More than most instruments in the band, percussion involves the entire body – the hands, arms, shoulders, even legs and core all need to have good strength and mobility to make sure they aren’t a roadblock for your creativity.

It’s far too common that players reach a physical limit before they reach their creative one – which is where a focus on technique in practice come in, and why a strong range of motion and mobility in your muscles and joints is critical.

Warming up before you play helps to raise the heart rate for work, helps to focus your attention, and helps you hit the ground running. Taking a little time to warm up before each session helps to prepare your muscles by bringing them up to temperature and increasing blood flow. This, in turn, helps to prevent injury, while also helping you feel more “in touch” with your body.

Percussion tends to be a little different than many other instruments in the band, as most of the instruments in this section tend to live in the band or music room due to their size, and therefore warming the instrument up is less important than warming your body. Which, as mentioned before, is something else that sets drummers apart – playing is a full body experience.

That’s why this week well be focusing mainly on stretches to get your body ready to perform!

Which of these you choose to do will depend on the intensity of your planned practice, and what will be required of your body – but make your you do them after spending a few minutes using a snare and bass drum pad doing rudiments and simple coordination warm-up exercises.

Pre-Stretch 1: Light Jog or Jump Rope

You likely won’t have time for this before every practice or performance, but every once in a while it’s helpful to add a little bit of light activity before you begin your stretching to sort of “wake up” your body and get it ready for the paces you’re about to put it through.

To begin, try jogging in place or up and down your driveway or street. A short, low-speed warm-up helps get the blood circulating well. If you can’t jog, jump rope – using single skips or running in place as you skip – can work just as well. Do this for just a few minutes.

Pre-Stretch 2: Half Jacks

If you can’t jog – or even if you can – try doing 25 to 30 half jacks to get the blood flowing and your body moving. These are pretty much the same as regular jumping jacks, except your arms only come halfway up.

Shoulder Blade Squeezes

Sit or stand with your back as straight as possible and pinch your shoulder blades together. Pretend you’ve got a $20 bill between them that you don’t want to drop. This stretch is fantastic for aligning your back and opening your chest. This is a great stretch you can do anytime – try it a few times a day.

Fist Stretches

Ball your hands into fists with your thumb over your fingers and grip tightly – but not too tightly! Then open your hand as wide as you can. Repeat these four or five times with each hand.

Although we’re calling this section “fist stretches,” this exercise also works very well for your forearms as well. Try squeezing and stretching several times on each arm and you’ll feel the difference when you start to play.

Rotator Cuff Stretch 1

Raise your arms to about 45 degrees in front of you, with your palms facing down. Roll your shoulders so your palms face upwards. Do this as many times as you like to help increase blood circulation. You can also try moving your arms upwards so your hands reach the same height as your shoulders. You can also try starting with your arms at 45 degrees to either side of you, and do the same thing.

Rotator Cuff Stretch 2

Place your arms out to either side of your body, parallel to the floor, with your elbows bent at about 45 degrees again – imagine you’re holding something over your head. Slowly rotate your shoulder until your palm and forearms are horizontal and parallel to the floor.

Just like before, you can try this stretch in different ways, like starting with your arms pointed to the floor, and rotating them upwards.

Seated Hip Flexor

Sitting in a chair or your drum stool, lift one leg and place the outside of your ankle on the opposite knee and sit up as straight as you can. This movement helps to stretch your hip flexors, but you can get an even deeper stretch by slowly and gently pushing down on the knee of your raised leg. Make sure to do this stretch on both sides.

Try Yoga

Of course, the most holistic approach available may be to give yoga a try when it comes to strengthening your body, improving your suppleness, and giving you a time and place to focus your mind.

Radiohead’s Clive Deamer says, “I started practicing Ashtanga Yoga around 2005. If done regularly it provides many physical and deeper psychological and spiritual benefits. In the context of drumming, the most obvious being a strong back and a daily gradual increase in bodily strength awareness and flexibility.

“Yoga also develops your ability to relax. This feeds into good playing and practicing technique, you notice the difference between excessive muscular tension compared to focused and engaged work.”

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