Doublestops (2007) is a legatos exercise that includes doublestops to encourage players to match stick motion between the hands. I cooked this up right out of high school, when I thought I might end up teaching somewhere (I didn’t that year). It’s super simple, and probably very unoriginal… but I looked around the place, and I noticed a dearth of “8 on a Hand” on Fat Matt Drums, so I figured I’d go back to basics and look wayyyyy in the back of the vault for something. I was really pleased to notice the second and third page’s variations with dynamics… those are lots of fun to work on.
Ultimately, I don’t think I used this exercise with any line I taught; however, in retrospect, it would have been a good one—reaping the benefits of making doublestops a regular part of the rehearsal programme, instead of merely a variation to “8s” that you occasionally call upon.
The benefits—and pitfalls—of using doublestops in simple contexts like this are described in Quality Control for Rudimental Drummers:
In either [traditional or matched] grip, doublestops will be a great tool for matching stick motions on different rudiments. However, if your hands are poorly-coordinated and the doublestops are dirty, there may be a tendency to rely on larger muscle groups to achieve the strokes (e.g., using a “karate chop” style forearm motion instead of rotation at the wrist), as these muscle groups are easier to match in order to clean up the sound (in matched grip and traditional grip). This is a major pitfall that negates any benefit to rehearsing a pattern as doublestops, so make sure that you are not building such habits. [p. 10 Digital Download Edition]
[…]
Both hands play identical parts as doublestops, and each hand checks the timing and sound quality of the other. Additionally, you can observe how the sticks move to ensure that both sticks are achieving the rudimental demands using identical motions. This practice is especially useful with a mirror and/or video camera.
[…]
When the hands are playing identical patterns, hand-to-hand differences in how the smaller muscle groups achieve rudimental demands can cause a frustrating amount of dirt (rhythmic imprecision), especially in traditional grip, where all motions except for the “karate chop” forearm assistance motion are completely different between the hands. A temptation will be to rely on larger muscle groups to achieve clean doublestops, as these are the motions that are easiest to match between your two hands; however, this practice will lead to an overreliance on forearm motion and the building of bad habits.
Accept that there will be dirt at first and that it may be difficult to eliminate. Still, commit to good technique and to truly matching the motions of the two hands. The purpose […] is to challenge you; do not take any shortcuts on the path to improvement. [p. 23 Digital Download Edition]
