Setting up a Practice Pad & learning to play the Rebound stroke

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Before you jump in and decide to buy a full drum set for your child, it is better to buy a SD1 Junior drum stick & Practice pad to start basic training on. There are a wide variety of practice pads available, generally start of with a 6" or 12" pad. 

 You can lay it down on a flat surface, just below the belly button level with the kid playing in a standing position. Alternatively you could buy a Snare drum kit that comes with its own snare drum & stand for practice

 Once you have set these up and have a Metronome (or Smartphone w/ this App) at hand you are now ready to try out your first beat - the Rebound stroke

 To accurately describe a Rebound stroke, imagine throwing a tennis ball on a drum head. After hitting the target, it would bounce back up, or "rebound." To sustain a constant bounce of the ball, all you have to do is push it back down (or "dribble" it) - the drum head does the work of bouncing it back to you

 If you have a stick in your hand & you "throw" it on the drum head, it will rebound - assuming that you don't use any tension or pressure to stop it. The harder that you throw it down, the higher it will rebound

 The trick to playing a relaxed rebound stroke with the stick is to not squeeze the back fingers! The more that you squeeze, the more tension that's produced in the forearm. More tension = slower strokes so STAY RELAXED

 Now using the rebound technique play the following pattern with your Right (R) & Left (L) hands, 
1. R R R R   R R R R   L L L L   L L L L  
2.R R R R   L L L L   R R R R   L L L L   
3.R R L L   R R L L   R R L L   R R L L  
4.R L R L   R L R L   R L R L   R L R L  
5.R L R R   L R L L   R L R R   L R L L  
6.R R L R   L L R L   R R L R   L L R L  
7.R L L R   L R R L   R L L R   L R R L  
8.R R R L   R R R L   R R R L   R R R L  
9.L L L R   L L L R   L L L R   L L L R 
10.R L R L   R R L L   R L R L   R R L L

 Practice a perfect rebound stroke as follows:

  • Day 1: at 60 beats per minute (using a metronome) for 5 minutes per hand    
  • Day 2: at 80 bpm for 5 min per hand    
  • Day 3: at 100 bpm for 5 min per hand   
  • Day 4: at 120 bpm for 5 min per hand

In Summary, here is what you are trying to accomplish:
  • Use a full wrist bend on each stroke - the arm only moves in reaction to the wrist.
  • The hand should stay FLAT (horizontal to the floor) while you play.
  • The elbow and shoulder should be RELAXED & close to the body.
  • The tip of the stick should hit in the center of the drum.
  • Watch yourself in a mirror to see if the stick is traveling straight up and down.
  • Finally, work to keep a STEADY TEMPO (the tempo describes the speed of the music).
See accomplished drummer Mark Wessels demonstrate this technique here from his book "A Fresh Approach to the Snare Drum" 


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