Formal and Informal strokes.

Well, since i emphasized "basics" in a previous post, let's start off with this very short post of explaining the aforementioned strokes.

Formal Strokes
Formal playing or formal strokes basically mean the movement of the sticks come solely from either your wrists or fingers.

In formal playing, you are not suppose to be using your biceps nor triceps to facilitate the hitting of the drums, but instead only rely on the facilities available to you wrist down (For most of us, there aren't many options left thereafter.). So if you were to play formally, you would more or less be seen as sitting completely still. Orchestral drummers normally employ this style of playing in order to not damage their cuff links.

Informal strokes
My guess is most drummers' style would fall under this category, and many not even knowing (Or caring!). In a nut shell, informal strokes are strokes in which you start moving your limbs as you play. Simple!

Moeller, and most of these hybrid techniques come under Informal strokes.
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As you can probably deduce, there aren't any advantages to play formally besides aesthetically looking so, just as i did when i first learned about this. But least we now know the terms. :)

The promise of attachments.

Well, let's not call it a promise heh, but i'll try my utmost to have video clips to accompany the things that i will attempt to share (in my limited experience and knowledge), and hopefully it will help with the explanations, which i know WILL be confusing to follow (due to my inability to form coherent sentences...).

Do feel free (This is a disclaimer, of sorts) to comment, criticize (Try to be nice though, i care what people think) and to congratulate (In the fashion of congratulating new parents) if the fancy strikes you.

Habits

i have had the privilege of being tutored by very qualified drummers along my learning of the instrument. A privilege that i sometimes feel is better deserved by other more talented people. But since the blessing somehow fell upon me, i feel obliged to share about what i feel is one of the most important things that a student of drums or percussions should focus on before moving onto practicing chops and rudiments or even playing.

Technique.

Neglected by most our local instructors (i know my first teacher skipped this part), the basics of how to hold a drum stick, the detailed (But unfortunately boring) explanations of different strokes and their pros and cons, pedal techniques, etc are often glazed over for the sake of not boring the student. While in some cases, depending on the age and agenda of the student, this could be a compromise, one wonders if the student might one day have to deal with the most frustrating part of learning: Unlearning.

i'm speaking from experience when i said it was frustrating. For almost 7 or 8 years, i have been playing a certain way: Stroke technique, pedal/foot techniques and even my sitting position until i enrolled to do my diploma in music and realized how many of those were actually bad for me.

So take if from me. Endure the bore of developing good technique, it pays off later when you don't have to spend the time to unlearn things. :)

First post

Naturally, the common notion of a drummer is that he likes to drum and hit things.

Percussive habits notwithstanding, we also like to EAT.

Oh yeah.