Hi everyone,

Here are your practice assignments for this week:

Paula

If you are able to find opportunities to practice this week, review the beats that we have worked on so far. Practice playing each one at different speeds (slow, medium, and fast) and try to count out loud while you play. This will help with accuracy and consistency. Also, you should practice incorporating fills into the beats that you play. These can be short fills (4 sixteenth notes) or longer fills (a whole bar of sixteenth notes).

Sabrina

Continue to practice Hungarian Dance No. 5 with a metronome just as we talked about last week. It has made a significant improvement in your playing already! Also, practice controlling the volume of your rolls with the exercises that we went over this week. Your shoulders/arms should be relaxed and most of the motion should come from the wrists. Remember not to grip the mallet too tightly as this will create unnecessary tension.

Will

Take a look this week at the “bridge” section of Paradise City. Read all the notes that I wrote in your book and see if you can follow along with the music. After the bridge, go back to the verse and then on to the double chorus. Remember that the first half of the chorus repeats three times for the double chorus.

Oscar

Have a listen this week to “Walkin’” by Miles Davis and “Cissy Strut” by the Meters. See how much of the drums you can figure out just by listening. Try to write down what you hear. We’ll take a look at it next week and make corrections if needed. Also, practice the four new bars of Super Mario Bros. that we worked on this week.

Isaac

Continue to work on finding and keeping the beat in each of the songs that we have worked on. “Our God” is a good one because it’s kind of a medium speed and the first word of each line in the chorus lands right on beat 1. Listen for this and see if you can keep time with the song.

Nate

Practice the first part of “The Ocean” by Led Zeppelin that we worked on this week. Read what I have written down in your book and try to match it with what you hear in the song. Watch out for the 7/8 bars! Remember that they should be counted 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 etc…