EVERYDAY

EXERCISES
FOR
HANDS
FOR
PERCUSSION
INSTRUMENTS
PLAYER
FROM
GRANDPA
SERHII
Translated from Ukrainian Olena Barabash

KHUTIR CHEREMKHIV

1
 The foreword

In ordinary life, some of the hand movements used by the

percussion performer (hereinafter called the drummer) are rare, so the
muscles that provide these movements are not developed good enough,
and the brain also needs some skills to control them. In addition one
hand, preferably the right one, is better controlled than the left one, and
the drummer needs two equally developed hands. These are the
basic principles of this guide.
But most important thing is: to succeed you need to set your mind
on a long, difficult and grueling road. Day by day, week by week - to
move from one learned exercise to another, and gradually cover them all
and again get back to the once learned exercises, and so on year after
year maintain and improve the level achieved.

General remarks

Exercise tempo and duration of exercise depend on muscle

condition and previous experience and practice of the player. You should
approach the fixing of muscles wisely. If you feel tired you should take a
break. You should increase the total duration of the lessons steadily. But
the minimum time limit for the continuous processing of every single
detail of the exercise should be at least 30 seconds, because of the
nature of the human brain - what is less than 30 seconds is quickly
forgotten.
All movements must be full of resilience, energy and freedom. Do
not leave any beat outside the control of the position of the hands and
rhythm. Pay equal attention to your right and left hands. Avoid extreme
fatigue by reducing the tempo and intensity of exercise.

——————————————————————

2
 I. CHAPTER I
GYMNASTICS FOR HANDS AND FINGERS.
§1. Closed empty palm.
Take your hand to a closed empty palm (to avoid unnecessary inertia, do
not take anything into your hands). The fingers of the hands without tension
easily touch the fingertip to the palm. The thumb covers the index finger.

Place your wrists on any fixed surface (possible on your own knees), so
that the hands are in the air. Do not tear your wrists from the surface.

Exercises.
1.Vertical movements of the closed empty palm up and down:
a) left hand, than right hand;
b) both hands simultaneously up and down;
c) with both hands separately - this is when one hand goes up, the other
at this time goes down.

2.Horizontal movements of the closed empty palm right-left:

а) left hand, than right hand;
b) both hands simultaneously to the right, than to the left;
c) both hands simultaneously to one direction.

3.Circular movements of the closed palm (thumb draws circle)

a) with both hands: left hand goes to the left, right hand - to the right,
and vice versa.
b) separately left, separately right hand right-left (clockwise and
counterclockwise).
c) with both hands to the left, with both hands to the right;

The exercises should be performed in three empty palm variants:

a) palms down;
b) palms up;
c) palms are vertical (against each other).

3
 § 2. Vertically placed hands on the elbows.

Spin the closed empty palm as much as possible in one and

the other direction:
a) left hand, than right hand:
b) simultaneously with both hands in the same and opposite directions.

The pace of exercises §1 and §2:

a) slow;
b) fast;
c) with acceleration and deceleration.

§ 3. Tremolo with one hand.

The hand moves as on exercise §2, but don`t put the hand on the
surface. By twisting the empty palm in one direction and the other, strike the
surface with the thumb side alternately with the side of the little finger, without
lifting the hand. Start slowly, and eventually bring to a smooth, beautiful, thick
tremolo. Practice separately with the left, and separately with the right hand.

§4. Fingers gymnastics.

Tempo is slow and fast. Also, in addition to these exercises and stretches,
in the position of the palm to the surface, hit with your fingers rhythmic
drawings of the 2nd section in all possible variants of a combination of fingers
of one or two hands – would be useful for playing on piano-keys.

4
 CHAPTER II
GYMNASTICS OF RHYTHMIC DRAWINGS

Put your hands on a stationary, preferably not rigid, or stowed with a

carpet surface (to avoid injury to hands). You can put your hands on your
knees. When performing rhythmic exercises, do not tear off the surface your
wrists. The hand is constantly in the position of closed empty palm with the to
the.

§1 Rhythmic drawings without the specified

alternation of hands.

Strike separately left, separately right, with both hands

simultaneously and separately. Even strokes without
accents. Hand lift is maximum. The pace of execution is
slow and fast.

5
 Perform separately with the left, separately with the
right and simultaneously with both hands. The accent is
distinctly bright. To accomplish the accent, the closed palm
rises higher and moves faster than the rest of the non-
accented beats. When doing the accent, do not tear wrists
from the surface. Exercises are performed in different
tempos.

§ 2 Rhythmic drawings with the specified

alternation of hands.

Recommended alternation of hands is indicated by

fingering:

o – stroke with the right hand;

+ – stroke with the left hand;
⊕ – stroke with both hands.

6
7
 The above exercises should be performed at a slow,
moderate and fast pace.

8
§3 Rhythmic exercises with simultaneous
strokes of both hands.

The pace of the exercises is slow and fast.

9
 §4 Exercises with a metronome
Select the tempo for the first beat. Perform in two variants - one starting
with the right hand, the second - with the left hand.

More metronome exercise variants:

a) 3, 2, 1 – maximum tempo for three;

b) 4, 3, 2, 1 – maximum tempo for four;
c) 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 – maximum tempo for five;
d) 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 – maximum tempo for six;
e) 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 – maximum tempo for seven.

§ 5 Grace notes

10
§6 Polyrhythm.

11
 Perform on two surfaces with different sound levels, hitting the
left hand one on one and the right on the other, and vice versa. The
tempo is fast.

——————————————————————

12
 CHAPTER III

DRUM STICKS.

The stick is placed between the first and second phalanx of the index
finger. On the opposite side, the stick is pressed with the fingertip of the thumb
and closes with the middle finger. The fourth finger and the little finger gently
press the stick to the palm for simple strokes, and release it for ricochet
strokes. The palms of the handsare pointing down.

§1 Exercises with sticks

Exercises with sticks are all the same as in Chapter II. Perform them on
different surfaces, both absorbing and good-rebound. Perform at a slow,
moderate and fast pace; loud and quiet, increasing and decreasing the volume,
and with acceleration - from the slowest to the fastest, and vice versa - from
the fastest to the slowest.

§2 Ricochet
The ricochet is made with sticks on the surfaces giving a good rebound.
To perform the ricochet, the wand is held with the fingers: thumb, index and
middle finger. The ring finger and little finger are diverted from the stick. The
stick is directed to the surface, and when the stick bounces after the stroke, the
hand continues to move down, forcing the stick to strike again. So in one fell
swoop two or more beats occured, so that each successive stroke is weaker
than the previous one. The first stroke in the ricochet is always stronger.

13
 Exercise with ricochet.
1.

This exercise should be performed only separately with the left hand and
with the right hand.

2.

By connecting two hands, the drumroll is obtained.

3.

4.

Ricochets are also used to perform grace notes and

other effects.

14
 CHAPTER IV
Gymnastics for feets.

Hitting feets without lifting the heels off the floor. Use all exercises of the
Chapter 2.

——————————————————————

THE GAME
Entertainment, because in addition to speed, the drummer must hit
everything he needed to in time, but meaningfully, with a certain intent. Treat
this entertainment with a smile, just for fun. Nevertheless!

15 measures with 8 beats in each, together 120. 120 divided by the

number of seconds received, we get the number of beats per second.

10 – 12 beats per sec. – II grade.

12 – 14 beats per sec. – I grade.
14 – 16 beats per sec. – Master.
16 – 18 beats per sec. – World Master.

Good luck, inspiration, endurance!

Low bow to all drummers!

Grandpa Serhii

15