Thread: ZILLS - improving speed?

I'm practicing like a madwoman! :zillgallop::zillevil::zillevil::zillevil::zillevi l::zillgallop:

any tips on improving speed?

Try the Killer Ziller DVD or Ansuya's advanced zill DVD

Practice like a madwoman! Seriously...sustained practice builds strength in the forearm muscles..which creates speed. Practice - accept no substitutes!

practice - a lot of it - is the only way to go.

I'm pretty sharp on zills, but I would have never achieved this just by practicing in class. I used to work on a printing press that very conveniently ran with a chunk-a-chunk rhythm, and I'd bring my zills to work and play along until my boss made me quit. I'd put my zills on with a coat with long sleeves that hung over my hands, and go downtown walking, playing with the rhythm of my steps. I'd play them in my car to the music on the radio, steering with the heels of my hands. I played them constantly (hey, I was 18 and newly addicted to bellydance - what can I say?). if you play them a LOT, imo, they get beaten into your bones. and once you get there, imo, you stay there. so it's worth working toward.

I'd play them in my car to the music on the radio, steering with the heels of my hands.

You too? LOL.....

i was taught by ansyuas' mom.
get the hands in condition.find something to fast to dance to ( helm is good ), sit and play to it.a fast 9/8 is good, get past your point of pain.one day you will realize it has not hurt in a long time

Carolena suggests finding a stretch of beach and an ipod on shuffle. She also had - possibly still has - a good rhythm CD on for sale which would progressively get faster. Too cool!

{{{HUGS}}}

I am not super-fast myself, but my favorite way is walking around town, iPod on. I like Jamila Salimpour's zills CD, which has slow and fast patterns.

And, recently, I started working with Mimi Spencer's CD, which makes Jamila appear rather easy - paradiddles with changing hands and sounds, while walking around town, yikes!

i'm doing killer ziller and the jamilla cd

i will keep practicing!!!!

it's the 4's that are getting me

4-4-7 and 4-7-4

Practice, practice, practice!! And do it as much as possible while dancing!! When you feel comfortable and competent with a piece of music, find another one which is just a little bit faster and start practicing to it. When you're feeling good with this one, find a faster one and so on. Oh, and did I say "practice!"? ..l;,

how about zilling along with the Lone Ranger song or Flight of the Bumblebees?

Originally Posted by lylagus

i'm doing killer ziller and the jamilla cd

i will keep practicing!!!!

it's the 4's that are getting me

4-4-7 and 4-7-4

I'm doing Jamila's Cd and book. Just keep practicing and remember the speed still has to be in time with the music: 1/2 time, full time or Double time.

so full time playing 4 4 7 the accent on four's is on the One so you begin with e and a one, e and a two and then the sevens play evenly over the next two counts ending on 4.

i see i'm not the only one zilling walking down the street ^^ though i'm still having hard time staying coordinated heh.
thank god for zill mufflers/baby socks by the way ^^

I've got a teacher who does speed drills by going really fast for x counts, then slowing backing down x counts, and alternating back and forth. It's helps build up stamina. This works for zills as well as shimmies and other fast moves.

One of Helm's cds has, among other tracks, several rhythms played at progressively increasing speeds. The songs are called "Beledi Unplugged" and "Karachi Unplugged"...all with the "Unplugged" after the rhythm name. Each track plays the rhythm at one speed for about 75 seconds, then the next speed, then the next...Get comfortable with the first, then move on to faster speeds.
Good luck!

As a musician (I play electric bass), my advice, in addition to the fine advice already given here, is to get an inexpensive electronic metronome available at any music store. Start moderately slow, like 80 bpm, playing a triple 1-2-3, 1-2-3 for each beat. Once you have mastered that in both speed and accuracy, increase the bpm..and keep going until you have mastered that.

You can do this with any zill pattern and you can practice moving between patterns while staying on beat.

Accuracy is another important factor, besides speed.

Another important thing that was touched on here, that I'll reiterate is the importance of warming up your hands first and then stretching them - before practicing and performing.

Originally Posted by tahiradancer

Carolena suggests finding a stretch of beach and an ipod on shuffle. She also had - possibly still has - a good rhythm CD on for sale which would progressively get faster. Too cool!

{{{HUGS}}}

I'll take the stretch of beach!

what a great idea - a long uninterrupted place to walk, without bothering too many people or having them stare at you wondering what the heck you're doing. :)

Originally Posted by AnnaTX

Accuracy is another important factor, besides speed.

true, that!!!

Originally Posted by AnnaTX

Another important thing that was touched on here, that I'll reiterate is the importance of warming up your hands first and then stretching them - before practicing and performing.

