When the women were drummers...

[rachelnguyen]

It has been awhile since this thread started. I am glad to see it is still going strong.

In my class, the two strongest players are women. (Me and the dun dun player!) I am not sure sex has anything to do with it though. We just WANT it more. We practice. We work.

Since last we spoke, I have joined a gym to work out my upper body. And I still get great blisters. Lately it is my finger tips on the ring and pinkie. I think it is because I am starting to play my tones and slaps better and those fingers are getting used in a way they haven't before. And yeah, I try and play hard and fast. Plus, my drum is tuned to within an inch of it's life. It is like hitting a concrete wall. But, oh, the sound is so sweet... in that Malian kind of way!

My friend Lisa doesn't have callouses. But that is because she plays the dun duns, LOL.

My teachers hands are one big callous, especially at the top of his palm. But I think it gives him better sound.

Lately my teacher has asked us to start rehearsing with him so we can play out with him sometimes. I am thrilled beyond belief. He says he wants me to learn to solo. Gulp.

All Love+
Rachel

[e2c]

Maybe this is - for me - about technique from other percussion instruments (mostly Middle Eastern frame drums and Arabic tabla, a.k.a. "dumbek"). I've been studying both since the late 1980s and one thing you don't need (or want!) is to use a lot of force to draw (or pull) sound from the drums. It's more a thing of realizing that the skin is a membrane, and that you can use a pretty light touch and still get big (loud) sounds.

I think for me, this has transferred over to djembe - it's not about hitting the skin, so much as it is body mechanics and figuring out what I need to do to get a nice, clean/clear sound (for all strokes) with the least amount of effort. The "effort" part is important, because when you're playing for dance classes, you need every extra ounce of energy to put into playing, to helping the dancers. (Though I did play too hard, with too much force, for the 1st several months after I began taking lessons; that's changed a lot.)

When i 1st started taking classes last spring, I was very out of shape and was always exhausted after lessons - it would take several days to recover. (all that upper body exercise!) I had to start exercising in order to be able to bring myself up to the right level of energy to play, and that took a while. I feel *so* much better now, and am in better shape than I have been in years! (am probably a bit older than some of you... )

Still, i don't believe callouses are something that

1. inevitably happen
2. should be a goal

I used to take conga lessons with a man who had ruined his hands when he was young, and just starting out. He plays constantly (is a professional musician) and has no callouses. He attributes this to having had to completely re-learn technique from the ground up.

The other thing: warming up (stretches of wrists, hands, forearms) is REALLY important. I've been sidelined twice by RSIs and you *don't* want to go there. It seems that many djembe players don't take good care of their hands, and... if you want to be playing well (and healthily) a few years down the road, you need to do this. (Also keep using moisturizer, using pumice to "shave" down your callouses, etc.) Good drumming is not - I think - about wrecking your hands. you've only got one pair - please treat them kindly!

One last thing; tape isn't evil.

[rachelnguyen]

Hey e2c,

I suppose I would be more inclined to tape up my fingers if my teacher didn't get so excited about my callouses. He says it means I am working hard... and I have to say I get a kick out of them, too. I did use tape when my skin started to split and I bled on the edge of my djembe once. It worked well. And this week, the tender new skin on my finger tips needs protecting, so tape it is.

But I am not really worried about my hands. I think all musicians have to build up their bodies for their instruments. Flutists' lungs get bigger. Guitarists' fingers get calloused. Pianists stretch their fingers to gain reach. It is just part of the deal.

I agree with you about body mechanics. Today, my teacher worked us unmercifully and after an hour of hard playing, I realized that I will have to learn to be more judicious about my movements,especially on the skin, if I want to be able to keep that pace up for any length of time. My arms were very sore, too, but I think that is more about building the muscles, which means more practice!

[e2c]

I hear you on getting a kick out of your teacher's reaction, etc.

Would write more now, but my right arm feels like it's going to fall off, after a fairly strenuous evening of a rehearsal + dance class! [goes off to find heating pad]

You might like this article: http://www.lpmusic.com/Play_Like_A_Pro/ ... hands.html

[e2c]

One other thought: I tune down a bit for practicing and playing at home. It's a *lot* easier on my hands - you might want to try letting the skin have a bit more "give" when out of class.

Other than that, I think using a lot of moisturizer (and other protective stuff) is very helpful - no sense having callouses splitting!

