Eight On A Finger – Part I of Stick Yoga
December 17, 2009 4:52 pm in Marching by Murray Gusseck
Part I of my new series Stick Yoga will focus on a great way to warm up the fingers of each hand while simultaneously showing your hand where the best rebound is, one finger at a time! This has become a regular staple of my practice regimen—and maybe it will for you as well.
Often times as drummers we tend to concentrate on the wrists during the warm up period. Lately I have been enjoying the benefits of actually focusing instead on the fingers first. There’s something about getting blood circulating in the digits that seems to make my wrists a lot happier. An added benefit from this is that you very quickly develop a connection with the weight of the stick and the rebound of the surface you’re playing on.
The following exercise should feel beneficial no matter what type of drumming grip you normally use—German, French, American, or Traditional grip. All of these grips benefit from a relaxed wrist and good circulation through the fingers. That’s what it’s all about!
Eight On A Finger is almost exactly that, but not quite. It’s actually a repetition of the following numerical pattern, switching hands (and fingers) with each number:
8 -> 8 -> 16 -> 8 -> 8 -> 16 -> 8 -> 8 -> 16 -> etc.
Let’s number the fingers in the following way:
Now I’ll spell the exercise out, and then I’ll show you how to apply it!
- R1 x 8, L1 x 8, R1 x 16 –> L1 x 8, R1 x 8, L1 x 16
- R2 x 8, L2 x 8, R2 x 16 –> L2 x 8, R2 x 8, L2 x 16
- R3 x 8, L3 x 8, R3 x 16 –> L3 x 8, R3 x 8, L3 x 16
- R4 x 8, L4 x 8, R4 x 16 –> L4 x 8, R4 x 8, L4 x 16
- R5 x 8, L5 x 8, R5 x 16 –> L5 x 8, R5 x 8, L5 x 16
Now in order to target each finger separately, we’re actually going to move the fulcrum through ALL the various spots in the hand. What does that mean? Check out the following pictures to see what this looks like in the right hand (most are shot from two different angles). The captions refer to the steps in the exercise outlined above.
Step 1. R1 (top view)
Step 1. R1 (bottom view)
As you practice, aim to just move the stick with each finger, rather than letting your wrist bleed itself into the motion. The tempo at which you go through the exercises is up to you, but emphasis should be given to keep a relaxed feel. My warmup tempo is usually somewhere around 90 bpm, using 16th notes for the exercise subdivision.
Step 2. R2 (top view)
Step 2. R2 (bottom view)
It’s helpful to repeat the sequence at least a couple of times. Each time you come back to a particular set of fingers, it’s possible to feel a refreshed sense of facility. As a result of going through all the fingers two or three times, you will have increased the blood flow to your hand, warmed up the tendons and muscles in your hands, wrists, and forearms, and helped greatly to acclimate to the sticks and playing surface you’re using.
Step 3. R3 (top view)
Step 3. R3 (bottom view)
Admittedly there is nothing original in promoting finger control exercises; There are plenty of examples floating around out there in books, videos, and clinics. Many finger control exercises focus on targeting the fingers individually in each hand while maintaining the standard fulcrum between the thumb and forefinger.
Step 4. R4 (top view)
Step 4. R4 (bottom view)
The trouble for many drummers—particularly rudimental drummers, since that has been my discipline—is that we are so programmed to use our wrists that we can find it very difficult to stop the wrist from taking over every stroke.
Step 5. R5
The exercise I have outlined here should aid those of you would otherwise find it frustratingly difficult to truly isolate your fingers individually in this fashion. After you complete Eight on a Finger a few times, try repeating the exercise in the traditional way, i.e. maintaining the traditional fulcrum of thumb and forefinger, while cycling through fingers one through four (all except for the thumb for obvious reasons).
Give it a try and see for yourself! If anyone has similar exercises and/or thoughts on ways in which to isolate the fingers for development in speed and dexterity, please share!
DFReak,
That’s an honest question. “Traditionally” speaking, the left hand is the hand that holds the stick underhanded—traditional—while the right hand holds it in the German, French, or American grip—matched—position. The traditional position of the left hand comes from the sling drums of another era hanging off the player’s body to the left.
Interestingly, I’m also left-handed, but I’ve always played right-handed because that’s how I was taught, and how most of the drummers I watched played. There really is nothing, other than other people’s opinions, preventing you from holding the sticks however you feel comfortable.
With each type of grip…traditional or matched…there are ways of moving the sticks that align with the laws of physics and thus are more healthy for you. Part of the fun of playing drums, for me, is all the different techniques that are out there. I find more and more that the study of different grips and different approaches really helps my home base technique all the more. So keep experimenting and questioning!
littlesnareboy,
Sorry I haven’t responded sooner. To answer your question, think of these exercises outside of a grip context. They’re really more about giving each individual finger a little chance to play the stick all by itself. To target the thumbs in this manner, a position of the hand akin to the traditional grip is pretty much necessary unless your thumbs are attached to a different part of your hand.