Anna -- how do you warm up/stretch hands? other than wiggling the fingers around a lot ^^

This is probably best done in a video demo, maybe I can do that over the next few weeks, but here's some things you can do:

Warm-up exercises (any combo of these are fine. min. 2 minutes total)

-Rubbing your hands together
-Wiggling your fingers
-Fanning your fingers (like in flamenco)
-Using your thumb, touch the tips of each finger; thumb to pinky, then thumb to ring finger, then thumb to middle finger and so on. Reverse going the other way back and forth. Try skipping every other finger.

Stretches (do enough stretching that your hand muscles feel loose and not tense, be careful not to hyper-extend by applying too much pressure on finger, hand or wrist joints. It's very easy to injure these delicate areas. Gentle pressure is sufficient:

-Make imaginary claws with your hands, tensing them, then releasing them several times
-Do slow articulated hand undulations
-Put finger tips together with the back of your hands bending upwards. Apply gentle pressure until inside of your knuckles meet.
-You may also manually (very gently) bend back your fingers
-Don't forget your wrists; with arms straight out, drop the hands to stretch the top of your wrists, then raise the hand upward to stretch the bottom of your wrists. Very gentle pressure may be applied.

Lastly, give your hands a good shakin'. If your hands feel energized, but relaxed. You are ready to play!!!

Remember, too, while you are zilling, take care to relax and correct any tension you feel in your hands, wrists, and forearms immediately. This is your body telling you are exerting too much force and your muscles are fatiguing. Slow down until you are comfortable increasing your speed and complexity.

Dahlal give a good warm up in her serious belly dance video - Example: thumb and index finger, index finger starts at tip of thumb moving down to webbing, next do the same using the middle, ring and pinky finger. Another exercise is to have your palm facing upwards and with other hand push all fingers down as far as you can to get a good stretch.

I follow Ansuya's approach to moving your hands around while playing because doing so lessen strain on forearms.

Originally Posted by lylagus

I'm practicing like a madwoman! :zillgallop::zillevil::zillevil::zillevil::zillevi l::zillgallop:

any tips on improving speed?

I have some MP3s that I made to practice the triplet shimmy, and that I gave my students when we started playing zils. They're just simple metronome beats (no drumming or anything) that start slowly and get progressively faster. I made them so I wouldn't have to keep pressing the "speed up" button on my metronome. :)

I was thinking of making nicer versions for a cheapo CD someday, but I'll be happy to email you the MP3. PM me your email address if you want one.

Yes practice...
Jamila and Suhaila ROCKS on jamming zills...have you seen or heard them before...it is one of hell of a zill playing...
yes start patterns (I am not just talking about Right Left Right....that will get really annoying for audience) with quarter time (with feet work), half time, full time and double time....Practice makes it perfect...Since the workshop I have been only practicing twice a week, and find it slowing down and not able to do pas de berre, chasse pas de berre, complicated feet work and my 3 3 5, 3 1 3 1, 3 7 3...oh gotta practice more tonight...

Originally Posted by AngelaDiCaprio

I'm doing Jamila's Cd and book. Just keep practicing and remember the speed still has to be in time with the music: 1/2 time, full time or Double time.

so full time playing 4 4 7 the accent on four's is on the One so you begin with e and a one, e and a two and then the sevens play evenly over the next two counts ending on 4.

I used Jamila's CD to practice too..it does rock!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4elRCDvqaxw]YouTube - Cory Zamora Famous Belly Dancer[/ame]

i just about fainted when i saw this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! awesome!

Not only did I make many zill cozies, but I have come to the realization that for an added layer of zill silence in winter I can used those mitten/gloves where the "cap" of the mitten and thumb fold down to reveal fingerless gloves. I pop the cap off, put my zills on, fold the main mitten cap back over the zills, and happily go to and fro outdoors zilling.

Practice rolls (rlrlrlrl) slowly, getting faster bit by bit. It will really improve clarity and speed.

Originally Posted by anala

I'd play them in my car to the music on the radio, steering with the heels of my hands.

You too? LOL.....

Glad that I sold my car...just kidding...sort of.

Originally Posted by lylagus

I'm practicing like a madwoman! :zillgallop::zillevil::zillevil::zillevil::zillevi l::zillgallop:

any tips on improving speed?

When I first learned to play the zills, I would go through the BDSS Vol. 2 CD at least once daily, playing all the way through w/o stopping, even through the drum solos. It only took about a month to get very comfortable with playing at any pace.

Originally Posted by AnnaTX

As a musician (I play electric bass), my advice, in addition to the fine advice already given here, is to get an inexpensive electronic metronome available at any music store. Start moderately slow, like 80 bpm, playing a triple 1-2-3, 1-2-3 for each beat. Once you have mastered that in both speed and accuracy, increase the bpm..and keep going until you have mastered that.

Best
Advice
EVER!!!!


Mine wasn't electric, but I did the same thing. A metronome ought to be a required purchase for all dancers. I got my shimmy and 3/4 shimmy up to speed by practicing with a metronome too.