Are you sure you know "how" to practice drums?
Pro drummer Mat Marucci offers a valuable article on this subject.
There is a saying regarding practicing that has been attributed to the concert pianist Vladimir Horowitz and paraphrased by many. One version of this saying is: "If I miss one day I know it. If I miss two days my wife knows it. If I miss three days my audience knows it." That is arguably the consummate statement on the importance of regular practice.
The hours we all put into practicing technique are very important to us. We all do it to maintain or improve our playing. However, often much of the time spent behind the drums is not put to the best use.
Time spent practicing brings up the old debate of quality versus quantity. If the musician's focus is right, more can be accomplished in thirty minutes time than two hours of time with the instrument.
Many musicians do not really practice but "play" their instruments. That is to say that they sit down (or stand) with the instrument and play what they know. This can be great for the maintenance or polishing of certain techniques but, with those exceptions, no progress is being made.
The essence of the practice session should be musicality while striving for perfection and improvement. Even while practicing, the musicians should concentrate on playing music!
Perfection, improvement and musicality are the guidelines for a productive practice session.
Perfection: Every technique should be done as perfectly as possible. This includes hand positions, stickings, stick height, wrist movements, touch, etc. Practicing wrong will develop improper technique - and all execution is affected by technique. To strive for perfection is the first step in practicing.
Improvement: Each practice session should create a challenge for the musician to accomplish something never previously done. This could be a new rudiment, piece of music, or exercise. It could also be a new tempo for an old exercise, etc. And the tempo does not necessarily have to be faster - just different. Old exercise books are excellent ways to improve. (Every book should be played at least twice, because it is never mastered the first time through.) But, whatever it is, some new accomplishment should be attempted at every practice session.
Musicality: The purpose of playing any instrument is to play music. And music should
be kept foremost in mind whenever practicing. Even when playing a rudiment or
technical exercise it should be thought of musically and how it can be applied to music. As stated earlier, musicality is the essence of playing an instrument.
The amount of practice time will vary from individual to individual and also from beginner to professional. A beginning drummer might practice thirty minutes to one hour a day and increase that to two hours per day as he progresses after the first year or so of study. If the student continues to be serious and is looking toward or is in a college program as a music major, the practice time should increase to approximately two to four hours per day. As a struggling career minded professional it can increase to four to eight hours per day. As steady engagements, playing situations and other responsibilities increase with a developing career (and with life in general) practice time then starts to decrease again. It might be one to two hours per day again or maybe two to four hours three times a week - whatever the individual needs are and professional and personal schedule allow. But, whatever the situation allows, practice should be continued throughout one's professional life under any conditions.
Mat Marucci is an active performer, author, educator, and clinician listed in Who’s Who In America and International Who’s Who In Music. His performing credits include jazz greats Jimmy Smith, Kenny Burrell, James Moody, Eddie Harris, Buddy De Franco, Les McCann, Bobby Shew, Don Menza, Pharaoh Sanders, and John Tchicai, to name just a few. He also has seven critically acclaimed recordings to his credit as a leader and others as a sideman, including those with John Tchicai and Jimmy Smith, with many of them garnering four stars (****) in various trade magazines including Jazz Times, Jazziz, and Down Beat.
Mat is the author of several books on drumming for both Lewis Music and Mel Bay Publications, is an Adjunct Professor for American River College (Sacramento, CA) and an endorser for Mapex drums, Zildjian cymbals, Pro-Mark drumsticks and Remo drumheads. He has written numerous articles on drumming for Modern Drummer magazine, the Percussive Arts Society’s Percussive Notes and Percussion News, Pro-Mark’s Upstrokes, and the online drum Magazine Cyber-Drum [www.cyberdrum.com]. Wave files of Mat’s playing can be heard at: http://www.jazzinspiration.com/artist15.html
