Lukas
“Hotel California”
Our main focus was the guitar-solo section, where the drums have a call-and-response relationship with the guitar.
When the guitar is playing its riff:
- Bring down your dynamics.
- Support the guitar rather than competing with it.
- Listen carefully so you know when it is your turn to respond.
When the drums respond, play with “main-character energy”:
- Play confidently.
- Allow the phrase to breathe.
- Build gradually from beat 3 into beat 4.
- Aim for a strong landing on beat 1 of the following bar.
We also discussed choreographing your body movement for fills that travel across the drum set. Practise the waist movement by itself. Allow the movement of your waist to lead your arms naturally from one surface to another, rather than reaching with the arms alone.
At our next lesson, we will begin with a complete play-through of the song and then move on to a new song.
Finn
“Imposter”
The four-bar phrase is now quite solid. Our next goal is to maintain focus while repeating it continuously.
The first time through is usually secure, but during the second repetition, the bass drum sometimes lands on the wrong beat and disrupts the phrase. Try to keep track of where you are within each bar, even if you make a mistake. Rather than stopping, continue counting and find your place again.
For the final bar:
- Practise with a metronome.
- Pay close attention to beat 3.
- Make sure beat 3 is played as sixteenth notes rather than eighth notes.
- Loop the bar until the subdivision feels natural.
I also encourage Finn to practise the phrase repeatedly with his father this week, treating it like a band rehearsal. This will help Finn become familiar with what is happening around him while also receiving immediate feedback whenever an issue appears.
I look forward to hearing how the “band rehearsal” goes!
Aleksander
“Smooth Criminal”
Learn the music through bar 41.
Focus on making the pre-chorus feel fluid and connected. A useful two-bar phrase to loop is:
- Bar 20
- Bar 21
As you move into the chorus, aim for a lighter sound on the ride cymbal. Let the cymbal support the groove without becoming too heavy.
Pay particular attention to:
- Bar 27: Play the dotted rhythm accurately.
- Bar 33: Learn and understand the rhythm first before trying to play it at speed.
Keep the tempo slow enough that every rhythm and transition remains clear.
Zico
“Drum Corps on Parade”
Learn the piece through the end of the first page, with particular focus on the final three lines.
Follow the phrasing marked on the screenshot:
- An upward-pointing arrow indicates a pickup leading into the next phrase or grouping.
- Treat the pickup as movement toward the beginning of the phrase.
- Try to play each grouping in one breath.
- Use the accents to create a clear underlying melody.
Continue practising the previously assigned rudiments.
Also work on:
- Five-stroke rolls
- Nine-stroke rolls
Practise these rolls at a variety of tempos, with special attention given to slower tempos. Playing slowly will make it easier to hear whether the spacing and rhythm of each roll are accurate.
Koel
“YYZ”
This week, practise everything at a slower tempo and allow more space between the quarter-note beats.
Using the sixth repeat leading into the guitar solo as an example:
- Establish beats 1 and 2 clearly.
- Make sure the pulse is secure.
- Then move into the paradiddle pattern.
- Even when “going rogue,” the pattern should remain controlled and grounded in the beat.
I also challenged Koel to play the bridge without making a mistake. Although the material appears simple, a mistake immediately occurred in the second bar. This is a reminder to study and understand every pattern—even the simplest ones.
When playing through the song, the goal is not to sight-read each bar as it arrives. You should already understand how each pattern works so that you can play it confidently and recover if anything goes wrong.
Goal for this week: Try to learn through to the end of the song.