Have you been in school and think of getting home or to band practice so you can drum? What do you do at school to get your chops up when you're not drumming?

Sometimes I'll just beat with my hands on my thys or something. I'll just close my fingers and use all wrist and do a roll or something. Or I'll get bored and do flam drags with my hands or pencils. I've also been known to start thinking of a beat to right down and start dutting it or trying to sing a roll or something. But most of the time I'll just beat with my hands when I think of drumming and don't have mallets or sticks. It actually helps a little because you're using all wrist and that means that you can't rely on your fingers so you build up your wrist chops.

Im constantly drumming at school, and where i work. If there is another person in my class thats on the line, we will even run through the whole show just tapping on the desks, much to the dismay of the teacher. When i use just my hands i usually end up working on double strokes or paradiddle rudiments to build up my wristing speed.

i usually just tap on the table or desk, whatever im closest to, and play some troubled spots in the show or excersizes. Sometimes i run the opener..i even do this and am not aware of it at all.

I always think of getting to somewhere where I can drum. I've lost count of how many pairs of sticks I've had taken away by teachers because I pulled them out and started playing the cadence for that year. I've spent so much money to replace sticks it's unbelievable. If I don't have sticks, I just tap with my hands.

LOL same here!!!! One time, i had a teacher make me write a really long paragraph 50 times because i was always constantly drumming on the desk. Its just like an automatic reflex. When there is nothing to do, start drumming!

I start drumming the second the teacher gives us some free time. Its amazing how much stuff you can fix with ur hands or with a pencil or pen if you are really focused on it. When we went to BOA in Atlanta this year my SL and one of the other pit people and me brought a pair of sticks in the bus and started to do warmups and run through the show on the seats of the bus. Some people thought we loved drumming so much that they told us to be quiet since we had a lot of energy.

I sit down and just start taping my feet. I want to eventually do diddles with my feet. I can already do paradiddles at about 100-115. I can do diddles at about 90-100 or so. This is good for double bass pedals on a drumset. I also tap pencils and pens on my desk at school. I use fingers, hands, everything.

have you considered a "Gripmaster"? its one of these squeeze things that is suppose to improve your forarm and such.... its supposed to be good. personally, i dont like it since i like to hit the sticks so im getting chops while increasing skill and articulation, etc at the same time. You might get it at some sports shop or athletic center if you're interested in trying it.

On www.thedrumclub.com a finger exercise is given that I have been using that seems to be quite effective. For your right (matched hand) hold your arm perfendicular to the floor and slap your last 3 fingers on the palm of your hand as fast/hard as you can. You will begin to feel the burn in your arm. For left hand (tradish) do the same thing using your middle 3 fingers. I really think it is effective. Its great to do in class you feel like you've accomplished something each time you feel that burn in your arm.

I've become one of those drummers that if I don’t have a pair of stick in my bad, in my back pocket or with in an arms length I feel naked. I always have drum sticks. I found if you don’t have stick patting you hands against your chest is a great way to practice. Then you can "feel" when you mess up. It works rather well. I also got these little rubber tips that fit on the end of my sticks. They are really slick. They make next to no noise unless you are doing like 9 inch accents. If you keep it to a 3 inch tap, the noise is like none. They're great.

Yeah i was thinking about checking out those silent tip things. I wanted to get someone elses opinion on them first though. I also agree on the "always having sticks with you thing." It just feels wierd if i dont have sticks with me.

i dunno, i find myself snappin my figrs walkin down the hall nowadays. all my teachers hate me cuz i'm constantly double strokin on my desk. i mean all the time. i usually play on my thighs and stuff like that tho.

In my AP government class there is a tenor player, and a drum major. Me and the tenor player will just start playing the show, and sometimes the drum major will start conducting. Its kinda funny.

One time, the snare and tenor players all got ISS (a very long story. It was for "gang activity" Yeah, its kinda funny when 8 white guys get pulled into the office for gang related activity. (Yeah, we got screwed))but anyway. . . . The same tenor player and I had ISS together, and we just started playing the show or whatever. The ISS teacher kept getting mad at us and telling us to stop. I was all like "Sorry, its like a second nature." So then we had to go into paper rock scissors. . . . . (hey, we had 8 hours to blow!)

Yesterday at school I took out 2 pencils and started doing diddles on the desk. Some girl gave a an evil look to stop. So I played on my text book. It was so awesome. My friend was impressed. It basically annoyed everyone else though. But I can tell that they were jealous I can do it and they can't. Some of the thugs were impressed because they always be beatin on the desk doing some rap groove but when they heard me they started bobbin they heads like theys were lovin' it. Next step is to use Sharpie peamanent markers because they are longer than the pencils I was using.

