Put your hands in the air, like you just don't care!

 Independent coordination is a funny beast. One level of challenge is to play 2 or more rhythms simultaneously. Another challenge is to play differing accents or dynamic levels between limbs. The issue I want to deal with in this post is when the hands are moving to different drums or cymbals at contrary rates or distances.

Here's the first example, that I posted awhile back on Instagram. In it I'm dividing the Jazz Ride rhythm with the RH between the hi-hat and ride cymbal (ride cymbal on 2 & 4)  and the LH is filling in the second and third triplet of every beat and moving surfaces every quarter note.

#2- LH Shuffle between Hi-Hat and snare, RH Jazz Quarter note triplets between the toms.

#3 Same as above, except RH moves between bell of cymbal and small tom.

#4 Both hands play consecutive str. 8ths. LH moves between hi-hat to snare drum on 2 & 4, RH plays downbeats on cymbal, upbeats on large tom.

#5 Same but with order of downbeats and upbeats in RH reversed.

#6 Back to shuffle, but it's in the RH between cymbal and snare, and the jazz quarter note triplets between hi-hat and small tom in LH.

#7 A little more challenging. Nanigo bell pattern12/8 beat in RH moving between bell of cymbal and snare,  LH fills in the rest of the rhythm and alternates between cross stick on snare and small tom.

#8 Same as above but both hands basically move randomly. This is a great way to check if a sticking or rhythm is internalized.

#9 Cascara w/RH moving between rim of snare and floor tom, LH filling in on cross stick and moving to small tom on beat 4 of second bar.

#10 Both hands play 12/8 rhythm. LH moves from hi-hat to snare on 2 & 4, RH alternates between ride and small tom.

#11 Similar to above, but RH plays the back beats.

#12 Another shuffle vs jazz quarter note triplet variation…

#13 Back to cascara, and only the RH moves, but I just like the sound of it! :) 

Finally, the last 2 were inspired by an exercise Bellarmine University's Terry O'Mahoney originally wrote for tympani, and involved the hands playing in 2 different time signatures and rates. In both of the videos below, I'm playing dotted quarters with my RH while I play a seven beat on/off pattern with the LH. Add a bossa foot pattern, and it creates a nice challenge and some interesting textures. 

The great thing about moving our hands about is we can breathe new life into anything we play, simply by creating new combinations of tones and thusly, new drum melodies. Have fun!