I’m not sure if that addresses your question exactly—feel free to write back if it doesn’t!
I am a complete begginer so I am for sure doing these exercises, but I have a question. I too am left handed, but I don’t know which hand I should use traditional grip in. When I traditionalize my left hand, It works and feels right, but my right hand doesn’t do well with standard grip, but It doesn’t bode well with traditional either. To narrow it down, I was just wondering what hand is the “proper” hand to use traditional in, if im left handed do I use left traditional and right matched, or right traditional, left matched? Thanks!!
Dear Murray,
A few weeks ago I had a huge problem playing with good finger control, but after doing this my right hand has improved ten fold. I’m curious about my left hand though (I play traditional) how would we go about that? Is it like the right hand playing “matched” for lack of a better word
Marc,
Thanks for asking. I had the line switch to matched grip in 2005 because it made the most sense in terms of trying to get equal sound out of each hand. I suppose I’ll never quite understand what all the fuss was about. No one worries about what embouchure a brass or woodwind player uses unless there’s a specific musical reason to worry about it.
I stopped teaching SCV after 2005, mainly because of all the negative energy that surrounded the grip debacle. Plus I just needed a good break. So Mike Jackson came on board and the group switched back to traditional grip. If I hadn’t stopped teaching, we’d still be using matched grip, and probably a few other groups might be as well would be my guess. Now that I’m teaching again it seemed appropriate to not wage another grip war.
But let it be said that I have learned to really enjoy all the various grips, which is kind of what this whole Stick Yoga series is about!
My view is this: Whatever way you want to play, let’s get on with it. As long as you can make the kinds of sounds you want to make, who cares how you hold the sticks? Of course in drum corps, there’s a military tradition that exists, a visual complement to the activity, and all of that. I guess I’m not much of a visually-oriented person (and I’ve never been in the military) so I typically don’t care what people look like when they play unless they’re making funny faces or something. If it’s groovy and strong, I like it!
Thanks for your help Murray, I’m just going to have to work harder on my yoga.
Double traditional is an interesting idea, you make a good point about learning how to train muscles. So I’ll have a good reason to break out violent ice cream again.
BTW. Thank you for experimenting with matched back in ’05, I thought it was the most progressive and brave move drumming has seen in a while. I would love to know why you tried it and why you stopped it (although I think I may know).
Thanks again
Marc
Thanks guys, I really appreciate the compliments. Marc, the thumb exercise would be identical to the other finger exercises with the exception that the finger (the thumb in this case) is on TOP of the stick pushing down lightly on it, rather than underneath the stick pulling up on it.
I totally know what you mean about the wrist being hellbent on playing the stroke. I would suggest two things: First, try and find a tempo at which you can feel your thumb being the initiator of the strokes. It might be faster or slower than the tempo you are currently trying, but likely it’ll be slower
Secondly, one of your hands is bound to have a better time of it than the other. It never ceases to amaze me how differently our hands our programmed. For instance, I’m left handed. But my left is stilll weaker than my right. However, it is the more dextrous hand in fingers. My right hand, being the matched grip hand, has less ability with finger techniques than my left, but stronger wrist ability.
I do a lot of exercises with both hands using the same grip: German, French, American, and even Traditional grip (in the RH). When I put the stick in my right hand this way, it’s still awkward, but sometimes I learn things about that grip strictly because it is in a hand that has no pre-conceived notions of its own about the way the grip should behave, if that makes any sense.
So getting back to my point, if you have the time, try the techniques in each hand and see if one hand is better at them than the other. It might be educational!
I think the word genius is thrown around a lot, so I’m just going say it over and over. Genius Murray, genius. I love the stick yoga idea as well as your SCV work. I recently purchased GO! and realized how much I don’t know about percussion.
As far as playing the stick yoga and GO! can you clarify or help me understand the thumb or step 5 fulcrum? I have a hard time keeping my wrist out of the stroke.
Thanks
and oh yeah. . . genius Murray, genius
Marc
Murray you are a genius. Thanks for sharing. The way I do it is the jojo mayer way of doing 16th notes at 80 bpm and increasing by 4 bpm for endurance and strength.
Thank you very much Mr. Gusseck. I have been practicing finger control exercises ever since I was directed towards Jojo Mayer’s “Secret Weapons” DVD and I have felt my level of playing go much further. The pictures are especially helpful, as they show me a new way to work on finger control that I didn’t at first consider. Thanks again, and I look forward to your next installment!
Thanks anande5. I just realized I left that detail out, so thanks to you I’ve updated it. I generally use 16th notes when I do this, but as you indicate, whatever works for you and allows you to feel the fingers working is the right way to go!
Great stuff! I have added this to my practice routine and am enjoying it quite a bit! I am wondering what rhythmic subdivisions you play at the specified 90 bpm. At 90 bpm, I am using eighth notes twice through the sequence and then eighth note triplets twice through the sequence. Looking forward to more articles in this series!