[e2c]

Rachel, I think working on upper body strength and overall conditioning is a good goal - this kind of percussion is very athletic. I found that I had to start exercising in order to get myself to a decent level of fitness when I 1st started studying djembe. Practicing and playing regularly is helping me to keep fit. (This is all quite different than playing frame drums, etc. where most of the energy is quite contained and it's more a question of small hand movements plus a lot of work with individual fingers.)

As for the blisters (etc.) on your ring and little fingers, that really is (to me) weird - like a technique problem, maybe? You shouldn't be having that kind of thing happen, really. Are you playing too long at a time without breaks? You might want to have your teacher take a look at how you are using your hands to produce tone, slap and bass - there might be something that needs a bit of adjustment.

My teacher does a lot of work with his hands (finishing and heading djembes), along with playing regularly for several dance classes plus teaching. His callouses are minimal, and he is very careful about using skin lotion (in his case, shea butter) and trying to take good care of his hands in general.

[rachelnguyen]

Hey e2c,

Is your teacher from Mali? I wonder if there are differences in teaching style from one country to another.

My teacher has told me that different people play their slaps and tones differently... but he has certainly watched me enough to know if I am doing something wrong or harmful. (I play with him for several hours every week, between rehearsals and classes and lessons.)

As far as taking a break, during classes the pace is relatively laid back, but during rehearsals we played hard for about an hour an a half without much of one. He is trying to build up our endurance for performances, so he is working us pretty hard.

I think the big thing is that I am playing a LOT. I played for 2 hours or so on Saturday, 2 hours today, 3 hours on Friday. Most of that playing time had plenty of breaks and resting between, but it is a lot of time with my hands on the skin.

Bottom line is, I am working with a teacher who is keeping an eye on me. If I was doing something wrong, he would tell me.

And about exercise: I danced for a couple of hours on Friday and felt GREAT!!! I definitely feel more fit these days, LOL!

Love,
Rachel

[rachelnguyen]

Actually,

I have to laugh about the callous issue. I just remembered that last week after rehearsal, my teacher had to tape HIS third and forth fingers. So I am apparently playing with the same form!

Rachel

[e2c]

Hi Rachel,

To answer your Q re. my teacher, he's American, but works with Menes Yahuda (who is a certified Tam Tam Mandingue instructor), and has studied with a variety of people, mostly from Guinea - as well as one Malian, Abdoul Doumbia.

Maybe your teacher is imitating the hand position used by his teacher(s)? (Just a guess on my part.)
But it does seem odd to me, in that the force with which the hand is touching the drum (when playing tones, for example), should be pretty evenly distributed across the part of your palm that makes contact with the skin. Are you curving your hands so that the outer edge of your palm + ring and little fingers are coming into contact with the head before the rest of your hand, I wonder?

As for playing time, etc. - I think a lot of this is about touch, quite literally. You really don't need much force to bring sound from a good drum. If you can pace yourself during practice (playing more quietly, etc.), I think you'll find that it will not only help the overall health of your hands, but will also begin to give you more of a feel for the great variety of accents and "colors" that can be produced on djembe.

It's hard for me to *not* play harder (i.e., to the point of overplaying!) when I'm in class, simply because there are a lot of other drummers there, too. So it's something that I definitely have to keep an eye on at those times, and I'm not always successful.

[bops]

Hope you don't mind if I jump in here...

It's completely normal to develop callouses. Blisters are a part of the process. If your technique is still developing, or if you consciously make a change in your technique, expect to see some blisters forming for a little while until you develop a callous there.

It doesn't mean that your skin should be mangled and chapped and cracked. You can have perfectly smooth skin with a nice hard callous underneath. This does help your sound. Keep in mind that it takes TIME (years) to get to the point where your hands are nice and smooth and still sound crisp and clean on the drum. It may never happen. Everyone is different, and everyone has to tape up from time to time. But having callouses on your hands are not necessarily a sign that you're doing something wrong, rather that you're working hard and developing your technique.

[Dugafola]

Menes is my boy!!! we were in guinea together in 2005.

sick sick sick percussionist...2nd soloist for Farafina Kan.

[e2c]

Menes is my boy!!! we were in guinea together in 2005.

sick sick sick percussionist...2nd soloist for Farafina Kan.

I haven't met him as yet, but am hoping to take some classes with him over the next few months.
(Farafina Kan is the bomb!)