Rich Stitzel, Creator of the DrumMantra Practice System, shares his method for sharpening your concept of time, fine-tuning your accuracy, improving your pulse awareness, enhancing your knowledge of time signatures, deepening your coordination, and informing your understanding of polymeters. The DrumMantra Practice System utilizes rhythmic repetition to develop muscle memory, allowing for a more connected and expressive playing experience.
The Foundational Series exercises are focused on strengthening the practitioner in 6 key areas: Timing, Reading, Coordination, Polymetric Awareness, Phrasing, Groove
The Foundational Series exercises also help to improve various mental elements of drumming: Focus, Awareness, Presence, Patience, Intention
The book has three different sections (4/4, 3/4, and 5/4), and each has three features: warm-ups, meditations, and rhythmic melodies.
Warm-Ups include various “moving click” audio tracks designed to challenge your attention and awareness as much as your stickings and technique.
Meditations are exercises that begin to explore the relationship between accent permutations and pulse displacements in the 16th note field. These range from 6 to 37minutes in length.
Rhythmic Melodies will challenge your reading, coordination, and concentration as you play melodies with your feet while playing various accent structures and stickings with your hands. There are eight 4-bar melodies in each section.
