As one of my mentors (the great Alfredo Golino) taught me, the secret is throwing the sticks. I think you can verify it easily, first by realizing that all great drummers do it, and then by learning this approach yourself and seeing the results.
USING GRAVITY AND REBOUND:
Playing with proper technique means essentially one thing: effortlessness. In order to accomplish that, it’s crucial to avoid working against the forces that are acting on us and on the sticks.
These elements are the force of gravity and the rebound of the stick.
The former allows us to achieve a powerful sound not by pushing, but rather by throwing the sticks into heads and cymbals.
By means of the Moeller technique, whenever there is an accent or an orchestration on the Drum Set, all we have to do is prepare the movement in advance, by raising the arm.
In doing so the accent is obtained by the weight of the stick and the arm, which as they fall generate enough downward force to produce all the volume we need, with no effort.
The more volume we want, the wider the motion involving the arms.
This wideness will constitute the technical component put at service of the effect we want to achieve, starting in advance and so having a lot of surplus to play with.
This creates more precision and effectiveness compared to the typical and instinctual approach of pushing the strokes at the last moment as if we were driving nails with a hammer.
On the other hand, rebound allows us to play successions of strokes without having to execute them one by one.
Rebound is nothing but free energy, available to us at every stroke, and we simply have to learn how to use it so that we can benefit from it.
Once the stick is set in motion, the following hits can be achieved by controlling the rebound with the fingers, thus making the most of the energy coming from the first note.
Rebound control is vital if we want to play drums effortlessly and with a beautiful, relaxed sound.
As we can see, both techniques allow us to take advantage of what is already there, intelligently and saving us a ton of work.
To get there we need to master the basics of drumming really well:
- Mechanics of movement.
- Moeller motion.
BASIC MECHANICS:
Mechanics of drum technique, or mechanics of movement, are based on 4 main motions which combined with each other are going to allow us to competently execute any kind of stroke.
We should study them by playing quarter notes, with just the wrist and at a slow tempo, so that we have lots of space between each hit and we can focus on accurate, relaxed movements.
These basic motions are called as follows:
- Full Stroke (the stick starts high and ends high). The Full Stroke is the most important one because it creates the muscle memory for rebound control. Which is why it’s also the most difficult stoke to study.
We start with the palm and the stick almost perpendicular to the Snare Drum head.
We use the entire wrist range of motion. We play a note with a quick downward snap of the wrist, and, right after the tip of the stick hits the head, we pull it back, with a motion that follows the rebound and brings us back to where we started.
As we begin practicing this, it will be pretty challenging to be as quick as the actual bouncing back. However, taking care of this detail is crucial, because if we are slower than the rebound it means some of its energy is being blocked, and therefore wasted. Let’s just notice that even in doing this simple exercise, as soon as we become proficient at it, we get the same result with half the effort: instead of moving the stick down and then up, we just need to throw it, since the upward motion is going to be the effect of an automated response, with no effort required on our part.
- Up Stroke (the stick starts low and ends high). Next in importance is the Up Stroke, because it allows us to prepare in advance for the next hit. Raising the stick more (the arm with Moeller) equals more power and more control with less effort.
- Down Stroke (the stick starts high and ends low). In a Down Stroke the stick starts high and ends low. It’s here that we have to throw the sticks, using the potential energy of our lifted arms and wrists. We should never force a Down Stroke. Instead it’s best to let the notes happen and trust the motion.
The solution is to throw the sticks, but the tendency is to get stiff and force things because that creates the illusion of more control. - Tap Stroke (the stick starts low and ends low). Tap Stokes are the easiest ones: we start in a low position and stay there.
First and foremost the objective is to have these moves work perfectly when performed separately.
Then all we need to do is merging them without compromising their efficacy.
Let’s check them out in a Down-Tap-Tap-Up sequence in this video:
MOELLER TECHNIQUE:
Once we have understood and developed the fundamental mechanics of movement using just the wrist, it’s time to include the Moeller technique to perform accents.
Along with rebound control, the Moeller method is the main component we need to have in our technical toolbox if we are to master the art of drumming.
The Moeller technique is based on a whipping motion done with the arm (during a Down Stroke) which is achieved by arching the wrist as if the stick were a whip and we were preparing for the next hit (that’s the Up Stroke).
