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:
Damian
Recommended minutes to practice: 5-10 minutes per day
What to practice: Just focus on spending some time at the instrument, holding the sticks, and playing simple rhythms.
How to practice it most effectively: You had a great first lesson, Damian! This week, whenever you sit down at your drum set, try your best to remember the things that we talked about: hold the sticks by pinching them between your thumbs and first finger. The other fingers should just wrap loosely around the stick. Practice counting out loud while you play and try to keep a steady beat. If you can, try playing these rhythms that we worked on in your lesson: 1 2 3&4, 1 2&3 4, 1&2 3&4. We will review everything again next week and also work on some new things.
Koel
Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes per day
What to practice: Review the fills from Verse 2 and Chorus 2 and practice the Guitar Solo #2 from “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door”: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SCS8WVjfR1OZVlYmt8a1r2LTxo2NJOpN?usp=sharing
How to practice it most effectively: Spend some time listening to song this week so that you can hear all the fills that you have practiced. Hearing everything in the context of the song is the best way to learn how it all fits together. When practicing the second guitar solo, pay close attention to how the bass drum notes line up with the hi-hat notes. These bass drum rhythms are different from the rest of the song, so it may be necessary to practice the bass and snare separately from the hi-hat at first.
Jonathan
Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice the ghost note beat from the page that we worked on in your lesson as well as the beat from “Chameleon” by Herbie Hancock: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GxopIaGPN0UhwG3zk4gQWTnEaDDL7TWP?usp=sharing
How to practice it most effectively: Keep working on the ghost note beats (#13-18). Read the notation carefully and practice the beats slowly at first to make sure you are getting the rhythm right. After you get the sound of the rhythm in your head, then try playing the beat faster. Focus on keeping the ghost notes soft and the accented snare notes loud. With the beat from Chameleon, the most important thing is the accents in the hi-hat part. As you work on the bass and snare rhythm, don’t forget to accent the beginning of each beat on the hi-hat.