Hey folks, as I put the finishing touches on the Roadmap Part 2 (a grandiose-sounding title, but it's just all the things that have worked best to make me and my coaching students better boiled down into one video series), I wanted to be sure to devote a little time to what's fast becomming my go-to exercise, both in my own practice and with my coaching clients, the Looping Exercise.
As I say in the video, it bridges the gap between learning exercises and pure improvisation. Say you've learned a beat, chop, or concept well enough to vary it a little bit, but you're still not totally comfortable improvising with it. What I like to do is "make loops" of myself playing. Start simple with whatever concept you're using (in this example I use about the most basic beat you could imagine), and make improvise variations - slooooooooooowly. Stay on each one for around ten minutes, as if you were playing exercises out of a book. There are only two rules:
- You have to stay with each loop until it's killing - no cheating! That means the sounds are consistent, your limbs are playing together, not flamming, and it feels natural to your body.
- Once each loop is good, you must move on. Challenge yourself to invent variations. But just remember, anything you choose, you have to "make it right". (I've been watching a lot of Holmes Inspection;).
If you haven't downloaded Part 1 of the Roadmap, you can get it for free below, and part 2 will be emailed to you automatically when it's released.