train imitation speed practice?

Here's what fellow student Rene has provided for you (he's been through this material)...

Speed building technique for practicing Train Rhythms - Read all the way through before practicing

Set your metronome to a tempo that you can comfortably play at using either the tongue or throat technique in sixteenth notes (we set the sixteenth note pattern first because this will represent the top speed that we can play cleanly and with some endurance for a small period of time). Meaning that for every tick of the metronome you are executing four tongue sounds or throat sounds - two inhale and two exhale. The key here is to be able to play it cleanly with good tone, even pitch and without losing the tempo with the metronome for at least 1 to 2 minutes.

Listen to playing example #1 - I established my starting tempo out at 100 bpm on the metronome. Once established I started playing eighth notes then switched to the sixteenth note pattern and then back and forth between the two.

When you start to get tired and begin to 'slip' out of tempo because your tongue or throat is getting tired then you need to slip into an eighth note rhythm where you are playing two notes per beat (2 in-hale and 2 exhale). The key here is move into this rhythm without stopping your playing. What this does is gives your tongue or throat a rest for 30 or so seconds from the faster sixteenth note rhythm while still forcing yourself to continue playing and building up endurance in your tongue and/or throat at the slower tempo. Once you have played this rhythm for 30 seconds or so then immediately jump back into the faster sixteenth note rhythm again for as long as you can play it.

Once you are comfortable and able to play the sixteenth notes at that rhythm for 1 to 2 minutes then you are ready to move the metronome up 5 points. Then start over again. When I move the metronome up I like to start with the eight note pattern first then jump into the sixteen note pattern and then back down when I get tired. By doing this in small 5 point increments the speed gains are slow and steady and your brain and body mechanics respond accordingly.

Why practice like this?

I think most of us who practice train rhythms have gotten to a point when practicing (and listening to the pros before us) that we 'believe' that we just wont' be able to reach those seemingly impossible speeds. And this can be a psychological barrier to our progress. We have to 'prove' to ourselves that we can reach those speeds and we do that by doing very 'small' burst of speed at first. And here is where I think the real magic is in practicing this way.

By jumping from an eighth note pattern to a sixteenth note pattern I don't expect to play it perfectly. In fact when the speeds get pretty fast I only want/expect to be able to play maybe 2 or three beats in a sixteenth note pattern before I lose it - and that is perfectly OK because this is the most crucial part of the exercise. Once I play it, even for only 2 or 3 beats I have immediately proven to myself that it is possible to play at that speed. This is a huge psychological win and from that point on I just continue to practice at that speed until I can play it fully and completely at that tempo for at least a minute to two before upping the tempo again.

Listen to playing example #2. (151 bpm)

This has worked extremely well for me and I have broken speed barriers with these rhythms that I didn't think were possible at first but now I don't think there are any speeds I can't do once I set my mind to it and incorporate these practice techniques.

Listen to Example 3 - Full tongue and throat variation of the practice method at a fast speed (181 bpm)

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Rene

Hi Hannes, good luck with your method.  If you find success I would be interestd in hearing what your methods are.  I'm always looking for ways to improve my practicing.  

I did record 3 demo recordings of what I explained above and sent them to Dave but it looks like you can't attach files in the forum here.  If you're interested in them let me know and I can email them over to you.

Thanks,

Rene