As the backbone of the corps and the driving pulse of marching soldiers, the drummer must have a good sense of tempo. For that reason, all drummers should be constantly working on how to improve their tempo.

Exactly what is tempo?

Tempo refers to the “beat” or pulse of the music.

When you think about marching to a tune, each step is on the beat.

If you pull out a metronome, the clicking is the beat.

Want to learn more about Tempo in Historic Music?

Want to learn what tempo you should perform at in Common Time and Triple Time?

What makes keeping / marching to the beat so hard?

The hard thing to realize is that “the beat” is a fraction of a second.

When you think about hitting on the beat or stepping on the beat, you are trying to hit exactly on a tiny moment.

This leads to people anticipating the beat. You might tense up and come in too late. You might rush so you don’t miss it and come in too early.

What should you do to Improve Tempo?

You want to think about tempo less as “the beat” and more as a movement.

Try this exercise:

Stand up and slowly walk across the room. Then walk back at a fast walk.

How was your movement different on the way out from the way back?

How did your stride compare when walking slowly versus walking quick?

Now try this example:

Pick up a non-fragile object – preferably a ball.

Toss it up and down, catching it each time.

Adjust how you throw it so you catch it faster.

How does the height of the ball change?

Now, adjust how you throw the ball so you catch it slower.

How much higher do you have to throw the ball to make this happen?

Why did I make you do that?

Because drumming functions the same way.

As you play slowly, taking the time to lift your hands and then drop your hands keeps a continual movement that helps you to keep time.

As you play faster, keeping your hands low prevents you from lagging.

If you learn the movement of a rudiment or phrase, you simply elongate or truncate the movement and you can adapt to any tempo. Working on all of your rudiments correctly should also improve your tempo.

Want to learn little more about this? Check out my article on Double Stroke Roll Practice Guide.

Two Biggest Practice Mistakes:

1. Not practicing to a metronome at all.

I don’t recommend relying on metronomes all the time. You should work on pieces without a metronome to internalize the rhythm and to work on your own musical expression.

However, you should regularly incorporate a metronome into focused practice sessions to learn where your problems are.

2. Practicing too strictly to a metronome without thinking about the internal beat.

Most people practice to a metronome and assume that, if they’re hitting the right notes on the metronome click, then their tempo is good.

But this ignores the internal rhythm. This means the subdivisions – how clean are your triplets; how even are your sixteenth notes; etc.

If you clean up your internal rhythm, you will automatically have good control over tempo.

Three Practice Tips to Improve Your Tempo:

If you want to improve your tempo in simple and effective exercises, try the following tips.

1. Use a metronome to work on internal rhythm.

Work on a piece with a metronome. Note where you’re getting off the metronome and work on the few beats around that area.

Set the metronome to click out the internal rhythm or subdivisions.

  • If working with 2/4, set it to click out the eighth notes. When working at 80bpm, set your metronome at 160bpm (2x).
  • If working with 6/8, set it to click out triplets. When working at 80bpms, set your metronome at 240bpm (3x).
  • If working with a lot of 16th notes in 2/4, set it to click out sixteenth notes. When working at 80bpm, set your metronome to 320bpm (4x). This isn’t possible on all metronomes.

For a quick demonstration, check out this video on how to use a metronome to practice subdivision:

2. Develop your ability to shift between eighth notes, sixteenth notes, triplets, and sextuplets.

When diagnosing why you got off the beat, always look to the beat before you messed up. The second stroke in that rhythm is probably where you got off.

This is because you probably had to shift from one type of rhythm to another and you over/under-estimated how quick the next stroke needed to be.

For example, to go from sixteenth notes to eighth notes, you need to cut your speed in half. A common error is to rush into the next eighth note because you’re coming off the quick sixteenth notes.

Or, going from triplets into sixteenth notes. The second sixteenth note must come quicker than the second stroke in a triplet, so you’re likely to lag going into the sixteenth notes.

To fix this problem:

  • Work on exercises or tunes that shift between eighth notes, sixteenth notes, triplets, and sextuplets.
  • Utilize the trick in No. 1 to help ensure you’re keeping the internal rhythm clean as you shift back and forth.

If you want a good exercise to help with this, check out my practice guide for Double Stroke Rolls. The easy and hard exercise make you shift between these notes. It can be done as double strokes, as intended, or as single strokes.

For a quick demonstration, check out this video on how to develop your rhythm control:

3. Isolate each hand.

When you play alternating sixteenth notes, each hand individually needs to play eighth notes (half the rhythm). If you’re playing alternating sextuplets, each hand individually needs to play triplets.

This idea is true for every rhythm you play.

If each individual hand can’t play the rhythm clean, even, and up to tempo, you will have major problems when you try to bring it all together.

If there’s a specific rhythm / rudiment / phrase you’re struggling with:

  • Set the metronome to half that rhythm and play on the individual hand.

If you’re struggling to transition from different rhythms (Tip No. 2):

  • Play the same exercise by isolating each hand.
  • Identify which hand is weak and where.

For a quick demonstration, check out this video on how to work on isolating your hands to practice rhythm control:

Want to get even better at tempo? See more Practice Guide that develop rhythm control:

Have questions about how to improve your tempo? Now sure how to use these exercises? Contact me or comment below.

Also feel free to leave your own tips for how to improve tempo.