The internal time clock …

Tick, tock.

Where did I first hear this phrase? From a teacher I used to study with? From a drum book or video? Did I even make it up myself while talking to one of my students? I’m not sure, but it doesn’t really matter- the cool thing is, what it means to develop it.

Count. Count with a metronome? This can be a great thing to do at intervals during practice. Though some aren’t so sure. Count out loud? While rehearsing at home on your own, this is good, when starting out.

But what is the goal? Developing the internal time clock!

Anyone who’s ever listened to old school Hip hop and held their hands up at the end of the bar when the drums stop early and the rapper finishes their phrase then smashes in again on the one knows. They know the importance of holding a tempo inside and externalizing it through the kit/percussion after, not as part of the initial process.

It’s a whole extra level of creation to display what we want to do musically to the outside world (i.e. not in our heads!). The internal time clock is the most powerful weapon in our arsenal if we want to do this. Using your mind, play the beat, breathe the tempo, then externalize the groove. Find it in your head, BEFORE you find it with your sticks. You’ll be slicker, you’ll make more heads bob, and you’ll have more people want to work with your drumming in their projects.

 I’ve been working on creating some fantastic exercises to help people develop their internal time clock, and the relationship they have to it, and the results are starting to show, even with a disappointing amount of practice sometimes. It’s the root of the groove.

 Listen- count – feel –THEN play!