USE YOUR IMAGINATION Allow visualization to assist you in memorizing music. Get a mental image of your instrument along with your hands holding the appropriate sticks or mallets. Imagine your hands playing a section of music accurately on your instrument. This process will challenge your memory and highlight areas that need improvement.
My five-part series on memorization is available in the Percussion Tip Tuesday playlist at youtube. com / marksheltonmusic.
PERMUTATION PROFICIENCY For over three-quarters of a century, percussionists have sharpened their skills with the classic method book Stick Control by George Lawrence Stone. The pages of this time-honored manual include exercises to develop a percussionist’ s ability to play a plethora of right / left permutations in both binary and triplet rhythms, along with material to develop control of flams and short rolls.
Although the exercises in Stick Control are written with standard notation, percussionists with limited music-reading skills can benefit from practicing the basic right / left permutations found on the first several pages.
ONLY JINGLE WHEN IT’ S TIME Picking up or setting down sleigh bells can produce unwanted dings and rattles. Suspending the instrument will allow you to maneuver the sleigh bells into and out of playing position quickly and quietly.
1. Drill a hole in the handle. 2. Thread a piece of cord through the hole and tie the cord ends together. 3. Hang the sleigh bells from a boom stand.
SOUP UP THE SLAP The top corners of a cajon’ s front plate are used for the slap tone. A small tweak will soup up your slap. The front plate of the cajon is usually attached with screws. Remove the screws in the top corner areas to create a gap between the front plate’ s top corners and the side panels. This slight gap will allow for a better slap tone. Try inserting cardstock( as a spacer) to increase the gap. All the tips in this article along with dozens more are in the Percussion Tip Tuesday playlist at www. youtube. com / marksheltonmusic.
For more percussion education, check out my eBook 3-Minute Percussion— available on Amazon https:// a. co / d / 0j51CSWl
© 2026 Mark Shelton Productions
Mark Shelton Mark Shelton is a freelance musician, educational consultant, and content creator based in Dallas / Fort Worth. Mark’ s percussion work has been heard with North Carolina Symphony, Tin Roof Tango, Daystar Television, Gateway Worship, Stonebriar Church, Wichita Falls Orchestra, Victory Channel, Strata Big Band, TALEA, and Dallas Wind Symphony.
. www. marksheltonmusic. com www. percussionforworship. blogspot. com
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