Thread: Zill Drills

I've been working on my zilling lately, and I feel like I have competent zill skills for a student, but I want to bring my zilling to the next level. I can zill and walk at the same time, I can do simple things like hip drops and circles. I can move my arms while zilling, including crossing my hands. But I still don't feel like my zilling feels very natural, and I falter when trying to do more complex movements.

I've been practicing about 15 min/day (the cat hates it!) zilling along to a rhythm CD while drilling hip movements and traveling moves.

So does anybody have any great zill drills to recommend? Anything I'm not already doing that will help me progress faster?

Take a choreography that you already know how to do, and then choreograph zill rhythms to go with it. Then practice the choreography.

If you don't already have a suitable choreography in your repertoire, OR if you're not sure how to add zills, consider Hahbi Ru's level 3 video, The Cymbal Dance. This video teaches a choreography with choreographed zill rhythms to go with the dance moves, and I promise THAT will get your zilling groove on! Plus it's a cute choreo.

Z-Helene's zill video is chock full of drills that help you gain speed and dexterity and most of all coordination so that you can learn to play and dance at the same time without stalling. Her drills remind me alot of Hannon exercises for the piano, they're pretty much the same approach. The drills she makes you practice progress from very simple ones to very difficult and elaborate ones. She has a particularly good beledy rhythm drill where she does drills with variations on beledy, first the simple rhythm, then with a trill, then two trills, then three trills..etc.(she calls them flips)
This video took me from an average zill player to a pretty darned good one (modesty aside) and I can't recomend it enough for people who want to improve their zilling drastically.

Regards
Priscilla

Originally Posted by antimony

I've been working on my zilling lately, and I feel like I have competent zill skills for a student, but I want to bring my zilling to the next level. I can zill and walk at the same time, I can do simple things like hip drops and circles. I can move my arms while zilling, including crossing my hands. But I still don't feel like my zilling feels very natural, and I falter when trying to do more complex movements.

I've been practicing about 15 min/day (the cat hates it!) zilling along to a rhythm CD while drilling hip movements and traveling moves.

So does anybody have any great zill drills to recommend? Anything I'm not already doing that will help me progress faster?

Find a CD which has varied rhythems on it. Take the CD, a player adn the zills someplace where you can walk and zill at the same time, such as the beach, the woods, noisy town center. This way the you will not drive the neighbors and small animals crazy. Then practice your zills! After a while you will understand when to zill as opposed to "hip drop, R-L-R" it will come naturally with the music!

{{{{HUGS}}}

Originally Posted by antimony

I've been working on my zilling lately, and I feel like I have competent zill skills for a student, but I want to bring my zilling to the next level. I can zill and walk at the same time, I can do simple things like hip drops and circles. I can move my arms while zilling, including crossing my hands. But I still don't feel like my zilling feels very natural, and I falter when trying to do more complex movements.

Antimony, it sounds like you and I are in exactly the same place, zill-wise. I'm so glad you posted this, and I love Shira's idea of doing zills with an already known choreorgraphy as a learning tool. I'm totally going to give that a try!

I like doing port de bras with zills for practice. :)

A great Zill drill that I learned (and now recommend to others) is to put on a nice, slooooow steady beat song, and then get your Zills going in alternating patern- not a gallop- and keep it going. RLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLRL.... now, *without stopping your Zills*, start to bop along with the music. Really easy stuff at first, basic egyptians and hip drops, etc. Repeat ad nauseaum. :zillgallop:

The key to this one is to keep your Zills going. Through the whole song- no gltches. As you get better, you can up the ante with your moves, add directional changes, speed up the music... The best thing about this drill is that it grows with you!

The best way to practice and NOT drive the cat, family, and neighbors crazy is this:

go to the nearest store that has an "infants supplies" department and buy a pair or two of infant socks. Place one on each zill and the loudest sound you can make is a soft, highly cushioned "thump"...g.: To use one pair of socks: one sock on one finger on each hand. If that isn't quiet enough use two pairs of socks, one sock on each cymbal.

