Hi everyone,

Here are your assignments for this week:

Will

Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day

What to practice: Review the notes I gave you from our lesson on xylophone and keep working on Tom Sawyer.

How to practice it most effectively: Remember the things we talked about with half steps and whole steps moving up the keyboard. A whole step is when you skip over a note moving from one to the next. A half step is when you don’t skip a note and you move to the very next note. Also remember that when you are counting fifths, you count the note you are starting on as “1” and then as you move up count “2 3 4 5.” If you can, memorize the saying that will tell you what order to add the sharps and flats: “Father Charles Goes…” etc.

Elliot

Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day

What to practice: Practice the beginning of “Black Dog” by Led Zeppelin including the new beat that we just worked on this week.

How to practice it most effectively: Remember that the last note of the opening section is on the “a” of 2, and that note is the same note as the off-beat bass drum note in your new pattern. This is how the two sections merge together. Practice this transition slowly and, if you can, count out loud while you play. Once you feel comfortable with this transition, then back up to the beginning of the song and try playing up to this point.

Jared

Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes per day

What to practice: Review the rhythms and bass/snare exercises that we worked on in your lessons today.

How to practice it most effectively: Practice counting each of the rhythms out loud before you play it. Then, play it while counting it. Finally, play it while counting in your head. Do the same thing with the bass/snare exercises. Remember that the notes on the bottom line are to be played with your foot and the notes on the top line are to be played with your hand.

Noah

Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day

What to practice: Review all of Arabella.

How to practice it most effectively: Great work with your song this week! You’re almost there now. Take some time this week to listen to song away from the drum kit and focus on getting the sounds and speed of the song in your head. Then, when you’re practicing, try to think of how the song sounds and how your part fits in with everything else. This will help a lot when we run it again next week.

Caroline

Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes per day

What to practice: Review the new beats and accent patterns that I have written down in your book.

How to practice it most effectively: Practice each of the accent patterns first on the snare drum. Focus on keeping the rhythm steady and making as much difference between the loud notes and soft notes as you can. Once you feel comfortable with the pattern, then move the accented notes on to the toms while keeping the non-accented notes on the snare drum. Practice leading with the right hand as well as the left hand.