16th Notes and Sextuplets This month we’re going to isolate timing and sticking gear shifts between 16th notes and sextuplets (aka 16th-note triplets). These exercises are great for improving your hand technique as well as your timing. Using singles and doubles, we’ll cycle through four applications of the two stickings and metric rates. We’ll begin by playing both note rates as single strokes. Then the 16th notes will be played as single strokes while the sextuplets are phrased as double strokes. For the third variation, the 16ths will be played as double strokes and the sextuplets will be played as single strokes. The last application is to play both note rates as double strokes. As in previous articles, the exercises will be in the 4-2-1 format, where you play four counts of each variation, then two counts of each (repeated), and finally one count of each (repeated four times). We’ll […]

November 2014 Issue