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:
Damian
Recommended minutes to practice: 5-10 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice playing #7 & #8 from the “Rock & Funk” page and keep working on playing drum fills: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jaROP8emrq7yGkV13Mt_Js4NVtEz-sCl?usp=sharing
How to practice it most effectively: Great work this week on the drum beats and fills! This week, practice the two new beats that we worked on (#7 and #8) from the “Rock & Funk” page that you have. Practice them slowly at first and make sure you can play each one at least four times in a row without stopping. After that, then try playing them slightly faster. Gradually increase the speed a little bit at a time. Also, keep working on your drum fills and see if you can come up with your own rhythms to play around the drums.
Koel
Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice the intro and verse beats from Smoke on the Water: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SCS8WVjfR1OZVlYmt8a1r2LTxo2NJOpN?usp=sharing
How to practice it most effectively: Practice building up the intro beat one part at a time just like the drummer does in the song. First play four bars of just 16th notes on the hi-hat. Then, add in the snare drum on beats 2 and 4 for another four bars. Finally, add in the bass drum on beats 1 and 3 and continue the beat for another seven bars. You should focus on counting the right number of measures between each transition and making the transitions smooth. Also, practice the fill that comes at the end of the intro. Be sure to count every note so that you know you’re playing it accurately.
Jonathan
Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice improvising your own comping rhythms and triplet-based fills: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GxopIaGPN0UhwG3zk4gQWTnEaDDL7TWP?usp=sharing
How to practice it most effectively: The main thing that I want you to work on now is becoming comfortable playing and improvising in a jazz style. You don’t need to play anything complicated, but try to come up with rhythms and fills that sound good to you. To get some ideas, have a listen to some of the artists I’ve listed here: Miles Davis (anything from the album “Kind of Blue” is a good place to start), Dave Brubeck (his album “Time Out” is a classic), John Coltrane (“A Love Supreme” and “Blue Train” are both great), Wynton Marsalis (“The Magic Hour” album is a good place to start).