Lesson 28
Warm-up
Warm-up Checklist:
____Accents / Taps: differentiate between the two heights (accents = forte or 9”, taps = mezzo-piano or 2”)
____Accents / Taps: strive to play all accents the same volume and all taps the same volume (quality of sound)
____Accents / Taps: perform as a trio ____Eights: focus only on rebound
____Eights: play the exercise with crescendos or decrescendos
____Eights: find the fastest tempo you can endure for 4 minutes without stopping
Reading
Drum set – review
Drum Set – Drum set is one of the most challenging percussion instruments to learn because of the coordination needed. A requirement for all drum set players is the ability to play different rhythms with all four limbs simultaneously.
The basic 5-piece drumset consists of a snare, bass, tom 1, tom 2, floor tom, hihat, ride cymbal, and crash cymbal.
new term – chorus
Chorus – There are two major definitions for the word chorus. The first is a group of singers.
The second is one time through a song or tune.
Here’s an experiment:
Hum the tune “Frere Jacques”.
You just hummed one chorus of “Frere Jacques!”
Now hum “Frere Jacques” three times in a row.
You guessed it – you hummed three choruses of “Frere Jacques.”
musicianship – chorus soloing
Chorus Soloing – Chorus soloing is soloing by repeating a tune over and over again.
Here’s another experiment:
Hum five choruses of “Frere Jacques.” It may help you to keep track of the five choruses by counting them on your fingers.
Now, play one chorus of “Frere Jacques” on just the snare drum.
Here’s the fun: Play one chorus of “Frere Jacques” on each of the instruments of the drum set:
snare drum, bass drum (with right foot), tom #1, tom #2, floor tom, ride cymbal, crash cymbal, and hihat. This is an eight chorus “Frere Jacques” solo!
Here are some pictures demonstrating playing position on the drumset:
Hihat and Bass Drum Excerpts:
Hihat and Snare Drum Excerpts:
mallets
new terms – middle C and ledger lines
Middle C – Middle C is the C between the treble clef and bass clef (covered later). See if you can locate Middle C in “Ode to Joy.”
Ledger Lines – A ledger line is short line that helps the player keep his / her place when reading in extreme registers. Ledger lines can be positioned above and below any staff.
stick control – mixed quarter notes
Strive to create identical sounds from the left and right hands. Allow your listening to guide your hands!
sight reading – create your own piece for xylophone
Compose a solo for the xylophone using pitches in the treble clef. Quarter and half notes are your
rhythms to work with.
Creativity
1. The normal playing area on the timpani is:
on the shell dead center slightly off-center
3-4 inches away from rim on the foot pedal on the rim 2. Label the instruments of this drumset:
3. The most important concept to think about while playing stick control exercises:
A. flam concept B. cause and effect concept C. both hands sound the same concept 4. Play “Ode to Joy” on the drumset! Design a five chorus solo of the tune.
Chorus 1____________, Chorus 2___________, Chorus 3______________, Chorus 4______________, Chorus 5_______________.
5. For fun: Set-up two timpani. Play the Stick Control excerpts from this lesson on the two timpani. Low drum is on left, higher drum on right. Play the right stickings on the higher drum and the left stickings on the low drum. Be sure to maintain proper timpani technique throughout.
Listening game
Performer plays a “Frere Jacques” solo on the drum set. The performer decides how many choruses to play (no more than six). Each chorus should be on one instrument of the drum set so the listeners can keep track of the choruses. It may help the performer to write a little outline beforehand.
example/
1. ride cymbal 2. hihat 3. snare drum 4. bass drum 5. floor tom
The class should write down the performer’s name and fill-in the instruments that were played in each chorus.
performer’s name________________ performer’s name__________________
Chorus 1:___________ Chorus 1:____________
Chorus 2:___________ Chorus 2:____________
Chorus 3:___________ Chorus 3:____________
Chorus 4:___________ Chorus 4:____________
Chorus 5:___________ Chorus 5:____________
Chorus 6:___________ Chorus 6:____________
video goal
Perform “Python” solo for a video camera.
Review
1. Playing a tune one time is one ______________.
2. If I played “Frere Jacques” on the bass drum, ride cymbal, and hihat. How many choruses of “Frere Jacques” would that be?__________
3. What are the eight instruments that make up a basic 5 piece drum set?
_____________, _____________, _____________, ______________
_____________, _____________, _____________, ______________
4. What are some other tunes you could use to play chorus solos? (Example: Row, Row, Row Your Boat; Twinkle, Twinkle; Jingle Bells etc…)
5. Independence is a crucial skill in performing drumset. Find the definition of independence and write it here:
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
“Python” Checklist:
____rim taps (played at 12 o’clock on the drum rim) don’t need to be played very strong, they should just serve as a different timbre (timbre - need to look that one up?)
____snare: measure 5 marks a change from mf (6”) playing to f/mp (9” and 2”)
____bass drum: the accent on beat one of measure 7 should be a bit louder than the accent on beat three of measure 6
____snare: measures 8 and 9 is a good place to show-off your skill of playing flams with identical spacing (in other words make all three flams sound identical)
____both: measures 17-22 demand that you play with a great deal of control (notes are either accented or non-accented nothing in between)
____both: measure 23 is played at a mp level
____snare: measure 25 to the end contains three zones and a lot of dynamic contrast, take advantage of the fact that the drum sounds differently at each zone