Motocross racing has grown exponentially over the past decade as a sport. So much so that it has split into different sects. What some might have referred to as “dirtbike riding” now has competitive and largely attended racing events for Motocross, Supermoto, Freestyle, Trials, among others. Inarguably, the king of the off-road motorcycle race series is Supercross. Why are you reading about motorcycle racing in a music publication?” For Heath Voss, 2004 World Supercross Champion, drumming and racing have a symbiotic relationship.
If you’ve ever watched a Supercross race, you know how intense the tracks are. Take some of the tightest turns add to them, “rhythm sections” where small jumps need to be negotiated exactly right to avoid crashing, throw in some seriously big air, and you have probably the hardest and most injury-prone motorsport racing event to date. Training for such an event requires more than just riding a bike everyday. Improving reflexes, quickening thought processes, and strengthening peripheral vision are just some of the skills it takes to become competitive in this sport. Heath and some of his coaches have devised some methods for him that infused his love for drumming and music with his race training.
Whole-Brain Development
Much of Heath’s success can be attributed to his focus on Whole-Brain Development. His “crossover” training basically consists of hand to foot exercises on his double-bass drumkit while reading sight charts aloud from 8 feet away on either side in his peripheral vision. As if simply working on four-limb independence weren’t enough, it seems loading your brain up with simultaneous jobs can help you get out of your own head.
Heath’s coaches, Jack Pryor and Dr. Bill Harrison have firm roots in baseball coaching. In baseball, when a near 100mph pitch is coming your way, there isn’t very much time to think before you swing. Sight exercises aid in shortening the time it takes for you to think before you react. It’s this same type of quick thinking that leads to fluency in drumming. There’s no time for delay when you hear something in your head and it needs to come out in a song.
Another desirable skill for any athlete is ambidextrousness. Being able to perform equally with both sides of your body means fewer weaknesses in performance. The same applies to drumming. Right-hand versus Left-hand lead allows more options around the kit. Consequently, Heath has two drumkits, one set up each way. To accomplish his positioning requirements with all of his drums and sports training sight charts, Heath found no better suited option than to mount everything with a Gibraltar Rack setup. Much of racing is about engineering. When Heath sought out mounting solutions, it was his race-mindedness that noticed and appreciated the positioning options, the quality, and the consistency of setting up with his Gibraltar Rack.
Heath’s Drum Kit
Voss has 2 separate kits he uses for training purposes. His main ddrum kit consists of 2-24″ bass drums, 3 rack toms and 2 floor toms and a truckload of cymbals. With the sight charts on each side, Heath practices keeping his body centered and his head and eyes focused straight ahead. Heath calls out a series numbers listed on each chart using his peripheral vision while playing repetitive hand-foot patterns. His second kit, utilizes a DW drumset set up completely left-handed. Having grown up playing drums since Jr. High school and being right-handed, Heath finds forcing himself to play southpaw makes his brain compute in ways it never would have otherwise.
In fact much of our conversation was based on forcing yourself to do things you normally wouldn’t do. The message he made a point to convey was things that challenge us, as individuals are things that make us better at that which we aim to succeed. For many who may be unfamiliar with music, learning an instrument may be just the right tool. Just as a coach may make a football player take ballet or dance to break them out of their element, Heath says working at becoming a good drummer helps him succeed in racing! Conversely, after talking to him, there’s no question that what makes a good racer and makes a good drummer are not that different.
Heath Voss’s website shows a short streaming video entitled “A Day Off with Heath Voss”. In it, you’ll see him, climbing pegboard walls as a work out, shifter cart racing (one of his other passions), playing a bit of drums, single-ski water skiing, and having a good time. Given his mentality and drive to succeed I don’t think anyone would argue that even on “A Day Off” all of these activities are all parts of Heath’s training to win.
Brad Ranola
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