Percussionists have always instinctively used this technique but, since we believe that even musical instinct needs rules to be guided in the right direction, we have tried to codify some performance rules and have created a series of exercises
that apply them (pp. 42-44 and 60- 62 of the “Timpani” method).

Withdrawal is a term I have used since the Seventies to indicate one of the most used movements for playing, that avoids crossovers and double strokes. It consists (according to the system that I suggested) of withdrawing the hand that has just struck upwards (instead of moving it sideways) to make room for the other one.

With the withdrawal movement, the sticks don't obstruct each other (as with crossovers), you gain incisiveness and you don't run the risk of having unequal strokes (as in the double strokes). All this, obviously, on the condition that the movement is properly executed.
As you can see by looking at the two pictures, with withdrawal upwards, there is no loss of space and time, as with the more common withdrawal with sideways movement (second picture).

Withdrawal towards the right (from a 29” to a 26”)


Sideways movement (from a 29” to a 26”)


The advantages of the technique of natural withdrawal upwards can be better appreciated in fast movements such as, for example, the finale of Beethoven's 8th Symphony, of which we show a fragment.
In cases like these, if you perform a sideways withdrawal, you lose incisiveness and risk arriving late.