Toddler Drum Set
When you progress to playing the toddler drum set, you will find that there are subtle ways you can vary your grip and stroke. While the basic stroke remains the same, how you hold or move your sticks will produce different sounds for different types of music.
As you know, the basic toddler drum set stroke is made with your wrist. When you’re playing a jazz rhythm on your simba drum set – especially at fast tempos or low volume levels – you may want to make the stroke more with your fingers than your wrists. This produces a lighter sound and enables you to play a little faster on those up-tempo jazz and bebop tunes.
When you’re playing loud rock and roll with the wooden musical band drum set, you may want to put a little more arm into your stroke – especially when crashing cymbals or playing a really heavy backbeat on the percussion set. By moving the fulcrum from your wrist to your elbow, you put more power behind the stroke and play louder, although with a little less speed.
For a slightly ‘chunkier’ sound, you can try choking up on your sticks. This makes the stick more of an extension of your arm and forces you to play heavier into the toddler drum set – without necessarily increasing volume. One drummer who plays this way is Levon Helm of The Band; listen to “The Weight” or “Cripple Creek” to hear how this sounds.
Where you’re playing matched grip or traditional grip on the toddler drum set, your right-hand stroke is always the same. (Your left hand, naturally, varies by grip.)
The proper matched-grip drum stroke is very simple. Position your stick parallel to the drumhead, with the bead of the stick about three inches off the surface. Now use your wrist (not your fingers or your arm!) to quickly snap the stick down to the center of the head and then immediately back up.
This “down-up” motion is your stroke – and it’s not finished until the stick is back up in the starting position. When you are first starting out, you should control the stroke in both directions and not allow the stick to bounce up of its own volition. It’s important that you control the entire stroke; otherwise, you will be bouncing all over the place and waiting for your stick to return to position.
To make a stroke with your left hand in a traditional grip, you also start with the stick parallel to the head and about three inches off the head. Now use your left wrist to snap the stick down to the head and then back up. It’s basically the same “down-up” motion as with the matched grip, except that you’re doing it by turning your wrist to the right, as opposed to moving your wrist down and then back up.
After you master the controlled stroke, you can start thinking about using the natural bounce of the stick off the toddler drum set head. Many educators – most notably Joe Morello and Billy Gladstone – advocate the mastery of what is sometimes called the “free bounce-back.” By taking advantage of the stick bounce, you can achieve a faster stroke, which is particularly useful when you’re playing fast passages and rolls.
But for now you should practice the controlled stroke as just described – and practice the stroke at various volume levels on the kids drum set, child drum set, infant drum set or junior drum set,. You can control the volume of your stroke in several ways. First, you can begin your stroke from a higher level; hitting the toddler drum set from 12 inches away produces a louder note than hitting it from an inch away. Second, you can apply more force to your downstroke; the harder you hit the drum, the louder the note.
When you practice your stroke, start off slowly and deliberately. Practice one hand at a time, and then put your hands together in alternating strokes. Once you have the stroke under control, try speeding up – either one hand at a time or alternating hands. As you play faster, take particular care to play the entire stroke and not let the bounce off the drum dictate the upstroke. Play down and then up with a sharp snap; avoid pressing the stick into the head. The motion, when viewed by an observer, should look like a whip cracking.
As you get comfortable hitting the toddler drum set walmart, you can move ahead to work through all the exercises – even the most complex ones – that your stroke should always be controlled and deliberate. It is hard work to do it right, especially at faster tempos but the results are worth it!
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