- Hi, Bruce Becker here from Los Angeles.
I'm up here at Drumeo, and I've been working on
a very special course.
And I've been teaching for 36 years,
and some of the drum students that I've had
through my years of teaching have been drummers like
Mark Schulman, Daniel Glass and early Glen Sobel.
And I've been currently teaching Tris Imboden,
David Garibaldi and Bryan Head, Burleigh Drummond,
and a whole host of other drummers.
It's a great place to be.
And we were talking up here about some of the differences
that we see in drummers in their development.
In my place of observation, I see a lot of guys
who just hold onto that stick desperately
and have trouble letting go and finding the flow,
whether it's from beat to fill or whatever it is,
they're feeling some blockage there.
So I'm really keen about choreographing movement
and adding some flavor of letting go of our anatomy
in a very natural way.
So let me demonstrate something specifically.
What I oftentimes see younger guys do, older guys,
it doesn't really matter, it's just guys in general,
is holding onto that stick and just pushing it
to the tom.
So I'm gonna play a paradiddle, make it real easy,
and I will play the downbeats on the toms.
So here it is, a slow paradiddle.
(drumming)
They may feel some tension or resistance
to get over to the tom.
So what I want to demonstrate is that if we have
a clearcut choreographed move, we can really access
a better fluidity.
So watch how I do this.
I'm gonna speak out clearly.
What is the movement of the single paradiddle?
Well, for this, I'm gonna put a downstroke,
I'm gonna come up on the second note, so the right.
Left would be upstroke, down, down or tap, tap,
downstroke on the tom, upstroke right hand, left, left.
Let me demonstrate so you can see clear,
instead of me rambling on.
Check this out.
(drumming)
(faster drumming)
(slower drumming)
(faster drumming)
(slower drumming)
Notice as I'm playing that, that there's a lift and drop,
and as I get faster, of course my movement becomes more,
what do I want to say, lateral, as opposed to elliptical.
And that's basically tapping into the movement.
Notice as well that I was releasing my wrist
and I have an easy access to the hinge in my elbow.
Those are key components to adding fluidity to your playing.
So let me demonstrate once again,
and we're gonna put this to a click,
and we'll add a little depth of slowing it down
so you can see how this movement works.
And watch very carefully.
See if this adds to the quality of what you do
when you're playing.
One, two, one, two, three.
(fast drumming)
(slower drumming)
(faster drumming)
Now let me try it at 120 bpm and try to put myself into
holding onto the stick a little tighter
and maybe see some of the struggles that I might encounter
as I do that without letting go.
120 bpm, check it out.
One, two, one, two, three, four.
(fast drumming)
(slower drumming)
(faster drumming)
Now you can see that I'm holding onto the stick
a lot tighter and I'm quite tight in my whole approach.
That's generally what I see.
In the seat of observation in my teaching practice,
that's the role I play.
I sit back as the coach and observe and see what's going on,
and try to open up an avenue of fluidity for everybody.
And again, the height of that is really addressing
the choreographed movement that you can get into.
That topic, as well as many others, are covered extensively
in the course that I just built for Drumeo.
So click the link below to get more information.
I'd like to be your personal drum coach.
I hope to see you in 2018.
Bruce Becker here from Drumeo headquarters,
saying, "Peace."
(beeps)
Don't bloop me too bad, man.
- [Man Off Camera] No, no, no.
(beeps)
- And getting in harmony with the ana-da-dee.
(beeps)
Hi, Bruce Becker here.
I'm a drum teacher up from Los Angeles, up here, and ah.
Up here, up here, up here, up-bup-bup-bup-bup-bup-bup-bup.
(beeps)
Hi, Bruce Becker here, up here at Drumeo.
Up here, up here, up here, one more.
(beeps)
Hi, Bruce Becker here.
I'm here at Drumeo Stu, ah, Bruce Becker here.
I'm here at...
(beeps)
Hi, Bruce Becker.
I'm a drum teacher from Los Angeles.
Ah, no, I don't like that either.
(beeps)
- [Man Off Camera] 'Cause you had like five in a row
where you're like, "Hey, Bruce Becker here,"
and all that stuff.
(laughs)
(beeps)
- This is one of the spe-fi,
(blabbers)
Okay.
(beeps)
I'm not hip to the lingo.
(beeps)
That's one of, no.
(mumbles)
(beeps)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
(blabbers)
Loosen up, yeah, loosen up.
(beeps)
I need to work on my choreographing
of my articulation.
(beeps)
And Bruce Becker here from Drumeo, saying, "Peace."
That sucked.
♪ Hello darkness my old friend ♪
(beeps)
(upbeat instrumental music)