Hi everyone,

Here are your practice assignments for this week:

Will

Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day

What to practice: The syncopated drum beats listed in your book and the new beat from “Can’t Stop” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

How to practice it most effectively: Be sure that you can count the rhythm of each beat before you play it. Also, make sure that you know which bass drum and snare drum notes are supposed to line up with the hi-hat. Take it slow and make sure you play with a steady pulse.

How parents can support practice: Encouraging your child to practice regularly and helping them develop a routine is the best way to be supportive.

Oscar

Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day

What to practice: Review the major and minor scales as well as the blues scales from your lesson.

How to practice it most effectively: Identify what are the scale degrees for each scale: this means knowing which note letter corresponds to the scale degrees 1-7 for each scale. Once you’ve done this, then you can figure out the minor scale by flat-ing the 3rd, 6th, and 7th scale degrees. The pattern for the blues scale is 1, b3, 4, b5, 5, b7, 1.

How parents can support practice: Encouraging your child to practice regularly and helping them develop a routine is the best way to be supportive.

Nate

Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day

What to practice: Beats #13-18 on the practice sheet that I gave you.

How to practice it most effectively: Focus on developing speed on the hi-hat by keeping your right arm relaxed and using your wrist and elbow in coordination with one another. The initial downward motion of the stick should be generated by your elbow. Then, as the elbow is pulling back up, bend your wrist down to strike with the stick a second time. This alternating motion will help you to play fast without getting tense or tired.

How parents can support practice: Encouraging your child to practice regularly and helping them develop a routine is the best way to be supportive.

Alexy

Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes per day

What to practice: Beats #7-10 on the practice sheet that I gave you.

How to practice it most effectively: It is very important that you can count each of the rhythms in these beats before you attempt to play them. Once you have identified the rhythm, try to play just the snare drum and bass drum parts together while counting out loud. This will ensure that you know what the beat is supposed to sound like and that you can play it in time. Finally, add in the hi-hat and be sure that you are maintaining a very steady pulse.

How parents can support practice: Encouraging your child to practice regularly and helping them develop a routine is the best way to be supportive.

Daniel

Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day

What to practice: Snare drum rudiments and xylophone lessons #2 and #3.

How to practice it most effectively: Continue to push yourself with the xylophone exercises. Try to develop speed in the exercises that seem straightforward. With the ragtime exercises, be very careful with the double stops to make sure they don’t sound like flam. Also, make sure that they rhythms you’re playing are accurate. Count them out loud if necessary.