I’m very happy to welcome you to part four of my series on practicing drums without a drum set! This episode is all about repetition and shifting patterns. Feel Free to Repeat Yourself Repetition is a very useful stylistic device for reinforcing a musical statement. When you, as a musician, repeat certain parts of your music, the listener experiences a sense of recognition. This repetition and recognition can take the form of drum patterns that are used in a specific section of a song and thus repeat throughout the song’s structure. Repeating individual elements within a musical motif or a drum solo can also work very well. The repetition is particularly effective when it doesn’t always start from the same rhythmic point, but instead shifts the starting point — for example, from the downbeat (on the beat) to the offbeat (between the beats.) Play It Again Clap the half-bar pattern […]

July 2026 Issue