This means that, in practice, any time we have an accent, we get ready for it in advance.
The process of anticipating the accent is based on the Up Stroke movement, and is achieved by lifting the forearm at lower and intermediate dynamic levels, and the entire arm at loud ones.
Such lifting takes place as a result of the wrist bending, which we can picture tied to a string and moving up and down by operating it. The higher we pull the string, the more the forearm and arm are involved.
Then, right before the accent, we gently whip the stick and we simultaneously let gravity pull down the arm and the stick to the starting position, so that the arm’s weight produces the note, generating a very relaxed and effortless Down Stroke.
Here is a video showing the full motion, again playing the sequence Down-Tap-Tap-Up, but this time doing the Up Stroke with the Moeller technique:
Having full control of this technique grants us many advantages:
- Free extra power and energy that requires zero effort.
- Amazing control and accuracy.
- A full and relaxed sound.
- Agility in moving around the instrument.
- Improved technical facility, thanks to Up Strokes allowing us to get ready in advance to play accents.
- Increased Snare Drum Rimshot consistency and precision.
- Flawless timing, as a by-product of flawless motions, because covering the same exact space with the same uniform motion, automatically generates an identical, even space between notes.
However, as with all powerful things, the proper use of this technique, even in its most basic form, requires lots of attention.
The reason lies in the fact that when an accent occurs, the movement of the arm needs to be added to that of the wrist.
So in practice we have two motions overlapping: the wrist motion which executes Tap Strokes and unaccented notes, and also the arm motion that comes into play anytime an Up Stroke or a Down Stroke is needed.
The starting point to reach such level of autonomy between the different motions involved is to go back to the basic mechanics and practice them all over again, only this time including the Moeller method.
It’s important to stress that the forearm/arm movement gets wider as the dynamics involved increase, and gets tinier as the volumes become softer.
Also, the movement is the widest at slow tempos, and gradually shrinks as we speed up.
For instance, going from quarters to eighths, we obviously double the speed at which we technically execute strokes, and so we are going to notice that the motion becomes approximately half as wide.
As we get faster the arm is gradually less and less involved, then even the forearm’s contribution is reduced and what is left is just a mini whipping motion performed with the wrist.
At the highest tempos the motion becomes very subtle, yet it is still there, in the exact amount that allows us to play the accents as necessary.
The secret is throwing the sticks. We don’t force the movement, we don’t hit too hard, we just let the sticks fall, and let gravity pull them down naturally and do the work.
That’s why we can think of the ideal motion as ’throwing’ the sticks on the drums.
This approach will allow us to make the most of Moeller technique. This is the key to playing with no effort and doing the least amount of work.
Once we have developed enough independence with these first exercises, we can move on and work on integrating these motions and using these techniques in everything we play.
A few recommendation from the free resources on this Blog:
- Fundamental Drum Phrasing Techniques
- 1 Month Drum Challenge
- 30 Ways to Practice a Vinnie Colaiuta Lick
That’s the way to make sure that these movements are completely automated and effective, no matter how complex the combination we are playing.
LOWER LIMBS:
So now it’s clear why we say that technique is mostly about control and not so much about power, like an untrained eye may conclude.
As far as the legs go, we simply let the limb’s weight generate the volume. Legs are pretty heavy: if we let the stroke start from the hip then the weight of the leg falling will be more than enough to achieve any volume, with no need to push or contract muscles.
Kind of a variation of the Moeller technique, but applied to the legs: we simply prepare the stroke by raising the leg from the hip and then, by letting it drop, we automatically get all the strokes and volume needed.
The ankle comes into play to control the faster strokes, exactly like fingers do, since even here we actually have some bounce, produced in part by the drumhead but mostly by the pedal’s spring.
However, the stroke is generated by the hip, and the source of the sound is the leg’s weight.
To wrap this up, obviously this approach points to an ideal, and there will definitely be situations where we need to push the strokes and apply force.
As usual it’s about optimization and working on setting as high as possible a standard. Even though we can’t maintain it 100 percent of the time, the benefits will still be significant and make a big difference.
Related resources:
‘Hands & Mechanics’ – Altitude Drumming – Volume 2
Drum Technique Booster – The Masters’ Approach
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