this week put heart and soul into learning the shuffle in 10 min (slow) chunks. Twice a day. It paid off.
Unsurprisingly, daily 10 mins(highly-focused) structured practice sessions get skills/patterns learned. The longer sessions serve to get them embedded and fluid, but I also learned that I have to face and learn them first or else just risk playing simple variations on the one skill forever.
Oops not updated in a while.
I've missed a couple of days since my last update including today but otherwise keeping at it. Making progress on war pigs, slowly, improving my stamina with double kick, started little bits of trying right foot double - left foot double kick which I'm going to spend many years on to get daft speed I suspect, and also plenty of just playing stuff.
Rona. To answer your question on why I started drumming, I bloody love it. I played guitar for a couple of years as a teen and then moved away for university and it stopped as I had no motivation. My main hobby has always been sport related (rollerblading for many years then started biking about 6 years ago). Music has always been huge for me and the drum grooves are a big part of the music that has always stood out and caught my attention, especially metal with the fast double kicks and harder hitting ways. Been wanting to play for many years and always had obstacles in my way to prevent it. Then I got divorced and a whole new world opened up, I bought my first electronic kit. Pissed around on that for a few months and badly jammed with a mate. Then decided to get lessons and upgrade the drum kit to a much better electronic kit which I still use. That was 3 1/2 years ago. Last year I played 4 sold out gigs for the music school where I have my lessons, only gigs I've played. This year I'm starting a band with my mate aiming to play something more aligned with my interests. I've got a long long way to go before I'm any good but I'm absolutely loving the journey.
Here's my kit;
Roland kit, Yamaha double kick pedal, Tama hi-hat. It's got nothing on a proper acoustic kit, but there's no way I could have one of those at home so this is next best thing.
P7eaven, that dialled and focussed session will always be the most beneficial to learning. Even if it's only 10/15 mins of focussed playing at a slow speed it helps with that muscle memory hugely, being patient is the tough bit haha.
keefezza – brilliant to hear how you got into it, and to hear your enthusiasm. 😃 Kit looks great – surprisingly (to me) compact. Must be a great stress-reliever – that rhythmic activity involving much of the body.
I enjoy the percussion category at the BBC Young Musician competition … when they first introduced the category, I really wasn't sure if I would enjoy the untuned percussion, but I find it impressive and quite compelling. It's now one of my favourite categories, second only to strings.
pondo – about unrealistic targets … this is something I struggled with when going back to the violin after a break of about 30 odd years. I had to really manage my expectations … I was so rusty and just couldn't play to my previous level … still can't … and it does cause me some frustration. I don't really have an answer to that other than trying to relax, take my time, and learn to tolerate being less competent than I would like … ongoing!
Days 13-19 … 4 days with practice and 3 without. Have some violin-related things coming up shortly, so am juggling spending a bit more time with that while still keeping up with the harp. Harp progress seems slow, but I've realised that one issue is that with the violin the fingers are numbered 1 to 4 from index finger to pinkie – and this is completely automatic for me – but with the harp they are numbered 1 to 4 from thumb to ring finger … this causes much head scratching and delay while I try to work out which finger I’m supposed to be using for any given note!
Almost a quarter through and I’ve done zero drawing.
Although drumming is still a hit 🙈🥁
This week I ave bin mostly learnin…
… the bossanova. Still having trouble with the cross stick pattern as everything else is played str8 4 but then those pesky Brazilians went and threw in a pentagon. Add to that I’ve always been into playing mostly, punk and funk (even jazz) - this ‘soft touch’ required has thrown me completely through a loop and shown up some (more) considerable weakness in my playing/skillset. Happily, this gives me yet more joy to pursue.
Fellow drummers (especially those of us who respond well to graphical cues) fill your boots with this free channel/resource I just found:
It’s (IMO) genius and needs to be an app already.
Even if it’s only 10/15 mins of focussed playing at a slow speed it helps
+1000. No need even for the word ‘even’!? It helps more to practice slowly at first? I like a bit of DnB but it took me a week (about 180 mins total) of playing at 140BPM to nail the grace-notes of a simple DnB beat, a beat that only really sounds good at >170bpm and sustained (still beyond me). My (DTX 502) drum module has a useful training feature called ‘rhythm gate’ which only lets accurate notes through. So if you’re playing along to the metronome you can’t hear any note that you play unless you hit on time. Clever. It works.
I really like the philosophy of Max Sansalone (dimsunk channel). He takes what you said up there to the next level (recommended exercise)
Although I have no ambition to play speedmetal 😎 my kit is quite basic (electronic setup much like yours), yet I’m aiming for accuracy, dynamics, expression/feel and groove, most of which is sorely lacking on even highly-priced electronic kits. Going to have to book a practice room in the city for a few hrs to fondle-smash some acoustic stuff.
#getonwithit
Gotta say, started to have some gaps in some activities.... 🙂 Mrs Pondo's work's gone mad so been offering support there, which made it too easy to let things slip. Only the Japanese has remained constant - Yousician said I only played piano for 6 minutes last week... 🙂 But d'you know, sometimes that's how it goes - played a bit yesterday and really enjoyed, so I'll crack on when I can. 🙂
Day 20-26 ... have played four times in the week. Progress is slow, but it's all I can manage for now. Also enjoying, so all well.
Keep forgetting to come back here to update.
Managed to mostly keep at it, still working on war pigs but it's progressing.
Trying to improve my hand and foot speed whilst doing that and also the other exercises, all whilst not having much time to practice.
But I have started jamming with a mate with a plan for that to evolve into a band and gigging.
Life with work and kids is busy, could do with a huge lump sum of money or steady income without work haha
In the last 12 days I've only managed to play twice! Busy, and have been prioritising other things for leisure time. I've been finding it useful to keep a note of when I've played so I can clearly see if I start to drift away from it, and can refocus. I'll get back to it tomorrow.