I have heard professional drummers say, “I don’t care about technique at all. 1 am only interested in the music.” I have also heard top players say, “Of course technique is important. Without it you can’t play anything.” It would seem that even top professionals don’t agree on the subject of technique. Perhaps this is due to the fact that they are not all using the same definition of technique. After all, what is technique? First of all, technique is “control”—the ability to play something evenly, consistently and in tempo. Control is the result of practice and listening. To play something evenly requires the ability to hear when something is not quite right. It also involves patience, which is the key element of practicing. Secondly, technique is the ability to produce a musical sound. Again, listening is very important. It means being able to hear the difference between just hitting […]

April 1985 Issue