Hi everyone,

With the transition to ZOOM video lessons, I am no longer able to write down notes and musical material in the students’ books/binders. Instead, I have created PDF documents for each of you and dropped them into a Google Drive folder. The link to your documents is listed in the What to practice heading under your name below. You should be able to access the documents simply by clicking on the link. Here are your practice assignments for this week:

Will

Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day

What to practice: Practice the Rhumba, Mambo, and Bossa Nova beats: https://drive.google.com/open?id=17pjkCZ1jfMdjwRqFBMaPIG_hKMb3gQGz

How to practice it most effectively: With the Rhumba and Mambo beats, focus on gradually increasing the tempo while also maintaining accurate rhythms and a steady groove. With the Bossa Nova, focus on getting the coordination between the left hand and the feet. Remember that for now you only have to play the bass drum on 1 and 3. Leave out the other bass notes and we will work on adding them in next week.

Elliot

Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes per day

What to practice: Practice playing all the way through “Highway to Hell” by ACDC: https://drive.google.com/open?id=10YGpSqgr9Z2SExyhXz7k1evG3C0t2VEc

How to practice it most effectively: Start your practice session by trying to play through the whole song. Then, whatever spots you had trouble with, practice just those spots by themselves. The transitions will likely give you the most trouble, so practice playing each major transition several times in a row. When you’re finished, end you practice session with another full run-through.

Aidan

Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day

What to practice: Practice playing through the whole snare drum solo: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1yJPRmQn7QZuvnmvhe8ji-CCGmJPGLDZi

How to practice it most effectively: Focus this week on keeping a consistent pulse throughout the whole solo and also on being very precise with the dynamics. Make sure that your PP is softer that your P and that your FF is louder than your F. You need to demonstrate a clear difference between each level of dynamics. Once you are comfortable with the dynamics and a consistent pulse, then try to increase the speed at which you can play the solo.

Noah

Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes per day

What to practice: Practice the shuffle beats along with the four fills that I wrote down for you: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Dga1ZBRWaN_Ka4O1G009w-74c4VaZCj7?usp=sharing

How to practice it most effectively: Play each of the fills by themselves on the snare drum. Then work on playing them together with each of the shuffle beats. Once you feel comfortable with the rhythms and the stickings, then think about different ways that you can move the fills around the drums. See if you can come up with creative ways to move around the drums. Next week we’ll see what you came up with!

Nate M.

Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day

What to practice: Practice beat #2 and the fill from Watermelon Man: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1UJYz7hx_AeAM7Std0aj1Y1IyVd-8f86S?usp=sharing

How to practice it most effectively: Remember that the last two lines of Beat #2 repeat. After you have played the repeat then the fill starts right after the end of the last line. There is a 16th-note rest at the beginning of the fill, but that is only a very short break, so you have to be ready to come in very quickly. Listening to this section of the song will help you figure out the rhythm.

Nate O.

Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day

What to practice: Practice all the beats from “Come and Go” by Juice WRLD: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1lsS6FvGAobS96Y5mFUDE_7L1HGfAK0_s

How to practice it most effectively: Focus on the transitions between the beats and make sure that you keep a steady pulse throughout the whole song. The order of the beats is: 1) “clap” beat, 2) main beat, 3) double-time beat, 4) “clap” beat, 5) main beat. Remember that there is a short break after the first time through the main beat before you come in with the double-time beat. Try practicing all of this along with the recording of the song.