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 High-Speed DrummerEric Okamoto of Clayton gives drumming lessons at Burt's Music Store at The Shoppes of Kildaire in Cary.
He advises his 70-or-so students to consider drumming a sport. They
should warm-up before they take a seat at the set... stretch their arms
and fingers. And train everyday. Practice, rehearse, practice, rehearse,
practice, rehearse. Eric is a champion extreme sport drummer. He won "the fastest
hands" championship at this summer's National Association of Music
Merchandisers' convention in Nashville, Tennessee. A device called a "drumometer" is used to measure how many
times the sticks strike the drum head in 60 seconds. Eric won the finals (and $5000 in prizes... a top of the line drum
set) drumming 1,018 strokes in one minute... that's 17 a second. He
actually did better in the preliminaries... 1,085 strokes... affording
him the current ranking as the 5th fastest drummer in the world. The all-time record at one of these events is 1,165 in 60 seconds. "It's not just a physical sport, it's a mental sport, too. It's
like all the other sports, because you have to put the two together and
be relaxed about it," he said. A little rhythm would help, too. I managed 25 hits in five seconds.
He does 97. He's quick to instruct his students that an important aspect of
playing the instrument is speed... for the artistry as well as audience
appeal. "When people watch a drummer they don't mention his musicality,
they say 'He was fast'. People like that." If you'd like to learn more on this subject log onto http://www.extremesportdrumming.com/ Online producer: Shaun Chavis Benchi Last Updated: Aug 1, 2003 |
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