Renaud

1. Equipment

Please purchase a pair of drumsticks and a practice pad.

Recommended stick brands include:

  • Vic Firth
  • ProMark

Look for sticks in either 5A or 7A size.

Recommended practice-pad brands include:

  • Vic Firth
  • Remo
  • Evans RealFeel

If you decide to get a drum set, I recommend renting one from Long & McQuade for now rather than purchasing one immediately.

2. Basic Drum-Set Beat

Work on the basic beat notated on the handout.

Until a drum set is available, use pillows to represent the hi-hat and snare drum, and tap the bass-drum part with your foot.

If the full beat feels difficult, separate it into smaller instrument groups:

  1. Hi-hat and snare drum
  2. Snare drum and bass drum
  3. Bass drum and hi-hat

Practise each combination until it feels comfortable, then gradually put all three parts back together.

3. Practice-Pad Exercises

Work on the exercises found in the latter part of the handout. Play these on the practice pad and regularly check your technique against all the checkboxes provided.

The goal is not simply to finish each exercise. Listen and watch carefully to make sure you are meeting every technical goal before moving on.

Jonah

Congratulations to Jonah for a successful first go at an orchestral audition, and despite not making the group, Jonah should be proud of what he achieved. I would like to share some words from the instructor who audited:

“Jonah did fantastically at the audition.  I hope that he received a note of positivity and appreciation from the management because I specifically asked them to reach out to him about that.

Jonah was extremely well prepared which gave an excellent first impression.  He was a maybe for me, but unfortunately the level was too high after him and he got bumped out by 1 spot.  I can’t take more than 5 and he was no.  6.  I felt a little better when I saw that he was 13 because he would probably get a lot more out of the experience when he is a little older.   

I really hope he keeps working and comes back to audition in the future.  His overall energy level was a little down in terms of the repertoire.  I didn’t feel a ton of musical connection, but he could’ve been nervous. Snare drum needed attention in terms of dynamics, but rhythm was solid.  I think he really just needs to keep pushing. Lots of time left for him to develop and get in down the line!”

We will resume the mallet/drumming bi weekly module, and for this week on mallet, we started a ragtime from the “Xylophone Rags of George Hamilton Green” book. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LcvQkrNaUPDcf4i5Hdft4kkzqKFxQVYD/view?usp=drive_link

We will work on Triplets, P.50 on the pdf. Jonah please follow the sticking and use the blocking method to get used to the movements. Whenever there is a dyad (double stop), play out the top note, and we will talk more about the underlying melody next and how we should play it to the style of ragtime. Please work on the first two line, and note that the second line is the same as the first line in the first half of the phrase, so Jonah will only need to figure out the second half of that line.

Sam

Please use the following link for any of the class material in the future:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GdlS8_ljwuhMfCgquixFVbGJSHtKLZFG?usp=drive_link 

I was absolutely blown away by Sam’s playing level, especially considering that he has only been playing the drums for three months! We will proceed with “Smells Like Teen Spirit” as our first project together.

Sam figured out the coordination very quickly. Our next goal is to understand how the pattern fits within the song’s timing and the underlying framework of the beat.

Although Sam may already be able to play along with parts of the song, understanding the counting and subdivision is essential. This will help him remain secure in the music and find his place again if he ever falls out of sync with the track.

Practise the first two bars with a metronome, beginning at a slow and comfortable tempo.

  1. Practise the first bar by itself.
  2. Practise the second bar by itself.
  3. Make sure the notes align with the correct subdivision.
  4. Once both bars feel comfortable with the metronome, connect them.
  5. Continue repeating the two-bar phrase until the pulse feels stable.
  6. Only then begin increasing the tempo gradually.

Accuracy and rhythmic understanding are more important than reaching the song’s full tempo right away.

If the first two bars are resolved quickly, begin working on the beat from the bridge section, found on line 4 of the handout.

Use the same process:

  • Learn each bar separately.
  • Practise slowly with a metronome.
  • Check the counting and subdivision.
  • Connect the bars only when each one feels secure.
  • Gradually increase the tempo while maintaining a stable pulse.