I'm always tapping on things with my fingers or hands or even pencils. It usually makes people mad cause I do it when I'm thinking hard, and I don't even realize it. Back in marching band season, I used to run the entire show using my fists as the bass drum parts and hands as snare. (Usually having bass drum rhythms by my side helps my snare playing when I go over our show). But I have found that tapping on things constantly isn't OCD or terrets or anything. (Contrary to further belief). It actually helps your sticking.

Yeah, It helps build muscle to contract your fist repeatedly. Its actually pretty tiring.

I'm always getting yelled at for tapping on the desk. wether it with pensil or just my hands. My one teacher gave a speech on how every year she has a student "tapping his/her way through class". It was actully really funny.

I also start tapping when im thinking hard or trying to figure out a dang math problem. Most of the time i find myself doing single 4's with my right hand. I think all this tapping we do in between classes and during helps <s>[b]snugglebunny[/b]</s> [color:"red"]a lot</font>. It's seemed to improve me.

Yes, I would have to completly agree with you MrWooton, because drumming is not only muscle memory, but part of the mind as well. If you cannot understand the way a particular rythem is supposed to sound in your head, then you probably cannot play the rythem. Thus, tapping on a desk can really help one to understand the concepts of variouse rythems.

That's probably the smartest comment I ever made...

i always hack...i'm horrible with it. i'll be sittin in class doin diddlys and hten i have to write something,so i'll hurry to finish so i can stop wanting to tap..its awful. v. fun, but awful. lol

i have got into so much trouble because i tap in class. normally the desk is what i tap on. not only do the teachers yell at me, but i get a lot of crap from the kids around me that aren't in band. i have gotten my sticks taken away from me and i've had my knuckles smacked with a ruler and everything. i still drum though.

I'm always drumming, whether at work or at home or even when i'm about to fall asleep. Not with sticks or my hands, but in my head. For some reason i'm always subconciously drumming. I think thats why i don't need to practice as much.

i like practicing with fingers- i always use my middle fingers for 16th, triplets, or 8s and then if i want diddles i use middle amd forefinger. That way I can hear how the rhythms go- now I just have to get it on drumsticks...

at school i pretty much drum everything with my knuckles against the desk. flams and paradiddles are what i ususally go with, it helps build the wrist i guess.

at work though, we have this huge 14(or so) inch knife, that is perfect for diddling. holy god my manager hates that crap. hes like, not only are you not being productive, youre being annoying too.

some people just dont get it, eh?

Thats why i don't bang on things, unless i'm in the music building. So if they ever complain i tell them to leave the music building or put up with it.

We carry our real feels around school and play on them all day. Good thing to break those long silences in boring classes.

I was once made to tap all through my lunch in high school for tapping. So being the jerk that I am I stopped and got my pad and my sticks on the way back to her class to be "punished". So I show up with the sticks and the pad and ate a bag of chips and practiced my corp music for the upcoming camp. Boy was she pissed. Oh the look on her face.
I loved that day especialy since I did not like her in the first place.

When I'm sitting in class I do an open roll on my legs, with all wrist. It actually has helped out my chops and doubles. Although my teachers get pretty pissed at us because half of the snare line is in my English class and we are constanly being yelled at by our teachers.

I have used the slap your fingers against the palm of your hand thing, I can't seem to get the left hand right, anyway does wrist curling really work? has anybody noticed a significant difference?

[b]snugglebunny[/b] of times I click my teeth together to a song that our Line just learned and tap with my hands or feet.

Paradiddles! All the time. My teachers hate me for that. During PE -before class starts- I usually complete a few 8/7's and Triplet Partials at different tempos, then I just go back to doing paradiddles.

Im usually carrying a pair sticks where ever i go. Anytime that im not practicing piano or in school im usually beating the wall, my shoe or my lap to practice on.

I'm in ap and honors......and since I do my work..I get more respect than the rest of drumline since they have regular *some what irrelevant.....but oh well*..anyway, I just take my sticks out and drum anyway..lol..but if the teachers are actually lecturing us on something "very important" I just pat on my legs, desks, anything....people don't care anymore....they really have respect for the drumline.....=)

My drum teacher has showed me some really good "practicing without sticks" tequniches. First to build up your "snare chops" slap your four fingers against your palm as fast as you can for perferably an half an hour. When one hand gets tired, then switch off to another.
To build wrist chops take the butt of your sticks in the normal position with the tip of the stick resting under the arm near the elbow. Hold the hand tightly around the tip of the stick. Bend the wrist back until the stick butt is 6-8 in. from the elbow. Return the butt to the arm. Repeat motion and increase the speed.
Then the third excercise is for working on traditional position/ bass drum/ mallet chops. Hold your hand in a fist. (or like you're holding a key) Then start twisting your lower arm back and forth as if you are turning a key. Do this as fast as you can until you simply can't twist your arm one more time then switch over to the other hand. Hope this helps.

