Hello! Jasmine (Chris’ substitute) here, great to meet you all this week

Your lesson notes are as follows:

 

Josh

Warm-ups:

-continue with the exercises recommended by Chris: coordinating hands and feet with steady beats on the bass drum

-visual drumset exercises: practice playing just the down beats with hi-hat, snare, and kick — aim to hit all three of these notes at the same time so we don’t flam between drums. Alternate playing all eighths on the hi-hat with kick+snare and just quarter notes. 

I Had Some Help

-worked piece by isolating the different parts (just snare drum, just kick drum, snare+kick, snare+kick+hi-hat) — by breaking a piece down to just an instrument at a time, we can feel how each instrument grooves or fits into the beat.

 

Myles

Weezer: My Name is Jonas

-great work on the intro and main groove! 

-see image attached on time signatures; differences in time feel for 6/8 in comparison to something in 4/4

-continue practicing the Bass drum variations, keep pulse and time feel in mind. Isolate instruments to lock in rhythm and add the different layers as you settle in

 

Next week will be a xylophone week! I’ve attached the notes from last week for your convenience: 

 

==Xylophone==

Warmups (***G Major):

–Scale, one octave, ascending and descending, saying the note names as you play them (G-A-B-C-D-E-F#-G’)

–Arpeggio (G-B-D-G’-D-B-G)

–Broken thirds (G-B A-C B-D…)

Cirone Book: “Step Six” ex. 5-8

–Flashcards for note identification

 

Finn

Warmups (30sec each, counting aloud):

–Single Strokes

–Double Strokes

–8 on a hand

 

Visual Drummer: Drum Beats ex. 4-6

-finish these off this week. Great work playing through them today! Aim to play them each 4 times consecutively with no breaks. 

-If there’s time, work through exercises 7-9 on the next page. 

 

Francisco

Warmups:

-Stick control first page, exercises 1-8 (4x each, 120 bpm)

-challenge yourself to transition from line to line without breaks. Different variations of practice can include different dynamics (alternating soft to loud from line to line, playing through all exercises at a soft dynamic, crescendoing through each repetition, etc)

 

Stevie Wonder: Superstition 

-great work on the first 3 pages! 

– techniques for tackling the new groove section (3rd page, second half):

  • Keep the rhythm straight at the start to get everything lined up
  • Try playing through with just kick and snare — can you get it to groove without the hi-hat? Can you get everything to fit in the “pocket” on its own?
  • Now, try singing the rhythm between the kick+snare; learning the rhythms in many different ways (singing, playing, clapping, listening) will help you internalize the groove. 

 

Noah

Warmups (1min each per practice session):

-Single paradiddles 75bpm

-Double Paradiddles 75bpm

-Triple Paradiddles 75bpm

-Combo exercise: four of each paradiddle w/o breaks

-Try adding an accent on the first note of each paradiddle this week! See image attached on how the time feel shifts when moving from single to double paradiddle and keep that in mind while you’re trying the combo exercise

 

Paul Simon: Late in the Evening

-isolate your left and right hand as your practicing the groove (see image attached on how it’s notated)

-Practice with a metronome so you can eventually build up to your goal tempo! Start at a manageable tempo (can play through the entire groove comfortably, repeated), and gradually increase. Find your “manageable” tempo this week.