Jonah

“Triplets”

Jonah played more of Triplets and continues to make progress with his note reading. Although he feels that he is not reading quickly enough, I have already seen a clear improvement.

When reading:

  • For notes using ledger lines, use a familiar A or C as a reference point.
  • Find the highest and lowest notes in each passage first. Treat these as the boundaries so you are not searching beyond the necessary range.
  • Look for repeated notes and recurring shapes.
  • Ragtime melodies often contain repeated broken chords or arpeggios. Recognizing these patterns will make the passage much quicker to read.
  • Mark any patterns you discover directly in the music with a pencil.

Goal for next class: Begin working into the next page.

Timpani

I marked Jonah’s Hannaford timpani score and explained how to follow the markings and time the tuning changes while playing.

Please review the score and bring any questions to our next lesson. If needed, we can eventually dedicate a lesson to working through the part on a full set of timpani.

Sam

“Holiday” by Green Day

This week, we focused on the eight-bar verse of “Holiday.”

Learning from the score seems to be adding some stress for Sam. Because he learns grooves quickly through listening and auditory memory, the score may sometimes feel unnecessary or distracting. However, developing comfort with drum notation will make it easier to understand larger structures, notice small variations and learn music independently.

The score does not need to remain in front of Sam at all times. Instead, use it to:

  • Identify repeated patterns
  • Mark sections that require extra attention
  • Confirm details that may be missed when learning from a recording or cover video
  • Review the structure before attempting to play from memory

Verse Structure

Think of the verse as an A–B structure.

In the A section:

  • Bars 1 and 3 are the same.
  • Bars 2 and 4 share the same rhythm but are orchestrated slightly differently.

In the B section:

  • Bar 3 repeats bar 2.
  • Bar 4 is a fill reminiscent of the sextuplet fill from the introduction.

Goal for this week: Learn all eight bars of the verse and become comfortable playing them without the music in the background.

Sam can also practise easier grooves from the Drumset Musician book while using the accompanying online recordings. This will allow him to use his strong ear while gradually strengthening his reading skills.

Class Materials

Dylan

Basic Rock Beat

Today, Dylan learned her first drum pattern: a basic eighth-note rock beat.

The parts are assigned as follows:

  • Right hand: Hi-hat
  • Left hand: Snare drum
  • Right foot: Bass drum

Keep the right hand moving steadily on every eighth note. When counting the pattern as four evenly spaced notes:

  • Play the bass drum on 1.
  • Play the snare drum on 3.

Practise slowly and aim to keep every hi-hat note evenly spaced.

“Opalite” by Taylor Swift

We also began “Opalite.” Its groove is a variation of the basic rock beat:

  • Play the hi-hat on every second eighth note.
  • In the third bar of each four-bar phrase, add an extra bass-drum note on the fourth eighth note.

Practise the basic beat first, then add the variation once the coordination feels comfortable.

Please also work on the warm-up exercises written at the top of the handout.

Jack

“Enter Sandman” by Metallica

We have been working on the introductory groove from “Enter Sandman.” In class, we used Star Wars characters as a way to remember the drum pattern.

The groove is played mainly on the floor tom, which Jack knows as Tom 3.

Its structure is:

  • Repeat the same main pattern for three bars.
  • Play the short cymbal fill in the fourth bar.

Focus on remembering where you are within the four-bar phrase so that the fill always arrives in the correct bar.

Jack and Dylan can both practise their patterns on pillows before the family commits to getting a drum set. I would also like the siblings to perform their patterns for one another and support each other’s progress.