Josh

We continue working on Wonderwall today. Our goal for next week is to play through the first eight bars until the first fill. Note that this first phrase doesn’t follow the standard eight bar phrase, apparently because the drummer who initially played with the band forgot to come in at the right time, and the brothers liked it and kept it in the final version. Apply the same principle of practising small chunks and expand.

Aleksander

Bring Me to Life is coming together nicely. My goal for Aleksander this week is to play through first page with the goal of playing with the music. The section after bar 38 will make more sense if practised with the recording. There are drastic energy shift from time to time, and the drumming should match that, especially when it contours the guitar riff.

Zico

Zico did a great job playing through Sir Duke at almost performance level and I would like for him to eventually make a video recording of it. We then picked The Trooper by Iron Maiden as the next song. For this song, it requires a lot more tom then a regular set will have, so I have asked Zico to try to group the toms up and place them on the three toms. That is my main goal for him this week and also read as much as he could since we are starting it new.

Noah

We continued working on Smooth Criminal. We are working through these pretty slow compared to the concert speed, and Noah is now able to play things at around 85 bpm. Stay at that tempo while we work through these material. My goal for Noah this week is the pre chorus section. The biggest challenge will be the coordination between bass drum and pedal hi-hat. Get that under your belt before adding other things in.

Finn

We are working on the first page of handout for Otherside. I have bracked the few bars that require the most attention. My goal for Finn this week is to get a good buzz sound and have it sound somewhat similar to the half open hi-hat. By doing that, we get the cohesiveness between bars when the groove is being repeated. Our goal next week is to play through some sections of the song with the music.

Mateo

Huge progress with the song Labios Compartidos this class. We are seeing major improvement with not being tunnel visioned on a certain passage as well as relaxation in general. For this week, I would like Mateo to focus on page two of the song. Some of the tricky bars to note are bar 57 and 53. Note that in this part of the song, things are developing similar to the beginning, but as we reach chorus again, it is twice the length and has same slight change in the groove.

Koel

We continued working on the samba section of Fools in the Rain. Koel is slightly struggling with placing the accents, and I have posted an accent exercise for him to work on before going into the material. Master the part played on sticks before adding in the pedalled hi-hat and bass drum. Also reminding him to bring his class mallet material next class so we can take a look at it together.