Fundamental techniques and concepts necessary for successful study and performance on the drum set and percussion in all styles and settings. Topics to be covered will allow you to develop a solid base with which to advance your musical and technical skills. This includes: proper hand, foot, and body positioning, proper grip, stroke, placement, and motions to develop proper sound, touch, control, dynamics, coordination, strength and endurance.
The study of sight-reading, music notation, the related elements that appear in written popular music, and the concepts and techniques necessary for successful study and mastery of strong sight-reading skills on the drumset and percussion instruments. Topics covered will allow you to develop a solid base with which to advance your musical and technical skills. This course provides a detailed presentation and study of rhythmic and melodic notation, the elements of a page of music: measures, bar lines, staffs, repeat signs, lines, spaces, ledger lines, clefs, advanced rhythmic notation such as odd groupings and metric modulation, various approaches to notation such as the differences in pop scores, big band writing, and orchestral notation, directional elements such as signs, codas, multiple endings, interludes, cues and the like. The course will also stress the very important concept of establishing and understanding the road map to a chart at a glance and the subject of reading while following a conductor.
The study of harmony and ear training and the related skills necessary to develop the ability to hear, identify and know what is taking place in the music you are performing. Topics to be covered will allow you to develop a solid base with which to advance your musical and technical skills as applied to the improvisation and interaction required of the drummer/percussionist in popular music styles, particularly in jazz, Latin and blues. The course will present melodic and harmonic studies relevant to a drummer-percussionist for the development of a good ear. Hearing common chord types, intervals, modes, melodic motifs, and the like through listening and analysis of songs and forms. Rhythmic topics to be addressed include developing the ability to identify, count, read, and sing all note types and combinations in all the popular music styles; and studies of syncopation, displacement, metric modulation, rhythmic superimposition, odd groupings, odd time signatures, and polyrhythms. The overall focus is on the development of a strong sense of hearing and listening that translates into strong musicianship.