I loooooove zill work.
I didn't learn to play the zills from videos or from a class. Come to think of it...I'm not really sure how I learned to play them so well. My advice isn't going to be technical, I haven't even heard of the videos and programs that have already been recommended to you. They sounds great though! I think that maybe I can help you more from the inspirational side of things.

I advise you to put down your zills for a couple months. Just stop playing them completely. Think about them often, listen to the music when you dance and snap your fingers as you go. After a couple months has gone by pick them back up and try dancing with them. Don't do drills unless you need to. Just try to dance with them first.

I know that what I want to say to you will sound crazy but maybe you're one of those people who can connect with this and it will make sense to you. Ziling is something I do to relieve excess tension when I dance. I listen to music and sometimes it illicits a very dramatic surge of energy that would otherwise probably make me bound all over the stage. (Kind of like cleaning the house to Aerosmith...) But rather than bounce everywhere I zill it out while I keep my body movements and positions stable. I really think that zills we're designed not to mechanically accompany you on stage but to aid you in playing the rhythm out to its fullest extent. Maybe if you stop treating it like a robotic process and play the rhythm WITH you then maybe you can relax more and take it further. Failing that...go for drills!

Another thing that might help is picking up a really heavy pair of zills. I bought some little POS double hole zills off ebay that I stuck electrical tape on. They're clunky and unattractive but they do the job when I'm practicing. If you want to speed zill you need to invest in heavier weight zills. The light weight ones will trip you every time.

Good luck and keep us posted on how you do!

~*Genisis*~

Zills On Fire

http://www.cyberlepsy.com/zills.htm

If you're one who learns by doing, rather than by drilling, this might be the instructional cd for you!

Originally Posted by leylalanty

The best way to practice and NOT drive the cat, family, and neighbors crazy is this:

go to the nearest store that has an "infants supplies" department and buy a pair or two of infant socks. Place one on each zill and the loudest sound you can make is a soft, highly cushioned "thump"...g.: To use one pair of socks: one sock on one finger on each hand. If that isn't quiet enough use two pairs of socks, one sock on each cymbal.

LOL! That is sooo funny! No one ever told me that but a few months ago I was cleaning my attic when the same thought occurred to me. I have been practicing with infant socks on my zills since! I just thought I was a little "out there" but I guess I am more normal than I thought! :)

Originally Posted by helenasdance

LOL! That is sooo funny! No one ever told me that but a few months ago I was cleaning my attic when the same thought occurred to me. I have been practicing with infant socks on my zills since! I just thought I was a little "out there" but I guess I am more normal than I thought! :)

Nope... You're totally normal!! I found out about the baby sock idea about 6 months ago and have been using them ever since. The first night I put them on, I was in the dining room goofing off with them and my hubby was asleep in the living room. He didn't even flinch! ,s::

oh yeah. for the last two plus years, my zills have been stored in a pair of baby socks (with the frog prince on them! - 2 zills per sock, folded over so they all stay together) and when/if i practice, i wear the socks over the ones on my thumbs. come to think of it, i'm gonna need those socks again in a few months! they go with a really cute 6-9 month outfit i'll be needing to get out again some time this fall/winter... dang. will have to switch to a pair i can live without seeing on actual baby feet.

as for the drill/practice ideas, whenever i may get to use them - thanks to all, they're good ones!

Here is one drill we do in class...

Walking half time. choose your down beat on your foot of choice. Hip circles full time down beat on the left. Arms in third position, zilling 5 fives. Its difficult cause if your like me my zills syncopate with the music and the downbeat on the foot but when you zill fives. The down beat for the zills is never on the same foot it constantly changes..... Then your left with getting all your timing messed up. Cause your concentrating on full time, half time and a rythm that is not syncopated with the music..... then add movement to your arms at a different timing and you end up like me.....c:: ..c:: ..c::

When I first started learning zills, I did simple drills such as turning with zills; hip lifts; hip drops; basic traveling steps like step/lift, camels/undulations, ponies. Do some steps. As you start to feel comfortable, string these steps together to make little combinations. Start off with medium music, then work up to fast tempo music. At some point, you will need to increase the speed of the music you are dancing to. But don't start practicing to fast music until you have mastered the medium tempo music.

