Percussionistic

Achieving speed and a resonant sound are essential aspects of playing good drums. One of the most important skills to help this is being able to bounce the sticks on the head of the drum as much as needed. For a full vibrant sound, you will need maximum bounce, for a restricted sound you might need to go to the extreme of a “dead stroke” where the minimum bounce is happening. Several things can be done and worked on to improve bounce, and help with the quality of sound and speed.

• Fulcrum point: This is one of the basic things that is usually taught to beginning drummers. Finding the sweet spot where the stick is held to produce maximum bounce. This is usually around one third the distance from the butt of the stick, but it changes from person to person and from stick to stick. It’s up to the drummer to find it by experimenting.
• Grip: The grip you use has some effect on the amount of rebound you get. I feel that the traditional grip with the left hand allows for more rebound. The French grip is a bit different than the German in terms of how the fingers are wrapped around the stick.
• The angle at which you hit the head: At the moment of contact (the stick’s tip with the drum head) the angle between the surface of the head and the stick needs to be quite close to zero degrees for maximum rebound. The closer you get to ninety degrees, the less rebound you get.
• The path the stick goes through: Imagine the stick is forced to go through a path that lies between two walls that are very close to each other, with enough space for a stick to pass. This is the optimum path for maximum rebound. If this path is tilted, then you will loose a lot of the momentum created. Make sure the stick is traveling in a straight line as much as possible.

For me I know that I’m getting good bounce and rebound when two things happen:

1. Vibration in my hand and arm: If the stick is vibrating and the vibration is transferred to my  bones and I can feel it, then there is good rebound.
   
2. When it takes less effort to sustain the bounce: The first hit in a roll will require a certain amount of energy, to lift the stick and hit the head. The rebound will provide an initial push for the second hit, and so on. So when I’m spending less energy on sustaining the movement than on beginning, I know there is a healthy rebound.

Most of these things are based on feeling and experiencing, and your body will resonate with pleasure (or not) depending on how you are using the sticks.