Playing the Drum Kit Beginners - E-Learning [CPA]

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Course Overview

Course Overview
This Beginners course covers all basic practical skills and theoretical knowledge required for playing common simple on-going versions of the principal drumbeat grooves of western, mainly pop/rock, music genres on a basic conventional drumkit with drumsticks. It also conveys a variety of principles, strategies and skills for efficient and effective practising and playing with others.
Practical topics focus on correct body, hands and feet posture and use basic single-drum sticking rudiments and other technical exercises, counting rhythm while playing, learning and playing from memory, by reading notation and by ear (by playing along with recorded music and/or copying the tutor and recorded drumming) and playing improvised ‘fills’ and longer solos. Other topics include general musicianship, basic music structures and their use for practising, and when necessary or relevant, technical vocabulary and concepts related to universal elements of music and its common notation. Learners will perform individually and with others in every lesson, including (optionally) in the end of term concert.
To foster understanding of global musicality and support diversity in learners’ individual music interests, learners choose some of the repertoire they work on from a range of pop/rock genres, and when relevant, discuss their historical context.

Objectives

Objectives
Objective 1
Objective 1
Play and sustain a steady, on-going drum beat at medium or slower ‘tempos’ (speeds) for at least two genres of western pop/rock music;
Objective 1
Objective 2
Objective 2
Play at least two classic single-drum rudiments, including single- and double-stroke rolls, and be able to apply them to playing the drum kit overall;
Prosp User 3
Objective 3
Objective 3
Play ‘fills’ and short solos within the context of an on-going drumbeat;
Prosp User 4
Objective 4
Objective 4
Identify, and play by reading, components of single drum rhythm notation that are as detailed as crotchets (aka ‘quarter-notes’), quavers (‘eighth-notes’) and quaver triplets (‘eighth-note triplets’);
Prosp User 5
Objective 5
Objective 5
Interpret and play from drumkit notation that conveys simple on-going drum beat patterns that include ‘fills’.
Prosp User 6

Entry Requirements

Entry Requirements
To enrol on this course, you will first have to attend its related Initial Audition session that runs during the first week of term. During that session, based on an informal interview and brief drum kit playing assessment, the tutor will approve your enrolment for this course or a more appropriate one. The tutor will then give you two codes, one for the department and one for the relevant course, to allow you to complete the enrolment process. You must then enrol by no later than noon on the day of the first lesson of the recommended course.
Prosp User 8

Equipment Required

Equipment Required
Aside from having daily access to a drum kit or pad set on which to practise…
1) A pair of drumsticks (e.g. Vic Firth models 8D, 7A or 5A);
2) A metronome device or phone app for practising (to aid keeping a steady musical pulse) – although you do not need to bring this to lessons;
3) A narrow A4 ring-binder of two or ideally four rings (to hold music and other handouts) and containing section dividers, but please, no plastic envelops!
4) A way to take notes and a pencil and eraser for notating music.
Prosp User 9

What courses can I go on to?

What courses can I go on to?
The related ‘Improvers’ level course or a similar one elsewhere – or other courses offered by the ISL Performing Arts department (or elsewhere). Alternatively, this course can be repeated (which typically is a good idea).
Prosp User 10

What examination is there?

What examination is there?
Whilst there are no formal exams, specific personal and universal advice and feedback from the tutor will occur regularly in every lesson, and learners will occasionally be asked to evaluate themselves, their ‘group’ or other individuals (and will be taught how to do this effectively and sensitively).
Also, learners will self-assess at the start, middle and end of the course via their Individual Learning Plan (to which they will be encouraged to add up to two personal goals in addition to those defined for the course). At the end of the course, the tutor will provide personal written feedback and learners will have the opportunity to give written feedback about the tutor, the course and their learning experience.
Prosp User 11

How will I know I am making progress?

How will I know I am making progress?
Playing individually and with others – to learn, rehearse and perform – for which the tutor will frequently provide advice and feedback, will occur throughout the course. Therefore, you will be encouraged to take written notes of any information that the tutor hasn’t also provided in a handout. The tutor will also throughout the course present progressively more gently challenging learning material, though it will not go beyond any learner’s capacity to achieve and perform, at least at a slow speed. Additionally, through self-evaluation, your Individual Learning Plan also provides a method for tracking your progress.
The rate and degree of anyone’s progress is determined largely by the efficiency, duration, applied effort and content of their practising, and only partially by their inborn talent, which anyway, cannot be changed, let alone improved.
Prosp User 12

Other Info

Other Info
The tutor will provide an ISL email address through which she/he can be contacted to provide help with your learning, ‘homework’ or for any course related reason. If you need to discuss something on the phone with the tutor during the course, send an email with good times to call you, which they will act on, but without revealing their personal phone number. Please be sure to inform the tutor via email if you must miss or be late for a lesson or indeed, withdraw from the course, and please include the reason why. If you discover this as late as the day of the lesson, please also then call the switchboard at Shadwell (020 7364 5684) and ask the receptionist to convey the information to your tutor.
Prosp User 13

Extra Support

Extra Support
Come and see one of our experienced and friendly advisors. For further information, email ideastore@towerhamlets.gov.uk and a member of the team will get back to you.
Prosp User 14
C3321
Claude Alexander
09/06/2021
07/07/2021
1.25 hrs per wk
5 weeks
£27.00 (tuition)
Tuition Fee
£8.00 (concessionary)
Conc Fee
£59.00 (overseas)
Overseas Fee
10
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