Hi Everyone,
Good work today! Hopefully, the new school year/work season is treating you well. Here are your assignments for the week:
Lucas
Recommended practice time: 10-25 min/day
What to practice: Work on the exercises from your book I showed you today: (paradiddles, basic rock beat, and the other rock beat variations if you’re feeling ambitious).
How to practice: Remember to isolate the instruments if you are having difficulty with the rock beat. The bass drum is particularly challenging because pedalling often feels unnatural. If it gives you a hard time do the bass drum on its own but otherwise, just work on fluency by repeating the exercises. Take your time with paradiddles and try to work with a metronome at around quarter= 60 bpm.
Samson
Recommended practice time: 20-25 min/day
What to practice: We will review the fill from last week in person, it sounded like you were close but the timing was slightly off. Work on making uptown funk a bit more interesting (add fills and make the rhythms denser/faster) and show me whatever song you want to learn next week (Rick Astley?). Use paradiddles as a chops builder just to learn to play more consistently.
How to practice: Make sure you use a metronome! Rudimental exercises like paradiddles only have value when practiced with a metronome. It will also help you push your limits in speed one step at a time. Pay attention to the fills when you practice a rock beat with anything; you have a tendency to rush. The best way to fix that is to listen to the metronome. Loosen up and have fun when playing with music! You have the basics, they just need to be cleaned up a bit.
Patricia
Recommended practice time: Whatever you can manage but aim for a minimum of 10 min/day just to get your hands moving
Reiterating from last week: check in with Barn and he might be able to get you a drum pad.
What to practice: Work on your single strokes (one hand at a time) and just keep it steady. Work on sixteenth notes. These exercises can even be done on a pillow or a table it would just be slightly obnoxious.
How to practice: Remember 60 beats per minute (bpm)= 1 beat per second. Quarter note = 1 beat. I’ll keep saying this for a couple of weeks because reading music is very helpful in the long run. For now, just take things slow and get your hands moving such that you can hit even notes consistently. Play at a speed you are comfortable with and try to use a metronome meditatively.
Have a good week!