Thanks for the tips about the baby socks!

When I went to Target to get some, I found something that worked even a little better: Gerber baby mittens They're round, so there's no heel sticking out, and the opening has elastic around it, so it pulls up in a nice circle around the elastic on the zills.

Thanks guys!

I picked up zill work and scimitar work at the same time. I learned to zill without any other music but my own zilling so I was very aware when I skipped a beat. I started out with a really slow tsiftitelli rhythm and practiced moving with the scimitar balanced on my head while zilling. I could just be weird but I think not focusing on my hands and devoting most of my attention to the pokey thing balanced on my head helped me pick it up a lot fast than most. I just used slow arm moves and scimitar rolls, changed elevation with it and got to know my space as much as possible.

Later I worked with an orchestra of live musicians who met bi monthly and that was where I really learned to dance hard and fast with it. Nothing beats the music into you like 30 musicians in a semi circle! Its a slow process though. I was competent with the tsisfitelli at about 6 months, by a year and a half I was able to do small fast moves and travel steps but not many layers with it. By two years I could finish a routine without any mishaps. I ended up putting the zills down for a few months at that point but I thought about zilling a lot. I remember that when I had dreams about dancing that I was always playing the zills in them. *chuckles* After a few months I picked them back up and I could do everything but speed zill perfectly.

A couple years later I happened upon a drum and dance circle that met weekly (still does!) and their sessions went for about 3 hours at a time. I improved my zill techniques by combining the previous two tactics of
1) Distraction. I took those three hours once a week to shimmy constantly and improve my belly roll while zilling.
2) Sound Immersion. I surrounded myself with a large section of drummers while practicing speed zilling.

That's pretty much what I still do today when I practice. I use electrical tape on a pair of cheapo heavy zills, pop in a dance video, shimmy for a few hours while layering other movements. I try to add more and more difficult techniques to distract me and I just let my hands go. Zilling is very much like a good shimmy (I think I've heard people call it a 3/4 shimmy but I didn't learn that term when I started dancing so I'm not sure if thats right.) that ripples up your body, you relax and let the little subtle bits of excess energy melt off you.

~*Genisis*~

This is going to sound obvious, but the best way to improve your zils is to just keep playing them. I drill my students in class with hip drills and zills added. Do hip drops and lift with zils. When you have that down, do hip Ms with zils. Hip Ms alternating sides. Undulations at varying tempos with zils going a constant tempo. Shoulder shimmies with zils. Travel steps with zils. You get the idea. Just keep drilling the step until your comfortable with it and then move to a different step (preferably one that is slightly more difficult -- emphasis on the slightly).

After you're comfortable with a variety of steps with you zils, put a song on a dance. Make yourself play zils as you dance. If you get off-beat or mess up, pick it right back up and keep going. Don't stop unless you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO. I say this b/c a lot of times students get into the habit of stopping every time they have a slight hic up or get off beat. The habit becomes ingrained and pretty soon they can't play without stopping every few seconds. Sometimes it's ok to stop -- sometimes your hands get so tense you have to stop and shake out the tension before continuing. Do this only if absolutely necessary -- push yourself to keep going through most small hiccups.

Here's what has been good for me: I started with walking around with zills and music, and worked on a song. I can walk and zill OK, and I can more or less do zills on auto-pilot. But, as Antimony said - it's not the same as dancing quite yet. My solution: Since nobody in town really teaches zills in-depth, I decided to take the plunge - and add zills to our weekly practice (which I am responsible for). So, I have to be the one who thinks of drills, and I have to be the one who keeps a steady beat while drilling, which is a good way to get to the next level.

