Hi everyone,
Here are your assignments for this week:
Will
Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day
What to practice: Review the fills and transitions from page 1 and 2 of Tom Sawyer, then work on the new section starting at the last line of page 3.
How to practice it most effectively: Focus this week on the things that are most difficult for you to play in this song. You don’t need to keep practicing the beginning of page 1 because you can play that easily now. Focus on the fills and transition points in the song that cause you to hesitate or pause. Count the rhythms in your head before you start and repeat these sections several times until you feel confident with them.
Elliot
Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice #1-8 on the “Lessons 6” page.
How to practice it most effectively: Always start by identifying the rhythm on the bass drum and snare drum and playing it a few times in a row without stopping. Count in your head or out loud if necessary. Then, play a slow eighth-note pulse on the hi-hat and try to fit the bass and snare rhythm into the pulse. Keep your right arm moving up and down at a consistent pace in order to avoid changing the rhythm on the hi-hat. Don’t try playing faster until you can play the exercise at least four times in a row without stopping.
Noah
Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice the first 12 exercises from your Stick Control book and review up to measure 26 of Arabella.
How to practice it most effectively: When practicing the very first exercises in Stick Control, practice starting out slowly and then gradually increasing the speed. Once you get to your maximum speed, hold it there for a few seconds and then try to gradually slow down again until you get back to your original speed. With all the other exercises, practice them the way we did in your lesson, using the snare drum, toms, hi-hat, and bass drum. With Arabella, focus on reviewing the drum fills, especially the one in Verse 2.
Koel
Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day
What to practice: Review #1-6 from Lesson 5 and then continue working on #7-12. Also practice the Intro and Verse from “Say It Ain’t So.”
How to practice it most effectively: With the Lesson 5 exercises, focus on keeping a steady pulse on the hi-hat while you fit the other rhythms inside of this pulse. Don’t worry about going fast at the beginning. However, once you start to feel more comfortable with the rhythms, then try to play them faster. Never go faster than you can play the rhythms accurately. For the new song, “Say It Ain’t So,” practice going back and forth between the Intro and Verse, playing on the ride and then the hi-hat.
Caroline
Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice the rhythms and drum beats from the page I gave you this week.
How to practice it most effectively: Focus on reading the rhythms and identifying which notes are eighths and which are sixteenths. Once you have figured this out, then play the rhythm slowly making sure that all the sixteenth notes are short and all the eighth notes are longer. Once you get an idea of how the rhythm sounds, then try playing it in a loop. You can also work on moving these rhythms around the drums. With the drum beats, focus on keeping a steady pulse on the hi-hat and fitting the bass and snare drum notes in the right place. Take it slow and play each beat in a loop.