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, and drags.
How to practice it most effectively: With the roll, try practicing a 9-stroke roll (1 e & a 2), a 13-stroke roll (1 e & a 2 e &), and a 17-stroke roll (1 e & a 2 e & a 3), each starting with your left hand. This will strengthen your left-hand buzz stroke and bring it closer to the level of your right. Then try practicing a long roll across 10 seconds that gradually increases then decreases in volume. With the flams and drags, practice both the left hand lead and the right hand lead. Do each one 10 times in a row and listen for consistency. Then repeat.
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: Keep practicing the 16th note beats and also review the scales we did on xylophone.
How to practice it most effectively: The drum beats are getting a lot better! Keep working on it and see if you can push the speed a little bit. As you go faster, make sure that the bass drum notes are still lining up precisely with the hi-hat. On the xylophone, see if you can remember how to play the C major scale, the G major scale, and the F major scale. Remember that the G major scale includes F-sharp, and F major scale includes B-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 guitar solo section and Chorus 3 of Back in Black.
How to practice it most effectively: Focus on the transition between the guitar solo section and Chorus three. This is the part where you have lots of crashes in a row: crash, crash, crash, snare, crash, crash, crash. Listen to how this part fits in with the music and practice playing from the end of the guitar solo into the chorus 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.
Alexy
Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day
What to practice: All of the fills from Mercy by Muse.
How to practice it most effectively: With each fill, it is most important that they stay in time (don’t slow down)! So, whatever speed you practice them at, they must stay at that speed. Work on keep the beat consistent and feeling the pulse throughout each fill. Practice them slowly in order to get the sticking correct. Then try playing them gradually faster without slowing down at the end.
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: The intro Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2 and the two beats we worked on from Spirit of Radio.
How to practice it most effectively: For the beats in Spirit of Radio, be sure that the accents in what you’re playing line up with the accents in the music. Practice it slowly and sing the melody along with what you’re doing. This way you can hear and feel how they’re supposed to line up. Once you feel comfortable doing it at a faster speed, then try playing with the recording.
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: 20-30 minutes per day
What to practice: Keep working on the 16th-note beats, particularly the new ones: #7 and #8.
How to practice it most effectively: Focus on not playing the hi-hat too loudly, but rather keeping it light and bouncy. The bass drum should be significantly louder than the hi-hat, but the rhythm should still be steady and in time with the hi-hat. Don’t play any of these beats faster than you are able to play them consistently and 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.