Hi everyone,
Now that we have transitioned 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:
Koel
Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice the first 4 open hi-hat beats from the page that I gave you: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SCS8WVjfR1OZVlYmt8a1r2LTxo2NJOpN?usp=sharing
How to practice it most effectively: For each beat, first identify the rhythms that you need to play on the snare drum and bass drum. Then practice playing this rhythm a few times in a row. After that feels comfortable, then figure on which parts of the beat you need to open and close the hi-hat. Take it slow and focus on whether your feet are moving up and down together, separately, or opposite from one another. Also, remember to count out loud while you’re practicing. This will help with timing!
Elliot
Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice beats #15, 17, and 18 on the Lesson 3 sheet as well as the first few bars from “Better Man” by Pearl Jam: https://drive.google.com/open?id=10YGpSqgr9Z2SExyhXz7k1evG3C0t2VEc
How to practice it most effectively: Practice the beats from Lesson 3 the same way that we worked on them in your lesson. First, count out loud the rhythm of the bass drum and snare drum several times in a row to make sure you know how the rhythm goes. Next, play the bass and snare rhythm while continuing to count the rhythm in your head. Then, once that feels comfortable and you are confident that you know how the rhythm is supposed to sound, add in the eighth notes on the hi-hat. When practicing “Better Man” be sure to look carefully at the rhythms written on the page and count them out loud so you can hear how they are supposed to sound.
Sylvie
Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day
What to practice: Keep working through the fills from “Get Used To It” and also take a look at the open hi-hat beats from the sheet in this Google Drive folder: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1MdzpAH-WlxUE2Be0mmnMOUHri-R2utTX?usp=sharing
How to practice it most effectively: For each beat, first identify the rhythms that you need to play on the snare drum and bass drum. Then practice playing this rhythm a few times in a row. After that feels comfortable, then figure on which parts of the beat you need to open and close the hi-hat. Take it slow and focus on whether your feet are moving up and down together, separately, or opposite from one another. Also, remember to count out loud while you’re practicing. This will help with timing!
Jonathan
Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice playing beats with 16th notes on the hi-hat that incorporate syncopation on the bass drum. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GxopIaGPN0UhwG3zk4gQWTnEaDDL7TWP?usp=sharing
How to practice it most effectively: Just like we did in your lesson, practice playing 16th note beats in two different ways: first with just the right hand playing all the hi-hat notes and your left hand playing on the snare. Then try the same beat with both hands alternating on the hi-hat. This will allow you to play faster more easily, but it can make it harder to coordinate the bass drum part with what your hands are doing when they are alternating every note. Practicing these types of beats both ways is good practice for your hands and feet!
Will
Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice both pages of open hi-hat beats. https://drive.google.com/open?id=17pjkCZ1jfMdjwRqFBMaPIG_hKMb3gQGz
How to practice it most effectively: For each beat, first identify the rhythms that you need to play on the snare drum and bass drum. Then practice playing this rhythm a few times in a row. After that feels comfortable, then figure on which parts of the beat you need to open and close the hi-hat. Take it slow and focus on whether your feet are moving up and down together, separately, or opposite from one another. Also, remember to count out loud while you’re practicing. This will help with timing!
Jonah
Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice #10-14 from the Lesson 4 page as well as the warm-up exercises that I wrote down for you. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xgENtr7–sAhgC9zceezlfeYJwA6JWlY?usp=sharing
How to practice it most effectively: Remember when you are practicing these beats to focus on keeping a steady and consistent pulse. This means not speeding up, slowing down, or pausing. You want to try to play each beat at least four times in a row with a steady pulse. This might mean that you have to play it slowly in order to maintain the steadiness that you need.
Noah
Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes per day
What to practice: Work on the second page of “Take On Me” and also, if you have time, the accent pattern page from this Google Drive folder: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Dga1ZBRWaN_Ka4O1G009w-74c4VaZCj7?usp=sharing
How to practice it most effectively: When practicing Take On Me, focus on keeping a really steady pulse, especially when you transition from one beat to another. This is really important to making the whole song fit together. With the accent patterns, remember to keep the sticks low to the drum when you’re playing the non-accented notes and only lift them higher when you are preparing to play an accented note. This requires a great degree of control, so be sure to practice it slowly at first!
Samson
Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice the first 8 disco beats on the page I gave you and the first 2 of the open hi-hat beats: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1x_PwofJ3uGhPIMOcJLsgEwb51g3kTCeu?usp=sharing
How to practice it most effectively: For each of the open hi-hat beats, first identify the rhythms that you need to play on the snare drum and bass drum. Then practice playing this rhythm a few times in a row. After that feels comfortable, then figure on which parts of the beat you need to open and close the hi-hat. Take it slow and focus on whether your feet are moving up and down together, separately, or opposite from one another. Also, remember to count out loud while you’re practicing. This will help with timing!
Aidan
Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice the “Single Beat Combinations” from the first page of the Stick Control book and the open hi-hat beats from the page in this Google Drive folder: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1yJPRmQn7QZuvnmvhe8ji-CCGmJPGLDZi
How to practice it most effectively: With the stick control exercises, practice playing them all around the drums: tom and snare, bass and snare, hi-hat and bass, etc. For each of the open hi-hat beats, first identify the rhythms that you need to play on the snare drum and bass drum. Then practice playing this rhythm a few times in a row. After that feels comfortable, then figure on which parts of the beat you need to open and close the hi-hat. Take it slow and focus on whether your feet are moving up and down together, separately, or opposite from one another. Also, remember to count out loud while you’re practicing. This will help with timing!