Hi everyone,
With the transition to ZOOM video lessons, I am no longer able to write down notes and musical material in the students’ books/binders. Instead, I have created PDF documents for each of you and dropped them into a Google Drive folder. The link to your documents is listed in the What to practice heading under your name below. You should be able to access the documents simply by clicking on the link. Here are your practice assignments for this week:
Will
Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice the basic Jazz Samba pattern written on your sheet: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17pjkCZ1jfMdjwRqFBMaPIG_hKMb3gQGz?usp=sharing
How to practice it most effectively: Practice the first and second measures of the pattern separately. Play the right hand and foot patterns continuously and then add in the left hand one measure at a time. If you’re having trouble, practice counting the left hand rhythm out loud while playing the right hand and foot patterns. Eventually, work your way up to counting both measures of the left hand pattern while playing the other parts, then try playing all parts together.
Elliot
Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice the half-measure patterns from “Lesson 5” together with drum fills: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10YGpSqgr9Z2SExyhXz7k1evG3C0t2VEc?usp=sharing
How to practice it most effectively: Take the combined rhythm of the bass drum and snare drum in each patterns and practice playing them around the drums. Then practice playing the beat pattern 3 times in a row followed by the fill that you practiced. Try to do this a few times in a row without stopping for each pattern.
Damian
Recommended minutes to practice: 5-10 minutes per day
What to practice: Keep working on page one of The Chain by Fleetwood Mac with a focus on the transitions: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jaROP8emrq7yGkV13Mt_Js4NVtEz-sCl?usp=sharing
How to practice it most effectively: Practice playing this page from the top to the bottom without stopping. Remember to count each measure carefully so that you don’t accidentally leave anything out. When you get to the end of each line, remember to move immediately to the beginning of the next line without stopping. These transition points are really important to putting the whole song together.
Nate O.
Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day
What to practice: Keep working on the Funk beat and R&B beat from the Groove Essentials collection: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lsS6FvGAobS96Y5mFUDE_7L1HGfAK0_s?usp=sharing
How to practice it most effectively: Count each beat carefully in order to make sure you’re not leaving anything out or adding in extra notes. Try to get a feel for the groove of each beat so that you’re not just reading them one note at a time but actually feeling the beat. Once you get a good handle on each beat, then try to play them a bit faster. Next week we will practice playing them together with a recording.
Noah
Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice the one-measure beats from “Lesson 6” as well as drum fills with the half-measure beats: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Dga1ZBRWaN_Ka4O1G009w-74c4VaZCj7?usp=sharing
How to practice it most effectively: With the half-measure beats, take the combined rhythm of the bass drum and snare drum in each patterns and practice playing them around the drums. Then practice playing the beat pattern 3 times in a row followed by the fill that you practiced. Try to do this a few times in a row without stopping for each pattern. With the one-measure patterns, practice playing them each at a variety of speeds (slow, medium, and fast).
Koel
Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes per day
What to practice: Finish up the page of 16th note open hi-hat beats: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SCS8WVjfR1OZVlYmt8a1r2LTxo2NJOpN?usp=sharing
How to practice it most effectively: Focus on beats 9-12 this week. Be sure that the bass drum is playing exactly together with each open hi-hat note in these beats. Even though these beats are syncopated, the rhythms still need to be accurate and the sixteenth notes still need to be steady. After you have worked on beats 9-12, then spend some time reviewing 1-8.
Sylvie
Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice the 9 drum beats together with rhythms from Syncopation page 28: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1KGeo9VGh3JOWzwpGhEe1DbXMRuQiG7lL?usp=sharing
How to practice it most effectively: Pick a measure of rhythm from Syncopation page 28 and practice playing it around the drums as a drum fill. Then pick one of the beats from the 9 that we worked on recently and play it three times in a row followed by the drum fill that you just practiced. Try to loop this pattern a few times in a row hitting the crash each time you return to the beat. Do this at least once for each of the 9 beats using a different rhythm each time.