Inventive And Effective Practicing For The Working Drummer In recent months, I have been making a conscious effort to practice regularly. This has proven to be a difficult task because of my busy touring and session schedule. Being that necessity is the mother of invention, I have been forced to come up with more effective ways to practice both on the road, and in my studio. The Poly-Exercise By poly-exercise I mean working on multiple parts of your playing using one exercise. For instance, when I'm working out on my pad in hotels I usually work on over the bar line phrases, hand and foot accuracy and endurance, and learning new material or reviewing material for an upcoming gig. Confused? Let me explain. Why work on only hands or only feet when you can work on them together? And why use basic rhythmic cycles when you can accent in different over the bar line phrases which help your phrasing and over all time. Lastly, why use a metronome when you can do this playing along to music. In my case, music that I have to learn for upcoming gigs. Rather than spoon feeding you the stickings I like to use, I'd like you to come up with your own. I make sure that my stickings work singles, doubles, triples and up to 8 strokes per hand and incorperate different accents that repeat in 2,3,5,6,7 and 9. I also change the rhythmic values using rates of 4, 5,6 and 7 per beat and per 2 beats. I encourage you to come up with your own "poly-exercises" and please feel free to share them with me via "da groove house". I'd love to see what you come up with. Time Management Managing your practice time wisely is a tough one. The poly-exercise helps, but when I get behind my kit, I tend to just play grooves and blow chops for an hour before I even get into anything. I realize that in doing so, I open myself up to new ideas flowing out of me, but when I only have 2 or 3 hours in the middle of that one day off, an immediate focus is more effective. Playing what you already can play well is not practicing. So I save that for the gigs. With limited time, I suggest hitting what you need to work on right away even though it's very tempting to just start playing. Preparing a practice routine is always a good idea. If you have 3 hours to work with and maybe 3 or 4 areas to work on, I suggest making a schedule for that 3 hours. If you have a particular song to work on, make sure you have the form mapped out and the tempo marking ready to go before your practice session. I find that even though I have only have 3 hours every other week to practice, if done effectively, I can sometimes accomplish more than I used to practicing 4 hours a day in college. Get to work and learn your forms!! hahaha! HAVE FUN! HASSY ARCHIVED COLUMNS "Playing the Form" "Achieving Success As a Sideman In Music" "Perspectives" "Versatility = More Work" "The Birth Of The Jazz Drummer - Part I" "Don't Forget Your Role"