Air Drums

I started practice around the same time as yesterday, but I started with stick control first before moving on to piano.

One of the most beneficial Active Listening exercises I have identified is air drumming. It’s remarkable at any level. Striking a surface such as a cymbal or drum sends a wave of shock back though to the hand, as well creates as an inflection point in the stick’s trajectory which must be anticipated correctly if the stick’s motion is to be incorporated into musical timing. I’ve found it enormously helpful to set this aside from time to time.

The practice of air drumming, as the name suggests, involves observing through experimentation how the motions of the fingers, hand, wrist, arm, shoulder, & core influence the movement of the stick through the air. It can really help you focus on the connection between the sticks centers of gravity, moment of inertia, conservation of momentum. Also the way the fascia of the hand deforms elastically around the rigid stick is something that must be taken into account in order to control dynamics of the sounds the stick will eventually be used to make.

Later in piano, I identified some dynamite new connections between the tones of the Schumann Op.15. But I’ll have to mention them in a future post as I have run out of time. The sun is now up & apparently so is my son!