Independence: Volume 1

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

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QOne thing I also learned from playing drums is that it's very difficult to do vocals and play simultaneously. I hear the same goes for guitar and it really plays a role in bass. Do you have any recommendations on how to develop this? I didn't see a book on it and I take it you do vocals as well seeing from the books you've written.
AI would get the book "Independence" for this. If you get this book write back and I'll give you a practice schedule with it.
 
QI've been playing piano as a hobby for about ten years now. Progress is slow but steady which is fine with me. I want to improve the independence of my two hands with respect to rhythm. I can read rhythms for one hand OK (it can take me forever to count out a hard rhythm, but eventually I'll get there), but two hands together are pretty bad: having the two hands figured out individually doesn't seem to be very beneficial for doing it together.

Therefore I have bought your book "Independence Volume One" and have started working with it. Finally my questions:

a) There is very little information on how to practice. Did I miss anything on your web site?

b) Should I be practicing with or without a metronome, or both?

c) At what tempo should I progress to the next exercise?

d) I noticed that between #21 and #22 there seems to be a big gap: it was all 4:4 time so far and then suddenly there are eighth notes and triples. Should I get other books on rhythm to prepare me for that step?

I have the feeling that I'll progress very fast until #21 and will be stumbling right on #22.
A Thanks for contacting me. I use the Independence book for a variety of applications. You can practice the exercises with and without a metronome. I would use a little of both. I also recommend practicing all exercises with all combinations of your 4 limbs. This will really reinforce each exercise. You are correct that once you reach the triplet part of the book it does take a leap in difficulty. I suggest you just work on a measure at a time until you can both feel and hear the overall rhythm. Sometime this can take a week or more just getting on measure together. Start slow and be patient, sometimes it can take days of work before a particular rhythm starts to improve. You will find that once you develop your ability to play a triplet along with other rhythms you will progress pretty quickly until you reach the point where you are putting 16ths against the triplet. Then it's back to working on a measure or even a beat or two at a time.

You want to start with each exercise slowly. Find a tempo that allows you to play with convenience and then speed up from there. It would be great if you could get each exercise up to mm=132 for a quarter note.

You can also practice this book away from the piano. Just work on the 4 limb concept of moving each exercise through different combinations of limbs.
 
QI was wondering if there was any timeframe on if/when volume 2 of Independence will be released. And I was also wondering how many volumes are planned.

I think volume 1 is a great text, and it would be nice to see exercises with quintuplets, septuplets, duplets, etc. as well as exercises in less traditional meters, meter combinations, and perhaps polymetric and ametric excercises for very advanced students.

I just thought I'd offer these suggestions on the off-chance they haven't been thought of already.
AI do plan on making more volumes of Independence but it will probably be another year or two before I will have time. I'm glad you found the book useful. I worked on all those exercises and found they really helped my sense of time and my ability to play and understand difficult rhythms. Check in every 6 months or so and I'll let you know my progress.