I keep hearing and reading things on the Pillow thing and I just thought I'd share my personal point of view since I didn't want to hijack anyone else's weak hand thread...
Okay, this is my take on the Dennis C. and Pillow thing...
I went to see Pat Petrillo earlier in the year at a clinic and he said that Dennis rely's on "rebound" and has worked hard to control "rebound" and get his chops to sound "clean" and "even" while controlling the stick and "rebound". Dennis says to use pillows but what cats forget is that he had to redo everything when he got to the kit. He says so himself. Sooo, Steve Smith, Dave Weckl, Neil Peart and Adam Nussbaum, which were taught by Freddie Gruber, are saying that we need to use rebound and learn how to let the stick do the work. They also say that we need to learn how to pull the sound out of the drum instead of diggin' in the drum which a lot of cats that only practice on pillows do. They make everything sound tight and constantly break sticks, heads and even cymbals.
Then JoJo Mayer comes out with a DVD showing us that if we work all of our finger muscles and learn how everything works, you can play on anything thus showing us by playing on different surfaces including a piece of paper and a dog gon' pepperoni pizza and even plays on a pillow. JoJo says that he never practiced on a pillow but rather focused on letting the stick do it's thing and learning the Gladstone and Moeller Principles which he later "Mastered".
...sooooo, I think that JoJo just buried the Pillow Theory next to Buddy Rich and Dennis should've helped make the hole cause he even knows that it's about controlling the stick and "rebound". LOL
To get your chops up to date, use the 12" HQ Double Sided Practice Pad (Black Side) and work on the things that are in JoJo Mayer's DVD - Secret Weapons for the Modern Drummer.
Have a nice day.