~Taiko

Whenever I don't have a drum, I am ALWAYS tapping on a desk, table or mostly my legs. It won't help technique but it will definatly help your playing. <img src="/threads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I usually practice diddles and 4-on-a-hands as fast as I can I find that it really helps.When I'm around other people on the line we play some cadences.Then other times I just do it to show off.

I almost never practice drumline with my hands.....but i do like to play a funky double bass drumset beat. The hi hat is change in my pocket and the snare is my left knee. I do in the middle of class and everyone looks over amazed <img src="/threads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

I drum on books. And my set snare at home

I always drum on my desk or on my chest, usually rolls, my part for the show, or a slowed down snare solo, using all wrist.

wow, this brings back memories. the quad cap'n and myself had latin one together my junior year and we were conveniently positioned across the room from each other. i would give 4 taps with my pencil and we would play one of our cadences together from across the room with pens or pencils until the teacher yelled at us. then we would tap with open hands on the desk in the same fashion. she would yell again. then we would play them out by tapping our feet. then she would threaten detention and such. imagine how mad she was when we quit translating latin in class one day and started writing our own language for our drumline. it was funny. but now i usually jsut play with my hands on my chest or stomach when i'm standing around or sometimes with my teeth while i'm taking a test or something.

well I'm one of those drummers that feels naked with out my sticks too, I usually have them in a side pocket in my hands or just carryin them around. I have my real feel in my bookbag and my big notebook of drum stuff, other than my beatin on the desk, the book gets just as much attention. in 8th grade, I had this one teacher that hated my sticks, I could just take them out to show someone a visual and I'd have to take them to the front, she was fun, but she hated my sticks, can't have that kind of teacher, but I was still beatin on the desk and playin with my nails( I have really long nails for a guy) in my MS Studies classes I even learned how to do a one-handed roll with my pen and the desk, one of the quickest ways to get into THE DESK(basically it's one of the broke desk in the class, the actual desk part isn't connected to the chair so it's leanin down) plus I have a stress ball that'll put in my pocket and pull out the sticks <img src="/threads/images/graemlins/70383-peace.gif" alt="" />

i ussualy tap anywhere with my pencil at d'office,it's help me for concerntrate to my work (well my boss it's not agree with that...)sometimes i do 8th and diddles with a smooth finger on my keyboard...but anyway basically u can do it everyway u want....

Carry my sticks around with me <s>[b]snugglebunny[/b]</s> [color:"red"]a lot</font>. Use my hands mostly to be quiet in class:D

To my knowledge, more than half the game of drumming is in your head. If you sing your parts to yourself in your mind as if you were playing them, it can be very effective. While it will not build hand chops so to speak, it should dramatically increase your mental ability if done right.
While in Crown, before every show we would gather around and sing our parts. It may sound kind of cheezy but it sure made us play cleaner.
I believe a "tick" comes from the mind, not the hands. Once you learn how to control your mind, then as long as your hands are decently in shape you should be able to play cleaner than ever!!!
-Nate <img src="/threads/images/graemlins/70409-waytogo.gif" alt="" />

you can practice rudiments with just hands. You can really build chops even play some triplet rolls with just hands. Coordination is something you can work too. I often learn how to mark time to exercises in class at school.

In school, SCV double beat with pencils and using various wrist and finger exercises; I usually have sticks around the house, so I just play on a pad.

I run through through show music or do some rudiments with pencils or just my fingers if class starts to drag, but it usually doesn't last long. My teachers and classmates tend to get annoyed easily.

I have the worst habit of drumming during class. I just hear this beat in my had and just totally rock out on my desk. I also drum on nose. A fellow drumline member passed that onto me. That's what happens when you're with the same people for a long period of time.

I always play sprees on the sides of the desk with my thumbs.

When i'm without sticks, i tend to focus more on the stuff that I can't play. I'll sit there and run it through my head as if i were playing it, then i'd play them really slow with my fingers to get a feel. Then by the time I get in a position to use sticks, the licks (rudiments, etc...) seem a little more familiar to me.