Gergely Szabo

Great to see you again everyone! I’m back from England and had a great time subbing for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Barbican. Click here to see some onstage concert footage! You’ll see me and Harriet Riley, the two percussionists on the show, following along with the actors on stage, and playing all kinds of instruments. I’m on bass drum, Roland SPD, vibraphone, and vibratone, while Harriet plays timpani, xylosynth, and trine.

Here’s this week’s notes:

Jack

Benny Greb Rhythmic Alphabet
–Practice four letter words (See the handout from today for two examples), try to come up with some of your own! 1) spell the word and write it out with enough space for the dots and dashes 2) add in the dots and dashes 3) play from your newly assembled word cheat sheet!
–Play the resulting words along with “In Too Deep”
Tragically Hip: 50 Mission Cap
–Learning the beat (Bass-Snare-Bass-Snare) and playing along with the song while I play piano
Xylophone
–Learning the musical alphabet (ABCDEFG)
–Visually identifying C on the keyboard
–Spelling “Dad” and “Egg” on the keyboard

Nova

Benny Greb’s Rhythmic Alphabet (in google drive):
–CODE and MOON
–Keep experimenting with two-letter words
Tommy Igoe’s Groove Essentials: Groove 1 SLOW
–Playing eight-bar phrases, add in fills in the eighth measure. For some inspiration, review Drumset Musician p27 (in google drive) to see examples of four-beat fills
–Do the same with the Variation A groove
Groove 1 FAST
–working up to speed on this one

Aleksander

Warmups (30 sec each) goal tempo 80bpm playing four notes per beat****:
–Single strokes (R L R L…)
–Double Strokes (R R L L….)
–Paradiddles (RLRR LRLL…)
–RLLR LRRL
–FLAMS*** pay close attention to the stroke setup: one hand high, one low. After the stroke, set up the opposite way
Drumset Musician p39, introducing sixteenth-notes
–Learn the different rhythms on this page (especially the three examples at the top of the page). Once you have the first three, can you think of how to play the others?
Drumset Musician p14 ex. 7-8 (2min ea.)
Lenny Kravitz: Are You Gonna Go My Way
–everything up until the chorus
–drill speaking that syncopated fill from before the chorus with only your voice and clicking the beat with your sticks, then apply that to the drums

Tracie

Warm-ups:
–Triplet ex. (85bpm)
–Rhythmic Alphabet
Groove Essentials: Groove 1 (find chart and backing track in the Freq. Used folder)
–Basic beat with “Chad Kroeger” drum fill in measure 8
Montell Fish: Don’t you Love Me
–drill the main groove for this song. You were getting it today! But let’s make sure it’s second-nature by next time

Jonah

Xylophone Warmup exercise (Eb maj) see video in google drive:
1) Scale, one octave, ascending and descending
2) arpeggio
3) Scale in broken thirds, one octave, ascending and descending
Reading exercises: please make sure to READ when we’re working on reading
Ear training:
–Identifying 3rds and 5ths
–Playing simple melodies back by ear

Jared

Warmups:
–Stick Control ex 14-23 (70bpm)
—-Play each exercise 4 times
Igoe’s Groove Essentials – Groove 1 slow (track 1)
–Alternate between the two groove variations, with fills (max. 4 beats long) to set them up
Cold Sweat by James Brown
–Learn the first two measures as the standard beat for this song

Mario

Warmups (1min/ea)
–8 on a hand
–Single Stroke Roll (R L R L…)
–Double Stroke Roll (R R L L…)
–Imagine the playing surface is a hot burner on the stove…get the stick down and up fast or you might get burned! Really quick contact–jump off the drum (piston/full strokes)
MGMT: Kid
–Building consistency will be key for this song. Play with your metronome (goal tempo ca. 126) to help develop this
Drumset Musician p27 (in google drive) – 8th-note Fills, ex. 4-6
–This week, focus on keeping the 8th-note

Mateo

Warmups (30 sec each):
–8 on a Hand
–Single Stroke Roll (RLRL…)
–Double Stroke Roll (RRLL…)
**Think more skin on the stick (but not squeezing)
**Let the stick bounce off the drum
**Remember to dribble the basketball
Drumset Musician p27, ex. 1-3 (in Freq. Used Res. google drive folder)
–Three times through the beat, play the fill, then end with a crash
–Aim to keep the flow of the eighth-note pulse STEADY
–try looping these exercises, so that the crash after the fill becomes beat 1 of the beat again
Tommy Igoe’s Groove Essentials, Groove 1 SLOW
–Find the chart and backing track for this in the Freq. Used Resources folder
–Practice playing the basic beat along with the song. Make sure to listen carefully to stay on pace
Queen: Another One Bites the Dust
–I’m unable to scan the chart for this today, but I will try to remember to do so when I’m back in on Tuesday or else next week!
–This week, we’re just working on the material from p. 1 (basic beat, bass drum on all four beats, and the “e+a4e” drum fill