Drum Lessons

Rudiments

In the mid-60’s, when I began studying drums, there were approximately 40 acknowledged drum rudiments that students needed to learn and work to master. That number has now grown to over 500 rudiments and rudiment variations. In my opinion, rudiments are the foundational building block of good drumming.

Even if a drummer has never studied rudiments, there is a good chance that they have played one without even knowing it. Rudiments are simply sticking patterns used to build muscle memory and sticking independence.

My curriculum covers rudiment studies and how they are applied to the drum set.

Tempo

Whether practicing, performing, or recording, every drummer needs to be able to set and maintain good tempo throughout a song or composition.

A student that cannot keep a steady beat and maintain good tempo will have great difficulty as a drummer because keeping good time is a drummer's primary responsibility.

The ability to set and maintain good tempo is a primary focus of our studies. We will use metronomes to develop and improve our time keeping proficiencies.

Independence

Drummers need the ability to have full independence of their hands and feet. As my students progress in their studies, we will work on sticking exercises to develop independence.

One of the books we will use is “Stick Control”, first published by George Lawrence Stone in 1935. This book is still considered one of the best instructional books to help develop hand / sticking independence.

Introduction to the
drum set

As a beginner student, most of our studies will be confined to the practice pad. This is how most drummers first learn how to play. However, there is nothing more fun for a student than to finally get the opportunity to apply what they have learned on the pads to a set of drums.  

My drum studio is equipped with multiple drums sets and percussion instruments. Whether a student owns a set of drums or not, they will get the opportunity to play drums. During our drum “jams” students will have the opportunity to develop their own skill while also seeing and hearing what I’m playing. This will not only provide structure and mentorship during the learning process but it rocks!
 

Understanding your instrument

There is one glaring omission that I have noticed with many instructional drum programs and that is, most instructors do not provide students with a foundational understanding of their instrument. Many teachers teach their students how to play the drums but they seldom teach students how to select, purchase, set-up, tune, or repair their drums.

My curriculum also provides basic instruction on:

Drum set knowledge - a basic understanding of:

• Drum shell options - birch, maple, mahogany, oak, beech, Bubinga, stainless, acrylic etc., Which is best for you and why?

• Which drumsticks are the most appropriate for students and why? 2B, 5A, 7A? Nylon or wooden tips and what’s the difference?

• Features and functionality of drum set hardware - Hi-hat, bass drum pedal, cymbal stands, drum racks etc.

• Cymbals. Which manufacturers are the industry leaders and why?  

• Once a student is ready to move their practicing to the drum set, I will assist students, and parents, (whenever applicable) in better understanding which drums are the most appropriate for them to consider purchasing and why? New or used? Big set or small set?

Tuning your drums:

• It is striking to me how many drummers never learned how to tune their drums. I will teach my students how to tune both heads of each drum - batter (top) and resonance (bottom)  

Maintaining and repairing your drums

• As you can see in my performance pictures, I take excellent care of my drums. Like any other finely crafted instrument, drums need to be properly maintained, lubricated, cleaned and drum heads need to be changed. And when parts break, it's important for a drummer to know how to make minor repairs to their drum set. I will teach students the basics of drum maintenance and repair.