Tombo 7/4 wrote:A thing taught to me by Kim Plainfield when I was studying at DC was Buddy Rich's "Big Bird" approach.
If you look at old Buddy Rich videos you can see him doing it when he reaches blazzing speed on the snare, his arms are like bird wings taking flight.
It's not a flash thing, there's physics behind it. It's like shifting into high gear at some point to give your speed a quantum leap.
You could search on it, it's not talked about very much. Here's an article by Canadian teacher Bruce T. Wittet where he mentions that:
"I needed to rationalize this seeming contraction. Okay, I get it: leverage comes from the wrist and maybe the arms!
The problem with this solution was that teachers and books universally insisted that good drummers
do not flap their arms up and down like a heron (or eagle or otherwise big bird) taking flight.
I began research, looking first outside the realm of drumming.
I looked to tennis, since as a kid I’d had an amazing serve, and to ping pong,
since I’d taken it up in college and the motions seemed relevant to drum technique.
The answer was across the road in the playground."
http://www.tbrucewittet.com/2011/04/the-correct-drumstick-grip-whats-with-the-thumb-first-finger-%E2%80%9Cfulcrum%E2%80%9D/
That was an interesting read. This guy has some pretty cool articles. The guy I'm studying is called Edu Ribeiro. Here's a video
of what this whole thread is about to me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gsConOA3s8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw9NwVVNP-k (starts at 12:07) Pay close attention to his arms. Whatever he's doing inside his hands, his finger aren't moving much at all. His R hand is quite closed. Same goes to his arms.
It just looks effortless !
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