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Drumline Skills Session 1 - Week of May 25, 2010

• Double Stroke Roll slow,  separated with controlled stop after second stroke. Legato stroke/fluid up and down. Staccato stroke with controlled stop.
• Five stroke roll - slow and separated with controlled stop after last tap.(rrllr, llrrl)
• Flam - grace note isolation right and left, stroke isolation right and left.
• Hand technique - thumb/first finger fulcrum,fingers on stick for support. 90 degree angle on drum. Difference between French, German and American grip for tenor. Relaxed but firm grip on sticks.
• Eight on a Hand exercise from the Marching Percussion 101 book, downloaded from Vic Firth.com

See the videos for this exercise and all the exercises from MP 101 at VicFirth.com under Marching Percussion.

Pay close attention to stick heights as demonstrated by the drumline. Watch the Explanation and Performance Tips first, then Ensemble and Sections.

Use a mirror and ask yourself...

• Do I look like the players from the video?
  
• Am I using the correct height?
  
• Am I following the directions and tips?

Next Skills Session:

• Check double stroke roll for controlled stop. Start to add speed.
• 5 stroke roll - add speed
• Flams - put grace and stroke together.
• Start paradiddle - work on isolating accent and taps uniformity.

• Start scales.
• Start 8 on hand variations.

Drumline Skills Session 2 - Week of June 1, 2010

The difference between a legato stroke and staccato stroke:

• Legato uses a smooth up and down movement, also called a Rebound stroke
• Staccato movement requires the rebound stick to stop its motion at the starting position.

• Stroke height is 12 inches
• Tap height is 3 inches

Keep both notes of diddles at the same height for a better quality sound.

Topics covered:

• The "Grace' and "stroke" notes of the flam. Use a "stroke" "grace" movement. (RrRrRrRr and LlLlLlLl) This mimics the alternated Flam movement.
• The 5 stroke roll, double stroke roll, flams and paradiddles. Building speed on those rudiments.
• The different hand grips: French, German and American.
• The 8 on a hand variations from the MP 101 book, have all members play on all the battery instruments. At some point all percussion students will perform these exercises on all drums.
• Play most of the exercises while marking time. Do this while practicing at home.
• Work through some tenor drum exercises. Modern Multi Tenor Scrapes and Sweeps.
• Learning the "sticks in" and "sticks out" counts and what it looks like
  
  • Out on ct. 3 and in on ct. 2 after the exercise or music is done
  • Add 2 cts. to the sticks in to create a "resting" position (sticks in, left hand on right wrist, slam sticks to rim for snare and tenor, sticks up, raised on top and slammed to shell for bass drums)
• Begin learning the second and third exercise from the Marching Percussion 101 book, 16th Note Timing and Accent Tap.
  

See the videos for these exercises at VicFirth.com under Marching Percussion. Pay close attention to stick heights as demonstrated by the drumline. Watch the Explanation and Performance Tips first, then Ensemble and Sections.

Next Skills Session:

• Scales
• Cadences
• Check Patterns
• Cymbals