Working drummers often have to learn songs quickly, and then perform them well for an audience. This is a skill set that we work on here at grooveKSQ. Watch the video to see this concept in action!
Video Lesson: how to play grace notes & ruffs
One of the cornerstones of the teaching philosophy here is a strong emphasis on rudimental playing, as that opens the door to many drumset concepts. In short, good technique and control makes the flashy drumset work easier to execute at a high level.
Below is a video lesson I posted for a student which resonated with quite a few people, it was one of the most viewed video lessons on the channel. Click here to subscribe to the studio’s YouTube channel if this interests you!
When Preparation Meets Opportunity
All the students come with slightly different goals. Some want to be in a rock band with their friends. Some want to audition for a music program at the college or university level. Some come to the studio just to have fun. Some put the work in to be professional players. ALL of these goals are legitimate, and I’ll help you move towards your goals - whatever those may be. The important thing here is that the teaching objectives are defined by the students.
The students undertake all this preparation: hand speed workouts, ear training, repertoire work, etc., so that when an opportunity presents itself, they are ready to step in and do a professional job.
Announcing the grooveKSQ 3 Day Practice Challenge!
Announcing the groove 3 Day Practice Challenge! This is a livestream series on the studio’s YouTube channel that will broadcast Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (June 28, 29 & 30) at 2:00pm eastern. These videos are going to be short (less than 15 minutes), designed for intermediate students to help reinforce the idea of daily and intentional practice. You can join live or you can watch them after the livestream.
I strongly encourage you all to go to the YouTube channel and subscribe, as we are going to use that heavily over the summer.
Creativity, Rhythm & Words
One of the most important concepts for all our students here is creativity. How can you apply what you have learned in new and unexpected ways?
Spoken word and poetry is a prime example of another mode of performance (with words, rather than instruments) that has rhythmic complexity that might not seem immediately apparent. This is readily evident in metered poetry forms (i.e. a haiku is three lines comprised of 5 syllables, then 7 syllables, then 5 syllables. 5-7-5.)
It is my belief that each person has a natural cadence to their speech, regardless of how quickly or slowly they are talking. Cadence is defined as:
the rhythmic flow of a sequence of sounds or words. See Dictionary.com
In developing a few performance pieces in this style I have become more attuned to the cadence of people’s speaking. Last week, I was invited to the Kennett Library to demonstrate this at their monthly poetry reading. It was a fun experience applying percussion and creativity to a completely different mode of performance.
Rhythm truly is all around us, you just have to listen closely.
Next Level Finger Control from NBA Great Kyrie Irving
One of the skills that quite a lot of our students work on is finger control - the ability to use individual fingers (or a group of individual fingers) to manipulate the drumstick in a controlled manner. Keep an eye on our YouTube Channel for a tutorial on that topic later this week.
If you want a truly expert display of finger dexterity and strength, check out this video from the NBA world showing Kyrie Irving warming up for a Brooklyn Nets game:
Kyrie’s warm up 🤯
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 2, 2022
(via @BrooklynNets)pic.twitter.com/mEWYqCVpI1