With the transition to ZOOM video lessons, I am no longer able to write down notes and musical material in the students’ books/binders. Instead, I have created PDF documents for each of you and dropped them into a Google Drive folder. The link to your documents is listed in the What to practice heading under your name below. You should be able to access the documents simply by clicking on the link. Here are your practice assignments for this week:
Recommended minutes to practice: 5-10 minutes per day
What to practice: Take a look at the new page I provided called “Basic Rock Beats” and practice the beat at the top of the page as well as the one labeled “1”: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jaROP8emrq7yGkV13Mt_Js4NVtEz-sCl?usp=sharing
How to practice it most effectively: Notice that each beat is written on three lines: the top line is the cymbal, the middle line is the snare drum, and the bottom line is the bass drum. Also, the rhythm on the cymbal line is made up of eighth notes, so you should count these beats “1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &.” Whenever there is a note on the bass drum line directly below a note on the cymbal line, that means to play both at the same time. Same thing with the snare drum line. If you have notes on all three lines stacked on top of one another, that means play all three at the same time.
Recommended minutes to practice: 10-15 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice playing through “Can’t Stop” by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers along with the recording of the song: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SCS8WVjfR1OZVlYmt8a1r2LTxo2NJOpN?usp=sharing
How to practice it most effectively: Focus your time this week on the transitions between the major sections of the song (Verse to Chorus, Chorus back to Verse, Chorus to Bridge, and Bridge to final Verse). You should be able to play these transitions consistently and without any pause or hesitation in the middle. Once you feel like you can do this, then try playing through the whole song from start to finish. If you make a mistake, try not to stop, but rather keep going and try to stay in time with the music.
Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes per day
What to practice: Practice the triplet accent patterns that we worked on as well as the left hand “comping” rhythms that go together with the jazz swing pattern.
How to practice it most effectively: With the accent patterns, focus on keeping a steady pulse with your feet and allowing the hands to play freely on top of that pulse. Because you’re playing triplets, the hand which hits the accent will changes back forth consistently (R l r L r l R l r L r l… etc.) Don’t allow this to affect what your feet are doing. The same concept applies to the left hand “comping” rhythms. You want your left hand to be able to play independently from your other limbs while they hold down a steady jazz pattern. Take it slow and focus on consistency.