Drum Physics, Pt. 3: Suppleness

Two sets of highly supple, warrior hands. Clyde & Jabo.

In the last post I talked about the two primary grip-styles and some of their advantages. Now I want to talk about the physical attitude that I want to have whether I use one grip-style or the other. The best word in the English language to describe the ideal is suppleness. Suppleness is an adjective meaning "bending and moving easily and gracefully; flexible" (Oxford English Dictionary). Other words that convey a similar idea are graceful, elegant, agile and deft. The opposite of suppleness is rigid, inflexible, stiff. The supple hand experiences the least friction, and so possesses the most speed, precision and stamina. In order to understand suppleness it is also important to understand that it is a way of controlling and using energy; mastering the physics of the energy that exists in the sphere of the drums.

Playing the drums is a physical activity which involves striking the surface of the drum, cymbal or other percussion instrument. It is an activity that produces a good amount of energy and heat. The motion I make when throwing and retrieving the stick reveals the level of suppleness I have obtained, and so the skill I possess in managing all that energy.

Here is a simple observation: gravity is a reality of our daily lives. Objects have weight because of the pull of the earth on them. This includes the sticks in my hand. If I release the stick, it falls. Seems obvious enough. But it's not our natural tendency to use this energy. We are prone to intervene, to overwork, to create friction. I want to move away from over-intervention. How do I learn to do that? Here are a couple of exercises to move towards greater suppleness.

First, if I release the stick over the surface of a drum, it bounces back a bit. In fact, if I hold the stick at it's fulcrum — the place on the shaft where there is a near-balance between tip and butt — I find that the tip of the stick will bounce multiple times on the surface, until it eventually comes to rest. If I drop the stick from a high enough position, it even seems to bounce back just below it's original starting point. I do my best to just get out of the way, and I find that the energy that emerges is free to run its' course. I do little but cause the fall to happen. Try this, without any action toward or away from the drum. It will feel dumb at first, because our natural tendency is to get involved, to do something. Remember, this is just an exercise; we are not making music, we are working at suppleness.

Second, I release the stick as before, but this time I allow for a certain number of bounces, say two or three, then I lift the stick up and let it drop again, until the time between the bounces becomes seamless. In order for this to happen, my hand must be relaxed and yet responsive to the motion and energy of the stick. I am simply controlling the energy, not creating it through any action towards the drum. I am lifting the stick away a bit perhaps, but I am not yet throwing it towards the drum. What am I doing? I am training my muscles to understand the nature of the energy that the stick and the drum produce. I am tuning myself to my instrument, not the other way around. I try this exercise on each drum and cymbal, because each will produce different response times as each possess different wave qualities.

Working towards a supple hand has a number of benefits, some I already mentioned, but one important benefit is the end of injury. When I first started playing my natural tendency was to hold onto the stick and in effect push it through the drum in order to get power. I was the driver. In fact, I used to think that using the dynamics of the drum was a kind of cheating, as I assumed that unless I muscled through it, it wasn't really playing. Odd thinking? Yep. The outcome was calloused, aching hands, broken sticks and heads and a few cracked cymbals. Now I realise that some drummers pride themselves on their scars and breaking drum heads, but you are doing it wrong. I can get as much or more power now, and I have not broken any sticks or heads in years. In fact I have to retire sticks because of warpage, not breakage. I change heads because they have outlived their tune-ability. I no longer get callouses or wake up after a gig with aching hands.

Some of this stuff began to dawn on me while engaged in another art. It was a revelation to me when a kendo instructor told me to cast the sword like a fisherman, holding it lightly. The principle being that a supple hand is a flowing and reflexive one. My natural inclination was to grip the bamboo sword, but I was getting in the way. My sensei was able to slap my sword out of my hands because I was too rigid, too controlling. Once I understood the need of suppleness, I was able to deflect blows by absorbing them. It sounds paradoxical, but giving up control allows for more elegant movements that actually create more control and finesse. I can become the manager of energy rather than it's creator or servant, preserving my own energy and stamina.

I hope the exercises are helpful. They are not an end in themselves, but a vehicle towards mastery. Until next time.

Yours in drums,
Christopher