by Bill Losh » Tue May 22, 2001 11:16 am
Hi Eric,
About those cramps, the one in your hand is probably coming because you are still arching your hand while doing the heel toe, think palm fingers. Flaten that hand and let your fingers naturally bounce at the joint where your fingers meet the palm. Djembe players do the arched hand thing and get away with it because they don't need to hit as hard. This will also put your left hand flat on the drum on the second beat so the slap on the third beat with your right hand will be nice and crisp.
The cramp in your forearm is probably because you are just thinking too hard about what you are doing, relax, change the pattern you are playing, maybe one of your Djembe patterns at the same tempo and time then without stopping go back to the tumboa.
I get a cramp in my right forearm when I play marangue because it's a rhythm I have to think about, it's simple, but it isn't natural to me, so I sometimes play the Tambora part with a stick in my right hand just to break it up.
By the way, your explaination of 4/4 and clave was quite good!
Bill