Hi everyone,
Next week I have a gig in Montreal so I won’t be here for lessons. Pino will be subbing for me. I will let him know what each of you are working on. Here are your practice assignments for this week:
Will
Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day
What to practice: The syncopated drum beats and the verse beat from Arabella.
How to practice it most effectively: Keep working on what we practiced in your lesson: improvising fills while playing a drum beat. You did a great job keeping the beat steady while playing different rhythms around the drums. Continue trying to come up with new and creative fill ideas that are different from what you have done before.
Alexy
Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day
What to practice: The fills and chorus beat from “When I Come Around” by Green Day.
How to practice it most effectively: Work on the transitions between the fills and the beats. Focus on not slowing down through the difficult sections. Listen to the song on Youtube to try to get the sound of the rhythms and beats in your head. This will help you to play them more accurately and consistently.
Oscar
Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day
What to practice: The first four lines of Hungarian Dance No. 5.
How to practice it most effectively: Be careful not to cut your rolls short. You need to sustain each roll for the full duration of the note, whether it is a dotted quarter note or a half note. Also, try to shape the phrase of each line by using dynamics through the rolls.
Emily
Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day
What to practice: The open hi-hat beats that I wrote down in your book.
How to practice it most effectively: Take it slow and be aware of what your left foot should be doing in relation to your right foot and your hands. Try to hear the rhythm of the whole bar and how the open hi-hat not creates a kind of an accent within the context of the beat.