PERCUSSION
THE MARK MAINTENANCE PROGRAM | Mark Shelton
She’ s heard it countless times— the flam-tap and flamadiddle exercise. I’ ve played that warm-up lick for years upon years. My patient wife has also heard me knocking out double stroke breakdowns, buck variations, and a bunch more chop-builders— some of which have been with me since college days.
( Vid 1)
The primary motivation driving my regular ritual with pad and sticks springs from a desire to maintain my technique. Sure, I want to improve, but it’ s of major importance to preserve what I’ ve worked to achieve. Rudimental training serves as the foundation for all of my drumming technique, and certain aspects of those skills influence my approach to keyboard percussion. If you’ re wondering about the makeup of my warm-up and maintenance sessions, read on for an overview of my formula.
The Mark Maintenance Program varies slightly from session to session. Rather than employing a strict routine, I choose from a general outline that includes stretches, basic stroke types, positioning exercises, and permutations— plus a bit of material that pushes my brain and technique.
1. ESTABLISHING FOCUS WITH EASY MOVEMENTS Rather than dive cold into playing chopintensive licks, I prefer beginning a warm-up session with slow, uncomplicated exercises.
A Shrink-Expand-Shrink exercise combines playing simple single strokes with concentrating on counting the increasing or decreasing number of strokes. This short demo( Vid 1) provides an example:
Playing with a click has become a part of my musical life both in recording and live performances. It is my regular routine to set a slow tempo( B. P. M. 65-85) on the metronome and play SLOW warm-up motions with a focus on click alignment and timekeeping.
2. POSITIONING DRILLS Often called bucks, these full-stroke and tapstroke exercises train your hands to control the sticks so positioning( heights) can assist with efficient technique and dynamic control. To get the benefit of buck exercises, it is essential to control the stick’ s rebound after striking so
( Vid 2)
the implement moves to the correct height( position) in preparation for the next note with that same stick. Check out this video( Vid 2) for a demo of a basic positioning exercise:
3. DOUBLE STROKE EXERCISES Producing two sounds in rapid succession with the same stick is fundamental for performing a double stroke roll and quick diddle figures. I consider double stroke exercises essential for maintaining conditioning. Check out the Double Stroke Excercise on the next page.( Ex 1)
4. OTHER FUNDAMENTALS Over the years, I have collected a number of exercises covering basic elements of rudimental technique. Five to ten minutes of these drills keep me fluent with accents, flams, diddles, and various roll types. My friend, Dave Gerhart, offers a free warm-up sheet covering a number of drumming basics. Click this link below to find the printable document along with Dave’ s commentary:
https:// drdavegerhart. substack. com / p / building-a-warm-up-routine-that-actually
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