Hi everyone,

Here are your practice assignments for this week:

William

Great first lesson, William! This week, you should plan to spend at least 5-10 minutes on the drums each day. Review the things that we covered in your lesson. Play the rhythm exercises by counting them out loud first, and then playing them on the snare drum. After that, practice moving them around the drums by playing the rhythm on the toms as well as the snare. Also, practice playing the basic rock beat which uses the bass drum, the snare drum, and the hi-hat. You’re already really good at it!

Oscar

Keep working on the jazz rhythm exercises in your book. Play them slowly at first to make sure that the rhythm on the snare drum is correct. Then try playing it a little bit faster without losing the accuracy of the rhythm. Next week we will work on combining the different rhythm and playing them all in a row.

Isaac

Practice the two new beats that we worked on this week. Be sure to count either out loud or in your head while you play. This will help you to not get lost and to keep the rhythm even. Start out slow with each of the beats, but once it starts to feel easier, then try playing a little faster. Make sure you always play the beat several times in a row without stopping.

Leonie

Keep working on the jazz rhythm exercises that we have been doing. Always focus on keeping the ride cymbal and hi-hat parts steady and accenting beats 2 and 4. For the snare rhythms, try to keep them light. They are less important than the ride and hi-hat parts, so these should be more prominent. See if you can increase the speed of some of these exercises by next week.

Nate

Practice the triplet drum fills that we worked on this week. Pick a beat that you like and play it 3 times in a row, then go into the fill. Be sure to keep the sixteenth notes and the triplets very even. The triplets should be faster, but that doesn’t mean that the pulse should speed up. The underlying beat needs to stay steady. Start slow and focus on maintaining a steady pulse.