Lucas

Recommended Practice Time: 15-30mins every day

What to practice: This week I want you to play all of the beats in Lesson 3 eight times!! How to practice effectively: First get the hi-hat part solid while counting OUT LOUD, then add the snare drum, and then when you’re ready, figure out the counts the bass drum comes on and add it in! Between the three beats the bass drum is the only thing that changes so putting all the parts together every time should be pretty easy. Don’t give up! Shoot for one good repetition at a time, and then when it feels more comfortable try repeating each beat 8 times without stopping and when that feels good, try going a little faster!

Really awesome to see your improvement with this Lucas! Also don’t forget to lower your snare drum!

 

Ella

Recommended Practice Time: 30mins every day

What to practice: Practice through the bridge of Verbatim.

How to practice effectively: Remember to put the bass drum after the drags and just keep working through things slowly, there’s no rush to getting this material down and it can be frustrating that way haha. Just focus on getting it good slowly and then getting it up to tempo will be a piece of cake! Also try to focus on giving an 8th note pulse to all the 16th note beats.

Really great work on this song so far Ella, keep it up!

 

Jonah

Recommended practice time: 30mins every day

What to practice: Congrats again on the recital! This week I want you to come up with 3 simple ideas that we can develop into solos next week!

How to practice effectively: Come up with some fun rhythms and then see how they work around the drums and with the feet, be creative!! Give me your best ideas!  

 

Samson

Recommended practice time: 30mins every day

What to practice: Great job again on your recital and talent show performances! This week I want you to play this beat to Rock with You at least 16x at a 83, 95, and 108 bpm. Use the metronome on your drum kit! Try it with the song at least once as well!

How to practice: Start at each tempo with the hands playing the 16th notes VERY relaxed and NOT TENSE, keeping the stick heights down is crucial for this. Add a little bit of accent or oomph on the first right hand of each beat, then when you feel confident with that add the kick and snare. Aim for a nice, cool, and relaxed feel!

Super excited to work on this song with you!!!  

 

Sylvie

Recommended practice time: 30mins every day

What to practice: Work through the paradiddle-diddle patterns from Lesson 9 with the right hand on the floor tom and the left hand on the snare drum with the bass drum on the first quarter note and the hi-hat pedal on the second and third quarter notes. If you have time start looking through the Lesson 10  reading too!

How to practice effectively: These coordination exercises with the paradiddle-diddles can be very challenging to get through on the first go. Try to avoid just repeating them aimlessly and hoping it sticks. The best approach is going slowly and getting a feeling in your limbs for how it feels to play it correctly. You can work into this by playing the feet and the hands separately and then putting them together. Work one good repetition at a time, and then once you get the hang of it you can try repeating it without stopping.

You can do it Sylvie!!