PUTTING THE ACCENT ON ACCENTS
Developing the skill to play accents helps to strengthen your hands in order to build technique. Moreover, accents are an essential part of playing breaks and solos. Whether it’s rock, jazz, latin, marching or classical music, accents have an important role to play. The following etude is named , ACCENTUATION. It’s from my book, DUET YOURSELF BOOK TWO. The rhythmic makeup couldn’t be simpler since the etude is all with eighth notes. At first glance it’s deceptively easy, but working up the etude to speed without making mistakes might prove a little tricky for some readers. There are just two staff lines—the top one represents the snare, while the bottom line signifies the bass drum. The rhythm in the bass backs up the accents, giving them more punch. Initially, play the etude with alternating sticking leading with the right hand. For added practice reverse the sticking, or play the entire etude with just one hand—first the right, then the left. You could also try playing all accents between the tom toms while unaccented noted remain on the snare. Although the majority of the etude is in 4/4 time, be careful to make the switch to 3/4 at bar 37. Once you develop the ability to play the etude perfectly from start to finish another fun way to play it is by playing all accented notes between the tom toms as I previously mentioned, but this time play the unaccented notes as sixteenth notes using double strokes. That will help develop open drags and open rolls of varying duration. Good luck—have fun!
