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: 20-30 minutes per day

What to practice: Keep working on the rhythms from Syncopation page 29, particularly lines 4, 5, and 6: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17pjkCZ1jfMdjwRqFBMaPIG_hKMb3gQGz?usp=sharing

How to practice it most effectively: Play through these rhythms four bars at a time. First play them on the snare drum, then work on moving them around the drums in different ways. Remember to incorporate the bass drum and cymbals too. Once you feel comfortable playing a 4-bar phrase around the drums, then practice playing it in combination with four bars of a beat.

Elliot

Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes per day

What to practice: Review beats 5-8 from the page “Basic Rock Beats” and practice the main beat from “A-Punk” by Vampire Weekend: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10YGpSqgr9Z2SExyhXz7k1evG3C0t2VEc?usp=sharing

How to practice it most effectively: With the rock beats, focus on staying relaxed as you play and keeping the rhythm on the bass drum very consistent. The goal is to be able to play each of these beats accurately and at a high speed without getting tired. For the beat from A-Punk, focus on playing at a consistent speed and work on adding in the fills.

Aidan

Recommended minutes to practice: 30 minutes per day

What to practice: Practice your open-stroke (buzz) roll and your closed-stroke (double stroke) roll as well as sight-reading rhythms and the ghost-note beats: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1yJPRmQn7QZuvnmvhe8ji-CCGmJPGLDZi?usp=sharing

How to practice it most effectively: For the buzz stroke roll, practice playing from soft to loud and then back to soft, making the changes as gradually as you can. Remember that the speed your hands are moving up and down should increase as you get louder and decrease as you get softer. For the double stroke roll, practice playing from slow to fast and back to slow. Focus on keeping the volume of each stroke consistent, especially the bounce strokes.

Noah

Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes per day

What to practice: Practice the third and fourth line of rhythm from Syncopation page 29 and review beats 5, 6, and 7 from the page we have been working on: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Dga1ZBRWaN_Ka4O1G009w-74c4VaZCj7?usp=sharing

How to practice it most effectively: When practicing the rhythms, focus on keeping a steady pulse when you play. This means that when you are counting the rhythm, the “1…2…3…4…” should be consistent regardless of what rhythm you are playing. Practice playing the rhythm first just on the snare drum while counting either in your head or out loud. Then try adding the pulse on the bass drum while you play the rhythm on the snare drum. Next, try moving the rhythm around on the drums while still maintaining a steady pulse on the bass drum. If you can do all of that, then try putting these rhythms together with a drum beat.

Koel

Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes per day

What to practice: Review the accent patterns we worked on in your lesson: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SCS8WVjfR1OZVlYmt8a1r2LTxo2NJOpN?usp=sharing

How to practice it most effectively: Focus on playing these accent patterns with consistency and gradually increasing the speed at which you are comfortable playing them. Be creative in moving them around the drums in different ways. Also, try playing each accent pattern in combination with a drum beat, as you would with a drum fill. Next week we will look at some new accent patterns and some beats.

Damian

Recommended minutes to practice: 5-10 minutes per day

What to practice: Review the “Basics of Rhythm” page and practice beats 3-6 on the page of “Basic Rock Beats”: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jaROP8emrq7yGkV13Mt_Js4NVtEz-sCl?usp=sharing

How to practice it most effectively: Take some time this week to review quarter notes and eighth notes and practice playing the rhythm exercises on your sheet. These should be played on the snare drum. You can also play the snare/bass exercises at the bottom of the page if you want to. When practicing the drum beats, be sure to look carefully at the rhythm of the bass drum part. This is the key to playing these beats correctly.

Nate O.

Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day

What to practice: Keep working on the rhythms from Syncopation page 29 and the 16th-note beats: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lsS6FvGAobS96Y5mFUDE_7L1HGfAK0_s?usp=sharing

How to practice it most effectively: When practicing the rhythms, focus on keeping a steady pulse when you play. This means that when you are counting the rhythm, the “1…2…3…4…” should be consistent regardless of what rhythm you are playing. Practice playing the rhythm first just on the snare drum while counting either in your head or out loud. Then try adding the pulse on the bass drum while you play the rhythm on the snare drum. Next, try moving the rhythm around on the drums while still maintaining a steady pulse on the bass drum. If you can do all of that, then try putting these rhythms together with a drum beat.