Part of being a mallet percussionist is learning how to play fast runs. Mallet players always want to play them, they compliment phrases nicely, and theyâre flashy. However, when you hand someone a run, they struggle. Being that I just got back from a drum corps weekend where we broke down a lot of runs in the show (including a 4 measure long 16th note run at 155bpm, with inside independents), Iâll share some tips that help me out when learning runs!
1. Write in your notes
This is typically something you should take 5-10 minutes doing anyways. Sight-reading music is great, but writing in notes helps you know exactly what notes youâre playing. Itâs hard to tell from far away sometimes, especially with notes above and below the staff, if the note is on the ledger line or off, or if the accidental from the last measure carried over, or just little reminders that itâs a Bb, not a B natural. Now, you donât have to write in every note, but you can. I found that writing starting notes, ending notes, turnarounds, and jumps in, and assuming everything else is linear works for me. If a part repeats, like measure 40 above, write in the pattern, and then it changes on beat 4, write in the change.Â
2. Donât play it
No but seriously.Â
If youâre playing a run and canât get it, literally put the mallets down and just visualize it. Figure out the shape, use all of those notes we wrote in, turnarounds, accidentals, jumps, figure out where your hands go. going through it with just your fingers or just airing through it can sometimes help you figure out muscle memory. Too often does an instructor say âOkay, go back to C, look through what we just played,â and people immediately just start hacking. Literally look through. Sometimes the mental aspect of it factors in a lot. Just knowing the shape of the run helps.Â
3. Slow it down
Naturally, we see a fast run and immediately want to lay into it at show tempo. We tend to learn it wrong, make bad habits and wind up playing wrong notesâŠnot to mention get chopped out quicker. Play it slow. Go through it way under tempo. Try to get through it continuously slowly. Once you get it at a reasonable tempo, throw in a few reps of the actual tempo, see how youâre doing. If you can move your hands in the shape of the run, sometimes it happens. Wrong notes here and there but you get close.Â
4. Break it down
There are parts of runs sometimes where you nail a measure, nail a measure, but canât nail both measures. Or you canât hit a turnaround or skip in a measure. Break it into two chunks. 1e+a 2e+a 3, 3e+a 4e+a 1. Play them separately but with rests in between. After that gets comfortable, do them like you did, and then add the run together. 1e+a 2e+a 3, 3e+a 4e+a 1, 1e+a 2e+a 3e+a 4e+a 1, with about a beat of rest in between each phrase. It helps a lot. I actually have my front ensemble play a variation on Green/Krauss scales called Sprints, which is literally that. CDEFGFEDC rest CDEFGFEDC rest CDEFGABCD, and then when you do the final run at the end, CDEFG rest GABCD rest DCBAG rest GFEDC rest, and then the whole run fast up. So it kind of breaks that C-to-high-D run down into itâs own thing. Definitely a good technique. Also what can help is doing that, and then adding on the next sixteenth note partial everytime you get comfortable. 1e+a 2, 1e+a 2e, 1e+a 2e+, etc. Helps build continuity.Â
5. Donât abandon the approach
Too often, people will do all of this, do everything right, and then still when theyâre learning it and they go too fast too quick, they freak out. They tense up and squeeze and lock their wrists and play from the elbow and get no organic rebound and are working for every note. No technique in the WORLD teaches anything completely arm based. Think about your technique, itâs there for a reason. Keep loose, keep the right grip in your hand, stroke from the wrist, use your arm as a shock absorber almost. When playing on a keyboard, thereâs no rebound like a drum, we create our own rebound with our stroke. So in order to do that, you have to have that piston stroke and bring it back up and let your arm breathe and let the mallet bounce up. Also all too often, people think FAST RUNS = NO FINGERS, PUMP PUMP PUMP. Not entirely true. You should make sure you have your clear fulcrum on the mallet and your back fingers around the stick. There can be breathing room cause youâre not squeezing, but keep your fingers on the stick and let that shock absorbing bounce happen but control it.Â
If you do all 5 of these things, I can almost guarantee youâll be able to play any run. Note: most of the things I just said are mental. Obviously chops are a big part, but if you make chops the only variable in the equation and do all of the other work, you will be fine.Â
Coming soon: How to Play Chords Easier Than You Think!
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