First things first - grab your transcription below (it’s free): 👇👇👇
I like to create coordination exercises for impatient people.
I’ve long championed the somewhat controversial idea that exercises are useful in direct relation to their utility in real life.
Hence - abstract coordination exercises with zero resemblance to any real-world situations…you might as well be practicing stunt driving to improve your rock climbing.
Except…
Except.
When multimodal thinking is the point. For example, when I decided it would be cool to practice a 9-beat pattern with my feet, and play the Allan Dawson Rudimental Ritual over that (still in 4). That taught my brain a lot of unorthodox ways of hearing rhythm and orchestration, and I believe it’s a big reason why Nasheet Waits’ playing made sense to me when I encountered it later.
So it’s in that spirit that I offer this week’s lesson.
Does it bear a strong resemblance to anything you’re likely to play on a cruise ship, or in a wedding band. No.
Will it spark your brain to think creatively, and open up new forms of muscle memory which might themselves inspire more novel ways of negotiating everyday challenges?
Emphatically yes.
I got the idea from watching Steve Lyman’s Instagram videos, and imagining, as a thought exercise, what his nightmares must look like. There would be flams, there would be related rates, and there would be ride cymbal.
Next I decided to throw in a decidedly-8020 approach to coordinated independence: a beat you can’t “fake” unless your limbs are truly occurring together when they’re supposed to be.
Enjoy this one!