.... For the record, Dennis did use telephone books in his practice routine. However, he used his arms to hold them down. Not duct tape. That would defeat the purpose of the whole excersize. The point of the whole thing is to keep your arms as close to your body as possible. A lot of cats when they play have their elbows out like chicken wings while playing. When you see Dennis play, his arms are really close to his sides when he plays because of this. Also, when you see him play he is only using his arms to get to around his kit. His primary stroke starts at his wrist. Not at his shoulder like so many of us... That is part of how he developed his strength technique.
This builds upper body strength (shoulders, back, chest, upper arms) stability/balance and posture. One can not afford to be flailing around all nimbly-bimbly with phone books under your arms.
Give it a shot. I promise you'll notice a difference if you practice 30 minutes a day this way (playing simple snare excersizes out of Stick Control, Master Studies etc...) for 3 weeks.
Do it. I dare you. I DOUBLE-DARE YA...
