Hi everyone,
Here are your practice assignments for this week:
Aidan
Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day
What to practice: Latin rhythms/beats and the jazz/swing rhythms.
How to practice it most effectively: With the Latin beats, practice playing just the left hand part together with the feet. Play it very slowly at first, ensuring that each note is lining up properly within the pattern. Then, once you have it, try to gradually speed it up. With the jazz rhythms, focus first on getting the right hand pattern together with the feet. Remember that 2 and 4 on the hi-hat/ride cymbals should be accented (the loudest part). After this feels comfortable, then try adding the snare notes on each beat.
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: Practice the open hi-hat beats that I wrote down in your book as well as the beat from “Paradise” by Coldplay.
How to practice it most effectively: Play each of the open hi-hat beats slowly. Focus on what your left foot is doing, making sure that it moves up and down at the right times. Be especially careful of the places where the hi-hat foot moves opposite from the bass drum foot. Try to get a consistent sound from your open hi-hat by opening it the same amount each time. Also, be sure to play each beat with a steady rhythm.
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: The Intro/Verse beat from “Say It Ain’t So” by Weezer.
How to practice it most effectively: First, be sure to always count out loud when you are practicing new drum beats. Take it slow and read each note on the page as you are counting them. Try also to be aware of how the beat sounds. If you can get the sound of the beat in your head, then it will be easier to play it consistently. See if you can play it 4 times in a row without stopping. Once you can comfortably do that, then see if you can play it 8 times in a row without stopping. Then go for 12 or 16 times in a row. This is the best way to become comfortable with a new beat.
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: Tom Sawyer by Rush.
How to practice it most effectively: Read everything that I wrote down in your book carefully. If you’re not sure about a particular rhythm, listen to the song as use it as a reference. Don’t try to play along with the recording yet. Just focus on playing each section of the piece accurately and consistently at your own speed. Try to get all the way from the beginning to where we finished without stopping.
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 O.
Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice the rhythm review that we worked on in your lesson.
How to practice it most effectively: Practice reading the rhythms in your book by counting them out loud in time while clapping the beat. If you can do this comfortably then the rhythms will be easy to play. Identify which notes are quarter notes, which are eighth notes, and which are sixteenth notes. Remember that sometimes a single beat can have one eighth note and two sixteenth notes in different orders. The eighth notes will always be longer than the sixteenth notes. Once you’re sure of how a rhythm is supposed to sound, then try playing it on the snare drum.
How parents can support practice: Encouraging your child to practice regularly and helping them develop a routine is the best way to be supportive.