Drumming 101 - The Importance of the Rebound

My personal philosophy or let me call it my “approach to technique” begins with the rebound. My best advice concerning rebound is to be careful not to “choke-off” the stick, let the stick completely rebound. It all starts with the fulcrum of the thumb, the index finger and the middle finger; this is the point from which the stick is going to pivot.. I use a lot of rebound and gravity to let the stick move. I call it using a “relaxed technique”; let the stick do its thing. Allow the stick to move, allow the stick to float, allow the stick to rebound. Remember, don’t try to control the stick; control the rebound
of the stick.

There is a very big difference between controlling and gripping the sticks too tight and letting the stick rebound……or controlling the rebound. It actually comes down to “touch”. Touch means you’re allowing the stick to rebound and you’re going with the rebound. If you think of the stick as an extension of! the drum itself, you’ll understand that the stick wants to perform certain “tasks” and you’re allowing it to do so. You are the one adjusting to the movement of the stick, as opposed to the stick adjusting to what you decide to do.

My best analogy would be to think of the motion of the stick much like the dribbling of a basketball. When you dribble a basketball, you are pushing the ball towards the floor. One never dribbles a basketball with just their wrist, or their arm or with just their fingers. One dribbles a basketball with a certain rhythm and always allows the ball to come back up before dribbling again. As the basketball is coming in an upward motion, one would push it back down towards the floor again. Think of the tip of the drumstick as being the basketball. As you would wait for the rebound of the basketballbefore pushing it towards the floor again, you should wait for the rebound of the stick before “pushing” it back to the drum a! gain. Dribbling a basketball, dribbling a drum stick; very an! alogous. Allow each hit of the drum stick to come up, to float, to rebound before sending it towards the drum again. You’ve got to feel the rebound; practice this and get used to feeling the rebound. Concentrate on nothing more than feeling the rebound with each stroke. It may sound difficult at first, but it will become more natural as time goes on if you start by looking for the rebound.

Here’s something you can try on your own. Hold a stick in your left hand and hit your drum or practice pad in 16th notes, letting your stick pivot on your fulcrum…..now with your empty right hand, hit the top of the stick as it reaches the height of its rebound and gently push it back towards the drum or practice pad as though you were “dribbling” your drum stick. Now do this using 32nd notes and try to get the “feel” of the rebound. As you “dribble” your drumstick you’ll find that you are controlling the rebound of the stick as opposed to controlling the stick ! itself. If you want to go faster, you push it down faster; you “dribble” faster. Relax. Allow the wrist to follow the forearms and relax as the stick pivots on the fulcrum. Not just wrists, not just fingers, not just arms. It’s everything working together. And it’s everything working together in harmony. Try not to isolate your fingers, your wrists or your forearms in any way. On the contrary, concentrate on having them work together in perfect harmony. Keep in mind that there are really no muscles in your wrists; or at best, very little muscle. Most of the muscle that you want to strengthen is in that fulcrum we spoke of earlier; the area between the thumb and the index finger. If you try to “build up your wrist muscles”, you’re really wasting a lot of your time that could be spent on realizing and practicing the importance of the rebound.

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Pat Petrillo is recognized as one of today’s most accomplished and versatile drummers, ! having performed and recorded with a wide variety of artists f! rom many genres of music including Gloria Gaynor, Patti LaBelle, Dee -Lite, Patti Smythe, and Glen Burtnik, as well jazz guitarist Ed Hamilton, and most recently the world music group Oko Jumu. His versatility extends to Broadway in New York City, having played such shows over the years as "A Chorus Line", "Grease", "Footloose" and "Dreamgirls". Whether it’s a "deep pocket" groove, or a creative, sophisticated fill, Pat delivers…with authority.


He is also one of the most sought after educators and clinicians in the business. As a clinician and endorser for Zildjian cymbals, Aquarian drumheads, Regal Tip drumsticks, and the S- Hoop drum hoop, he has conducted clinics and master classes all over the world. He is also a faculty member at Drummers Collective in New York City.


Pat’s new DVD/Book, "Hands, Grooves, and Fills", (Visual Music Media) represents a complete curriculum and methodology for drum set development.. His first video, the popular "Snar! e Drum Rudiments", was one of the first instructional videos ever released.


http://www.patpetrillo.com


http://www.myspace.com/patpetrillo

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