Snare Drum
Curriculum
In these lessons we solely focus on the snare drum and snare drum techniques. Our students will be learning the necessary skills to master this instrument. This covers rudimental, orchestral, sight reading and overall stick control.
Beginner
- Proper sitting & standing posture
- Care & tuning of snare drum
- Proper grips and hand placement
- Stone & Moeller technique
- Basic rudiments development single stroke, double stroke, open stroke rolls, single, double, triple paradiddles, flams, flam taps, flamadiddle, flam accent, ruff family
- Reading simple rhythms & notes, whole, half, quarters, 8ths, 16ths, 8ths note triplets and 16ths note triplets
- Develop time keeping skills, working with a metronome or click track
Intermediate
- Intermediate snare drum book
- Reading various time signatures
- Open, close rolls & expanding with flams & ruff family
- Playing using dynamics
- Continue develop good time keeping skills, working with a metronome or click track
- Use of brushes and hot rods
Advance
- Advance sight reading, rhythmic modulation, various time signatures, and interpretation
- Advanced hand control studies
- Development of the triple stroke roll
Drum Set Curriculum
In these lessons we will start developing our students knowledge with the entire drum set. We will be focusing on playing a five piece drum set. (Base drum, snare drum, hi tom, middle tom, floor tom) We will also incorporate hi hat, ride cymbal and crash cymbals.
Beginner
- Proper sitting posture on drum throne
- Care, assembly & tuning of snare drum, toms, bass drum and proper instrument placement
- Development of good hand & foot techniques
- Applying snare drum techniques to drum set
- Style studies for drum set, rock, funk gospel, etc...
- Develop good time keeping skills, working with a metronome or click track
Intermediate
- Intermediate drum set book
- Reading various time signatures
- More style studies such as, reggae, latin, gospel, rock, jazz, blues, samba, r&b etc...
- Enhance time keeping skills, working with a metronome or click track
- Use of brushes, mallets and hot rods on drum set
- Double bass drumming concepts
- Development creativity and endless ideas on the drum set for grooves, solos and drum fills
Advance
- Continuation of Intermediate curriculum
- Advance time signature & use of dynamics
- Continue style studies and two handed sixteenth note beats
- Advance Eighth note beats
- Playing along to pre-recorded tracks.
Hand Drum Curriculum
Take a listen to a groove played on the djembe drum. Recorded by Murray S. Piper Enjoy!
In these lessons our focus is mainly on hand drumming, teaching the student techniques and styles for various styles of hand drums from around the world including; Cajon, Bongos, Congas, Djembe, etc...
Beginner
- Develop good time keeping skills by playing with a metronome or click track or all ready recorded music
- Study basic hand strokes specific to the student’s type of drum
- Learn proper hand position
- Gain knowledge of the origins and history of various types of hand drums
- Play and read rhythms specific to the student’s type of drum
- Learn the proper way to hold and position drums
Intermediate
- Play and read more complex rhythms
- Continue development of good time keeping skills playing with a metronome or click track, or all ready recorded music
- Learn rhythms that are appropriate for a variety of music styles including Middle Eastern , R&B, Rock, Latin, Afro-Cuban, R&B, African, Hip Hop, and Jazz
Advance
- Enhance time-keeping skills by playing with a metronome or click track or recorded music
- Continue ensemble playing with the introduction of more complex rhythms
- Develop creative solo ideas
- Deepen knowledge of rhythms by listening and reading