Hi everyone,
Here are your practice assignments for this week:
Aidan
Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day
What to practice: Drum rolls, flams, drags, and paradiddles.
How to practice it most effectively: Focus on matching the volume of your left hand to your right hand in your drum roll. Try starting the roll with the left hand. This will help you to focus your brain on what your left hand is doing. Also practice the flams in the context of 16th notes (flam-e-&-a) as well as the “drag tap.” These will help you to get use to playing the flams and the drags in time. Finally, practice your paradiddles. Make sure that you are accenting the first of each group of four notes and that you are preparing the accent while playing a double with the other hand.
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: Review the 16th-note beats for one more week and also the 5 scales that we have learned (C, G, D, F, and B-flat)
How to practice it most effectively: The 16th-note beats have come a long way! This week, see if you can get the speed up a little higher without sacrificing accuracy of the rhythm. The secret to this is not playing to loudly on the hi-hat. If you can relax your arms and play with less tension, then you’ll be able to play faster with ease. For the scales, remember that the D scales has two sharps: F-sharp and C-sharp; and the B-flat scale has two flats: B-flat and E-flat.
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 Bridge and Chorus 4 of Back in Black by ACDC.
How to practice it most effectively: Be sure to count out loud at the beginning of the bridge. The rests in the middle of the first two bars need to be counted in order to make sure they’re the right duration. If they’re too long or too short then the rest of the beat won’t fit properly with the song. Also, be sure not to mix up the snare notes and the crashes in the second bar of the bridge.
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: 20-30 minutes per day
What to practice: Playing all the way through Mercy by Muse and review for next year.
How to practice it most effectively: Whenever you have time to practice this summer, try playing through the song that we just finished. It will help to keep your skills in shape. Also, review old exercises from your book that we have done throughout this year, particularly ones that you found to be difficult. Those are the things that we want you to get better at. If you review a bit over the summer before coming back in September, it will help us get started in the new school year.
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: “Mary Ann” by Ray Charles and “Log Cabin Blues” George Hamilton Green.
How to practice it most effectively: Focus on the accents in the song Mary Ann. The counter rhythm between the accents and the hi-hat pedal is what makes this song so groovy. Also, in the swing section, listen for the tom note every 4 bars or so. In Log Cabin Blues, and for everything you play on the xylophone, focus on using your wrists more and your elbows less. This will help you to play faster, roll more smoothly, and be hit the notes more accurately.
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 M.
Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day
What to practice: Tom Sawyer by Rush.
How to practice it most effectively: Focus on the intro this week. See if you can get the rhythm of the snare and bass drum in your head. Each bar is different, so listen closely for subtle differences in they rhythms. Also, work on playing fast 16th notes on the hi-hat in a way that will be relaxed. You won’t make it through the whole song if you’re tense. You can either play the 16th notes with 2 hands or practice like crazy to get your right hand to go faster (I suggest the first option).
How parents can support practice: Encouraging your child to practice regularly and helping them develop a routine is the best way to be supportive.