When we face a passage to be played "legato assoluto", first of all we must forget we are playing a percussion instrument and  trust our "inner singing": recalling to mind the theme will help us to get the right touch.

Then we focus on the natural weight of our arm, relieved and sustained from the hand, which will transfer from one finger to another. This I call "the handover", just like picking up the torch in a sports competition. If the tensing and consequently the weight don't remain steady, the "torch" falls down.

To master this technique, it's better to start with simple exercises, using the four fingers without the thumb, which due to its shape makes it more difficult to pass down the weight [...]