Practice Technique: Slow it Down

There is a vast amount that we can learn from learning to play drums. We learn about rhythm and music, but this reflection is more about how we can learn so much about ourselves through learning the instrument. It is an enormous opportunity for personal growth. It provides the opportunity for self-reflection, learning about our tendencies, our strengths and weaknesses, how we deal with adversity, and certainly much more. All of these things can be carried over into our everyday lives, however, in my experience that needs to be done consciously and is much easier said than done.

One of the most significant things I’ve learned through drumming is that to learn things well we have to slow things down. Going slowly is absolutely crucial in order to master a pattern. It allows the mind and body to absorb the information deeply, and increases our understanding of the task in a way that provides a depth of understanding that backstops our abilities when playing faster.

Practicing slowly requires mindfulness, a deliberate conscious effort to remain focused on keeping it slow. Yes, there is the metronome to keep us on track, and we do use that in many cases. But sometimes we practice without a metronome, and that is an important step in order to develop our own internal sense of time, and not grow into “depending” on the metronome. So in this context we’re talking about practicing slowly without a metronome. Something I’ve remarked in my practice over years, as well as the practice of my students, is that we tend to speed up over time. As we play through repetitions of a pattern, there is a (natural?) tendency to speed up. I suppose subconsciously we’re trying to speed it up so we can play it at tempo and start making music out of it. But in the learning process we invariably end up playing at a tempo that we are not yet prepared for, and start making mistakes, starting and stopping, and generally falling into bad practice habits.

So it is not inherently bad that we have this tendency to test the limits of the speed. The bad thing is when we don’t have the presence of mind to slow back down once we hit that limit. That for me is a major difference between a less experience player and a more seasoned one. The less experienced player won’t realize they’ve sped up to the point of falling into the trap of inefficient (and often frustrating) practice, whereas the more seasoned one will only spend a few moments in that zone before bringing the speed back down to where they can be comfortable, relaxed, and able to play the patterns smoothly.

The key to build from slow to fast is to increase the speed incrementally. And to hold tempos. Instead of letting the speed creep up consistently until everything eventually falls apart, increase the speed in small increments (think 5 bpm), and hold it there as long as possible. And then add 5 more bpm, and so on. If you fall off the rails, slow it back down again and start over.

I am aware that this entire reflection can be cured by using a metronome. But some students (beginners) are not ready right off the bat for the metronome. For more experienced players I believe it’s still necessary to practice without a metronome sometimes. Using the metronome to learn what 5-10bpm increments feel like is very useful. But I believe we must learn to feel them without the help of the metronome as well.

Regardless of our personal takes on the role of the metronome in our practice (which is a very interesting topic all on its own!), what I love about this reflection on practice without a metronome is that it uncovers a tendency. A recurring tendency that I’ve seen over and over in others, and in myself. I’m not entirely sure what it means, but I know there is something perplexing about slowing down. I do know though, that when we manage to do it we benefit greatly. We learn with a more profound understanding, and it takes less time than it otherwise would. We learn faster when we do it slowly.

What it means to “go slow” varies from person to person, and that is yet another problem! But if I’ve learned anything over the years it’s this:

Whatever you think slow is, think slower, and then think slower than that. And remind yourself, “There is always room to go slower”.

Now you’re practicing at the right speed.

-Alexander Cook