Now, the real challenge for me is - hear the music (we have a tiny portable and practice in a park), zill, do the drills - and THEN talk to e.g. count out the downbeat on top of that, or give feedback while continuing to play. Can't do that yet.

Originally Posted by antimony

Thanks for the tips about the baby socks!

When I went to Target to get some, I found something that worked even a little better: Gerber baby mittens They're round, so there's no heel sticking out, and the opening has elastic around it, so it pulls up in a nice circle around the elastic on the zills.

Thanks guys!

These little mittens are a great idea..g.:

Article on my site by Janette - one of the best Zillists out there:

Belly Dance Mastery

I second the "Zills on Fire" recommendation!

Here's the drill I use for my new zillers in class. I teach them a basic 1-2-3 rhythm, then we go back to the 1st 8 lessons of beginner class and while a song of medium tempo is playing, we play 1-2-3 while "reviewing" every step learned in beginner class. Sometimes this takes 2-3 songs depending on the length. This also works to desensitize the "I can't play and dance at the same time" feelings. Then, as they get more comfortable we increase the complexity of the rhythms. When that gets comfortable, we increase the complexity of the dancing as well. Baby steps. I tell my students to play "air zills" every chance they get as they are still building muscle memory.

Originally Posted by Halima-Dances

I tell my students to play "air zills" every chance they get as they are still building muscle memory.

I can't tell you how many people were "treated" to DUM-DUM-tek-ka-tek, DUM, tek-ka-tek on the air zils on the #1 bus between 2001 and 2003... :)

For those practicing on the air zils (or even muffled zils), I highly recommend paying attention to the "release". When you aren't listening to the unmuffled ringing zils, it's very easy to get in the habit of striking the zils in a closed position (i.e., the clack rather than the ring).

Re: moving to the next level, Shira's recommendation to add zils to choreography is an excellent one. Another layer of difficulty is adding them to armwork. Cory Zamora's Vol. 1 DVD has a great zills-over-armwork drill. If no-frills production values and annoying chaptering bother you, this is NOT the DVD for you, but if you can get over those issues, it's actually an extremely valuable drill. It will really help you separate what your zils are doing from what your body is doing.

I'm pretty darn confident with my zils, but playing them over this armwork drill is surprisingly challenging. And the pricing reflects the production values, so it's not a big investment for the value in content. And it's available on Netflix, so you can preview it before you buy if you're a subscriber.

hah! I remember zilling in the car, stuck in Storrow Drive rush hour traffic coming home. With the windows down, half the people in front of, beside, and behind me thought that something had gone wrong with their cars :-)

zill mufflers are great, don't sit still when practicing...

Originally Posted by steffib

Now, the real challenge for me is - hear the music (we have a tiny portable and practice in a park), zill, do the drills - and THEN talk to e.g. count out the downbeat on top of that, or give feedback while continuing to play. Can't do that yet.

Ha ha. This sounds like me! I can zill, drill and move and have no problem performing with them but the minute I have to add talking to my students as we are zilling and drilling I lose the beat!!!! We've had some laughs over that one. For now, I do simple movement & travelling drills and repeat in sections of four so that I don't have to talk.

But this summer I am going to practice actually talking & giving directions while zilling, drilling and travelling. Sometimes I've done that for myself when I've prepped a new choreography. That way it becomes second nature to be able to call out what comes next as I am leading the class through the paces of a new performance piece.

Originally Posted by jmdruadh

Another layer of difficulty is adding them to armwork. Cory Zamora's Vol. 1 DVD has a great zills-over-armwork drill. If no-frills production values and annoying chaptering bother you, this is NOT the DVD for you, but if you can get over those issues, it's actually an extremely valuable drill. It will really help you separate what your zils are doing from what your body is doing.

And it's available on Netflix, so you can preview it before you buy if you're a subscriber.

What is the actual title of it? I checked Netflix and all they have under her name is "Cory Zamora Dances for You".