You, Too, Can Play The Spoons

Chapter 8

There are a few other tricks and moves that you can add to your playing style.

First is the finger drag. Open the fingers of your free hand as wide as you can with the palm of the hand facing you. Drag your spoons across the open fingers and then let it hit your leg.

You should practice this without music until you can make several drum rolls. One simple one is as follows:

One finger drag followed with two additional hits on your leg.

Repeat as many times as you wish.

Another simple drum roll is:

One finger drag followed with three single hits on your leg.

Repeat above.

Now do two finger drags with two single hits on your leg.

Now repeat the first move.

Ask a drummer friend to play his drum rolls, and you will find that you can play most of them very well.

The finger drag is a very impressive move while playing the polka. You play the regular polka beat until one of those "appropriate times" when you switch to the finger drag. You play the finger drag until the appropriate time to change back to the regular polka beat.

You can play the spoons over most of your body - and the body of anyone else that will stand still for you. You can go up and down between the inside of your arm and other body parts. You can go down between your legs to your ankles.

You can play them on another object, between two objects and between your hand and another object. You can make the horse gallop across the bridge by playing your usual style and then on a wooden object and back again to your usual style.

As described earlier, you can puff your jowl and form your mouth into an O and play on your extended cheek. You can vary the sound by changing the O from large to small as you play. You will want to tap your cheek with the bowl of the spoon to generate a hollow sound. This is most effective with wooden spoons

You can bring your whole body into your effort. One easy way is to rock forward and back slightly on your toes in time with the music while you play. You can hold your body still and rock only your arms and hands forward and back.

Experiment with other moves and develop your own style. This is your opportunity for greatness.

There is one other must. Remember earlier we mentioned playing "Shave and a Haircut - Six Bits"?

You must be able to play that before you are ready to join the band. That is the world-wide ending for many songs.

On the spoons it goes thus;

Beat, Off-beat & Beat, Off-beat and Beat, Beat, Beat

or

Leg tap, hand and leg tap, hand and leg tap, leg tap, leg tap.

If you don't like to say "Shave and a Haircut - Six Bits" as you play your ending, try "dum didi dumdum, dum dum". Not nearly so good but lots of folks settle for it.

Practice that until you have it down pat, and you are then ready to play.