Hi everyone,
Here are your assignments for this week:
Will
Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice playing page 3 of Tom Sawyer starting two bars before where it says “Chorus.”
How to practice it most effectively: Focus on the transitions in this section. Practice it slowly enough that you can connect each bar to the previous one and the next one without having to slow down or stop. The more times you play something correctly, the easier it gets and eventually you will be able to play it faster without stopping. However, if you are consistently stopping and starting again when you practice, your brain will get used to playing it that way.
Jared
Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day
What to practice: Keep working on the accent patterns and add #7 and #8 from this page: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1JX6UYuVpfhBjfawAizC8uiaZhTAKinrs?usp=share_link
How to practice it most effectively: This week, practice each of the accent patterns in two different ways: first just on the snare drum, second with the accented notes on the toms and the soft notes on the snare. Once you feel comfortable playing the accent patterns, then try to play them a bit faster. See how fast you can go before you start making mistakes. Play them fast but not so fast that you lose consistency.
Noah
Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice playing all the way through “Black Dog” and work on the page labeled “Exercise One.”
How to practice it most effectively: In Black Dog, the main thing that you need to work on is smoothing out the beat in measures 13-17. Focus on keeping the ride cymbal part steady and fitting all the bass and snare notes into that pulse. Also work on the timing of transitions, particularly in the second half of the song. With Exercise One, play quarter notes with your right hand on the ride cymbal, beats 1 and 3 on the bass drum, and beats 2 and 4 with the hi-hat foot. Then read the rhythms from the page and play them with the left hand on the snare drum.
Koel
Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day
What to practice: Keep working on your sheet music for Christmas Time Is Here.
How to practice it most effectively: Practice playing through measures 17-28 for your test at school. Remember to count yourself in so that you can get the proper timing for each bar. Find your starting notes but also think about what notes you need to move to next. For the part that starts on the high G, think about starting with your mallets over the E-flat and G, then move them to D and F, then move them to C and E-flat, but don’t forget about the one D-flat which is played before the C.
Caroline
Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice playing all the way through “When September Ends” with the fills and the new ending part.
How to practice it most effectively: You already have a really good handle on this song. Before you try playing with the recording, practice the fill which always comes after Main Beat #2. Play it a few times in a row so that it feels comfortable. Then look at the ending section which is the last bar of the song. Play this a few times in a row as well. Then put on the song and see if you can play all the way through. You may find you need to go back and practice the new sections a few more times before trying it again with the recording.