Hi everyone,

Here are your assignments for this week:

Will

Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day

What to practice: Focus this week on practicing “Comp Example 2.” 

How to practice it most effectively: Pick out some of the comp examples that incorporate the middle note of the triplet and practice playing them with the right hand and foot patterns. Take it slow and focus on how the rhythm sounds in connection with the ride cymbal. Be aware of when the ride and snare should play together and when they should play separately. Once these rhythms start to feel comfortable, then try playing them together with one of the tracks below.

100 bpm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VmZwkqi0HU

120 bpm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpTYcnG5WYE

140 bpm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr2rLTQtRPo

Jude

Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes per day

What to practice: Practice all the new beats that we have worked on over the last two weeks and try playing them together with drums fills.

How to practice it most effectively: With the beats, look carefully at the notation in your book to make sure that you have the correct rhythm on the bass drum and snare drum. Watch out for the places where the hi-hat plays without the bass or the snare. Also, look at the drum fill examples that I wrote below the beats. Try playing these fills (or other fills like them) together with some of the new beats once you are comfortable with them.

Noah

Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day

What to practice: Review Section 2 of Watermelon Man and practice playing it all the way through with the new fill at the end.

How to practice it most effectively: The trickiest thing about this section is making sure that all of the bass drum and snare drum notes are played in the right spots. The best way to address this is by practicing slowly and counting. If you count “1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a” as you are playing, it will be easier to identify mistakes in the rhythm and to fix them. Once you can get through the whole section at a slow speed, then try playing it faster and counting only in your head. As you get used to how the rhythm sounds, then you won’t need to rely as much on counting.

Koel

Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day

What to practice: Practice playing all the way through “Sweet Child O’ Mine” with the recording and come next week with some suggestions for a new song you’d like to learn.

How to practice it most effectively: Your playing sounds really great on “Sweet Child O’ Mine!” Just be careful not to rush and always listen carefully for what’s happening in the recording. As you get more and more familiar with the song, you will be able to hear more easily how your part should line up with the rest of the song. Keep listening each time you practice and try to identify certain sound or rhythms that will help you to stay in time.

Caroline

Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day

What to practice: Practice playing through “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” with the recording and focus on the new section that we worked on this week.

How to practice it most effectively: The guitar solo section of the song has a lot of changes in the drums between the cymbals, snare drum, bass drum, and toms. Practice it slowly until you’re comfortable with all the changes. Then practice playing it together with the recording. Listen carefully as you play through to make sure that what you’re playing matches up with what you are hearing. Next week we will finish off this song and pick a new one to do before the end of the school year.