Extreme Interdependence: Drumming Beyond Independence, Book & CD (Percussion)

D. Jaeger's review inspired me to move ahead with the purchase of this book. I am partial to trying something when someone who has given it an honest try can point to concrete results in his analysis! I read somewhere that Joe Morello is a practicer. He believes in practicing as an art form unto itself. I was glad to read that since I am woodshedding like I've never woodshedded in my life, thus on the lookout for whatever methods will help me get better. Enter Marco Minneman and his crazy far-out book on Extreme Interdependence. The first thing that struck me was that one should be ready to not sound particularly musical when practicing these exercises. It reminds me of a statement made in a book on how to play freely and from that space where music comes through you as you get out of the way. You have to be willing to play things that sound bad. Not as an objective but as an avenue toward complete freedom in your playing. Marco's book came to me not a week after I read that statement. At the same time, may I remind you that as a drummer, every stroke upon the head of thine drum should be played with as much as technique as is in one's cache at the time. There IS a difference between how a snare drum sounds when I strike it and when my son who has not studied one minute of drumming, strikes it. It's in how you pull the stick away from the head as much as in the force with which you hit it. What does all of this have to do with Extreme Interdependence? Well, even though the exercises themselves are not written to sound "pretty" or even to "groove", we drummers should approach everything we do with musicality in mind! It's NOT three musicians and a drummer but FOUR musicians and a roadie! I breezed through exercise 1 through 8 at the beginning of the book. Then I got to exercise 9. Well, let's just say this is going to be a trip! These are brain twisting exercises until you get them under your belt. I have just about gotten number 9 down. There is a certain self-satisfaction that comes with "getting" these things down. They are so difficult at first but with patient practice and a firm belief that nothing is over your head.....it just takes time, these exercises definitely give one the feeling that one is on the road to some major breakthroughs in one's playing. It just takes a listen to someone like Antonio Sanchez to realize that that is the kind of disciplined freedom with which I want to play! Given that D. Jaeger is months ahead of me in this book and he is seeing the results in spades, I am moving ahead with those promises as results not yet seen but which will surely be mine in time! This is not a beginners book. I believe it may best yield results for intermediate to advanced level players.

This is book is very good as long as the exercises within are understood to be a means to an end and not the end itself. You won't be learning licks or musicality with this book, but rather developing the coordination to create your own. It is a TECHNIQUE book and not an "practice-this-lick" book. The underlying concept is to develop your ability to execute any combination with any limb at any time and understand how differing rhythms work with and against each other. Some of the exercises sound terrible and would not be practical in any musical setting, but, again I want to empahsize it's about developing smooth facility and NOT about musicality. As long as one bears that in mind this book will be very useful. Also, this is not material to be ripped through. It demands concentration, memorization and consistency in one's practicing habits to be effective and should be used at the same time in conjunction with books, concepts, etc., that do focus on musicality, otherwise you could end up sounding cold, grooveless and emotionless like somebody riding a bike down a flight of stairs. I spent two months just getting the warm-up exercises down! After working consistently with this book the results ARE awesome - it gets easier and easier to play accurately exactly what comes into your head and develop new, interesting material for your musical vocabulary. Be patient, tho, the exercises can be very challenging and frustrating. I've played off and on professionally for almost 30 years and I'm guessing this book might become the "Chapin book" for the new millenium.

Just buy this book, it will bring your limb independence to the next level.I’ve only been toying with this book for a week, and I’m already like 10 times more confident when drumming.I’m a beginner drummer, and this book seems to be more like an intermediate level tool. So I’m still stuck at the “Warm-ups” section. But the Warm-ups section alone is worth the purchase! It totally opened my eyes on how bad I am at limb independence. And after playing the warm-ups for a week, I’m already so much better at it! Can’t wait to master the warm-ups and try the actual exercises further from the book!

This is an excellent book. I have spent the past several weeks just working through the warm-ups, which help prepare you mentally and physically for the later material. The warm-ups are brilliantly designed, dividing the body in multiple ways to really force you to find and bring up weak points in your coordination. They are written in straight quarter notes but one can already see the possibilities (e.g. back and forth between eighth notes and quarters, moving into triplets, etc.). The CD is great because it demonstrates various musical applications of the material. Marco is an insane player, and this really gives a good look into where he is coming from. I highly recommend adding it to your library.

Great book and like all books take it a bit at a time slowly and build upon it. You can’t rush digesting this material

The first day.......I threw the drum sticks across the room I was so frustrated with the warm ups.The second day....I took it slowThe third day.....I felt I was a better, more coordinated drummer.End of story.Absolutely fantastic book. Will challenge you to the utmost.

Use to own this years ago. Glad I found it on amazon.

This book is a waste! I would advise purchasing ADVANCEED TECHNIQUES for the MODERN DRUMMER by Jim Chapin, the KING of drumming independence and the BEST DAM DRUM INSTRUCTOR ON THE PLANNET!!! After you have successfully concored the book, set your drum set up backwards and start over on page one. You will be amazed how much better you've become!

I love this book, it's very useful for independence development! What is great - first you spend weeks on the easiest exercises (warm-ups) just to play them mediocre, and then while you're advancing further you need less and less time on learning how to play more sofisticated stuff ^__^

La verdad no es un libro que no valga la pena, pero ya que se trataba de Marco Minneman esperaba un poco más. La verdad los ejecicios están bastante buenos si vas empezando creo que te ayudaran bastante pero si ya llevas un par de años tocando en especial doble pedal. Puede que no te resulten tan complicados.Creo que Marco es un baterista increíble pero me parece que la enseñanza no es su fuerte. Es de esas personas que saben muchísimo pero que no tienen la habilidad de enseñar todo lo que saben.Aun dicho lo anterior si estas empezando y ya sabes leer música en definitiva es un excelente libro para empezar a mejorar tu independencia.

LIvello consigliato: intermedio/avanzatoSe pensate che vi piacerebbe fare dei soli basandovi sulla poliritmia e ostinati, questo libro potrebbe fare per voi.Dico potrebbe perché già la sezione "warm up" sono dei seri esercizi con incastri da mal di testa anche con ostinati in tempi dispari.Nelle sezioni successive, invece, troviamo degli "ostinati" da studiare su cui incastrare le "melodie" di un'altra sezione.È un libro che offre molte sfide sul lato dell'indipendenza, basta solo essere amanti di questo tipo di cose e mettersi lì, ore e ore a studiare col metronomo e a fare cose spettacolari...

A must have, even the warming exercices are making me a better drummer! This might be the best way trully control and understand how your body moves

Sehr anspruchsvolles Buch und man merkt schnell die Erfolge.Anfängern würde ich aber davon abraten, da es schon sehr schwierig ist und dadurch schnell zur demotivation führen kann