Hi everyone,
Here are your practice assignments for this week:
Aidan
Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day
What to practice: The half time shuffle beat with the ghost notes on the snare and the triplet accent patterns.
How to practice it most effectively: First practice the hi-hat shuffle pattern with the ghost notes in the left hand. The pattern should be RLR RLR RLR RLR etc. After that feels comfortable, add in the bass drum on beat 1. Then add the loud snare note on beat 3. This will be the trickiest part. Slow it down as much as you need to. With the accent patterns, take them slow and remember to count while you play!
How parents can support practice: Encouraging your child to practice regularly and helping them develop a routine is the best way to be supportive.
Will
Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day
What to practice: The rhythms that we practiced in your lesson.
How to practice it most effectively: The first step is to make sure that you can count the rhythm out loud before you try to play it. Identify which notes are quarters, eighths, and sixteenths. Then, once you can count it confidently, then play it on the snare drum. Make sure you still count while you play. Once the rhythm feels comfortable, then try moving it around on the drums.
How parents can support practice: Encouraging your child to practice regularly and helping them develop a routine is the best way to be supportive.
Elliot
Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice the two drum fills that we have worked on.
How to practice it most effectively: Play the rock beat three times in a row followed by the drum fill (once) and then repeat. Make sure that you are counting in your head as you play and that you’re not speeding up or slowing down. If you get tired of just practicing those two fills over and over again, then try making up one of your own. Remember, though, that you still need to be able to count to four while playing your fill.
How parents can support practice: Encouraging your child to practice regularly and helping them develop a routine is the best way to be supportive.
Oscar
Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day
What to practice: The jazz rhythm exercises, #7-12.
How to practice it most effectively: Remember to count each exercise out loud before you try to play it. It is very important that you can read and count these rhythms, not just play them by ear. Once you are confident that you can count the rhythm correctly, then try playing the snare together with the foot pattern. After that, try to play the ride and snare together, then add the feet. This step by step process will help with accuracy and consistency.
How parents can support practice: Encouraging your child to practice regularly and helping them develop a routine is the best way to be supportive.
Nate
Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day
What to practice: Open hi-hat beats that I wrote down in your book.
How to practice it most effectively: Practice each beat slowly at first. Make sure that you are opening and closing the hi-hat at the right moments. Also, be careful that you are not adding extra bass drum notes into any of the beats. The main purpose of these exercises is to be able to move each of your feet up and down independently of one another. There shouldn’t necessarily be a bass drum note every time you open the hi-hat.
How parents can support practice: Encouraging your child to practice regularly and helping them develop a routine is the best way to be supportive.
Alexy
Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day
What to practice: The shuffle beat and the 12/8 rhythms that we have worked on.
How to practice it most effectively: Make sure that you are playing the hi-hat rhythm accurately with this beat. It should have a triplet feels and your left hand should play: soft loud, soft loud, soft loud, etc. The bass drum and snare drum notes should lock in with the “loud” notes on the hi-hat. Once it starts to feel more comfortable, see if you can play it faster.
How parents can support practice: Encouraging your child to practice regularly and helping them develop a routine is the best way to be supportive.