Hi everyone,
Here are your practice assignments for this week:
Aidan
Practice the two beats from “Can’t Stop” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Be sure to count the rhythms of the snare drum and bass drum out loud before you play anything. Also, remember that the hi-hat part is your time keeper. It should never change or speed up or slow down. Next week we will work some more on these beats.
Sabrina
Keep working on your scales and arpeggios. We have done 9 of them now: C, G, D, A, E, F, Bb, Eb, and Ab. Try to push the speed of the scales a little bit now. Play with a metronome! Also, continue to do a little bit of sight-reading every day. Unfortunately, this is the only way to get better at it. Continue with Lesson 2 from the George Hamilton Green book. Try to do every exercise at least once. Finally, learn the first phrase of “The Magic Flute” by Mozart. This has a lot of arpeggios in it and very little step-wise motion.
Sam
Keep working on the jazz rhythm exercises that we have done in lessons. Focus on keeping a steady rhythm on the ride cymbal as you play different patterns on the snare drum. Also, don’t forget about your feet! The hi-hat needs to close on beat 2 and beat 4. The bass drum is less important, but it should also keep a steady beat, either on 1 and 3, or playing each quarter note.
Amelia
Practice the new “sixteenth note” rhythms that we worked on this week. Remember to start slow and count the rhythm out loud before you play. Focus on keeping the sixteenth notes really steady and even (don’t speed up or slow down). Once it starts to feel comfortable, the you can work on speeding it up gradually. Also, practice the new drum beat that I wrote at the bottom of the page.