Hi everyone,

Here are your practice assignments for this week:

Aidan

Keep practicing the song “Can’t Stop” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Focus on the transition between the verse beat and the chorus beat. Make sure that you take it slow enough that you can get through the transition without stopping or hesitating. It’s important not to practice inconsistencies. Also, work on the open hi-hat notes that happen occasionally in the verse. I have given you three exercises that will help you to coordinate your left foot with your other limbs. Practice each of these before attempting the open hi-hat in “Can’t Stop.”

Nate

Practice the jazz rhythm exercises from your book that we worked on this week. Start with the right hand on the ride cymbal and your feet keeping time. Then play each of the different rhythms with your left hand on the snare drum. Play each rhythm at least 4 times before moving on to the next one. Also, don’t always play them in the same order. Come up with different patterns and make sure you can move from each rhythm to any other rhythm without stopping or hesitating.

Sabrina

Review all of your scales and arpeggios: C, G, D, A, E, F, Bb, Eb, Ab. In each key, try to figure out what the dominant 7 arpeggio is. Also, start working on the exercises from Lesson 3 of the George Hamilton Green book. Remember to look at the ragtime exercises too. Finally, prepare at least the first phrase of the Magic Flute excerpt.

Sam

Practice all of the rudiments that we have worked on so far: the multiple-bounce stroke roll, the double stroke roll, the paradiddle, and the flam. The new one that we just started this week is the flam accent. After practicing your flams, then work on the flam accent. Remember that the right-handed flams and the left-handed flams should sound the same. Listen carefully as you are playing and try to match the sounds.

Amelia

Practice the first three drum beats on the new sheet that I gave you this week. Remember to count the beat out loud while you play: “1 2 3 4 1 2 …” etc. Also, play each beat at a variety of different speeds – slow, medium, and fast. It is important that you get used to playing at different speeds so that you can comfortably play different kinds of songs.