ヨルシカ / Yorushika - カトレア / cattleya Practice Log

Here’s my painfully honest practice log for ヨルシカ (Yorushika) — “カトレア / Cattleya” XDD.

After warming up, I jump into the song. The intro starts with a Hi-Hat missing-2 rhythm,
but the bass drum doesn’t hit on every beat, so at first my hands and feet interfere with each other easily.
I slow the tempo, repeat the first four bars until they’re comfortable,
then gradually increase the BPM. Since similar rhythms recur later,
getting the opening down makes the rest easier to follow.

Then comes the part where my hands start to burn XD. The 16th-note beat at BPM 160
really tests the steadiness of your 16ths. When I notice I’m losing control,
I usually drop 20 BPM, fix the motion, then slowly bring the speed back up.
Next you hit quick double bass notes; I use a “back-front” foot technique to produce the rapid two hits.

When my feet weren’t used to it, I isolated that motion and repeated it slowly until the double was stable before speeding up.

At measures 16–17 of the intro there’s another transition. Many kit-position shifts occur here,
making it a great phrase to drill shifts repeatedly.

The verse is relatively friendly, so I can finally catch my breath XD.
Then comes the important chorus groove: lots of hand-foot interplay,
and when every beat locks in and you play it all the way through, it feels amazing!

Next is the transition at measures 45–46.

There’s a hand-foot coordination I really like, focused on the fourth bass-drum placement.
This groove not only sounds great but appears in many songs, so I isolated and practiced it several times.

Then measures 49–50 — a transition that feels like it never ends. (sweat)

After getting through it, the verse returns and my hands can rest a bit again XD.
By measures 65–66 you hit the pre-chorus transition.

This section has many shifts between snare, T1 and FT; when it’s messy I isolate the phrase and repeat it
until my hands remember the shifting order, then reintegrate it into the song.

The second chorus is similar to the first. If previous grooves are drilled, this is easier to pass;
if I get stuck again, I go back to earlier phrases and run them more times. Then comes the bridge,
which originally uses rim shots, but since GONGO doesn’t have rim sound yet I substitute snare for now (will add rim later)

The tricky part here is switching suddenly from rim to FT, then to CYM, plus a “1, 4+3” syncopated splash choke.

I practiced this phrase many times until my left foot could naturally control Hi-Hat opening and closing, then gradually connected the whole section.
Describing that choke in words: as right hand and right foot strike down together,
the left foot slightly lifts the Hi-Hat, then immediately closes it, creating a short open-closed sound.
Getting three limbs to move together at the exact moment took me a lot of time. (sweat)

Next is the two-bar transition before section C.

After practicing this far, most later grooves and transitions resemble earlier phrases.
The time spent breaking things down finally pays off! By now your hands should have the parts pretty well memorized, right? XD
Overall, “カトレア” is fast, full of transitions, and really tests single strokes, syncopation, shifting, and limb coordination.
Though the process was grueling, playing the whole song is incredibly invigorating.
When a section that used to always trip you up finally clicks, you really feel the practice was worth it!
If you like this song, give it a try and challenge yourself! 🥁