More Rudiment Fun! Volume 1, Issue 6 Week 5 Dynamic Fun and More Inside this week: Rudiments Dynamics on 2 Orchestra Bells Dynamic Work- 3 What Gives the Keyboard Instruments sheet Their Sound? Snare Drum 4 As we briefly discussed in sounds are the resonator Rudiments #2 earlier weeks, keyboard in- tubes below the tone bars. struments create different These resonators are spe- Snare Drum 5 pitches based on their cific lengths and sizes. At Exercises #3 length, width, depth, or den- the proper dimensions the sity (composite material). resonators will help create a Weekly Practice 7 clear tone and accurate Chart Adding to the quality of pitch. The vibraphone not only has resonators, but also paddles inside the tubes. These pad- dles are turned by a motor and the speed determines the width of vibrato pro- duced. The sounds is meant to mimic that of a human voice. Chimes The resonator tubes on the The chimes are re- marimba can be quite lengthy lated to keyboard and windy. Due to the low instruments. Each pitch and timbre needed the tune on a set of resonators must be large to chimes is like one key accommodate the sound. on a keyboard instru- ment. Chimes are struck at the very top with a rawhide ham- mer. Like the piano and vibraphone it has What To Expect This Week... a dampening pedal, that when pressed, allows the notes to ring. This week we will take some great percussionist. the book and look carefully time to focus purely on the at the items listed on the On snare drum we will learn fundamentals of playing. another rudiment: the Weekly Practice Chart. For orchestra bells we will paradiddle, and add it into look at how to play and apply our exercises. A worksheet dynamics to our music. The will help us put together all ability to play dynamics cor- of the rudiments we have rectly and with good tech- learned so far. nique is essential to being a Keep practicing songs out of 1 Dynamics help Creating Dynamics on the Orchestra Bells make music more interesting. When we use Just as on wind instruments, percussion instruments have the ability to play at varying dynamic levels. them in our Dynamic levels on orchestra bells are controlled by the speed music it can and starting height of the mallet head. The higher and create different faster the mallet drops the louder the sound it will produce. moods or Piano dynamics are controlled with small wrist motions while fortes require more arm motion. feelings. 80% 60% Mezzo forte means to play medium Forte means to play Loudly. loud. This would be where most Loud is roughly 80% of your total people normally play when not volume. It does NOT mean to thinking about dynamics. It is play as loud as you can. roughly 60% of your total volume. Crescendo—to get louder Decrescendo—to get softer 40% 20% Mezzo piano means to play me- Piano means to play softly. Soft dium soft. It is roughly 40% of is roughly 20 % of your total vol- your total dynamic range. It is ume. Piano does NOT mean to sometimes difficult find and con- play as quite as possible. trol this dynamic level. Page 2 2 Dynamic Worksheet #1 **Label each note with the correct letter name. Complete the exercises below by writing in the correct letter name under each note. Then practice them on the orchestra bells as part of your Practice Sheet this week. Pay special attention to the dynamic markings written in. by K. Schwartz 3 Although not specifically a rudiment, Paradiddle double sticking is very important in As we learned when playing the orchestra bells, double sticking is when we snare drum use the same hand on two consecutive notes. (RRLL, LLRR) playing. It is at A paradiddle uses this concept in connection with two alternating notes. The resulting pattern is RLRR LRLL. It is usually used on rhythms with eighth the foundation of notes or quicker. the rudiment we Saying the syllables Pa-ra-di-dle can help to separate out the eighth notes. will learn today: Diddle, in percussion lingo, means double. Paradiddle. Paradiddle by K. Schwartz Rhythm Check So far we have learned quarter notes and eighth notes in groups of two. We will now be adding in single eighth notes with eight note rests. Be sure the eighth rest is long enough. Because the snare drum does not ring, a quarter note will sound the same as an eighth note. It is the rest after it and the space that determines the length. Page 4 Week 5: Dynamic Fun and More Rudiments 4 Snare Drum Label each note with Exercises #3 the correct hand! Write in the proper stickings for each exercise. Make sure to use paradiddles in multiple eighth note sections. Also watch for repeated flams. Remember that the sticking needs to alternate for each one. 3 Times the Fun by K. Schwartz Rockin’ Rest Flamtastic 5 Parent Signature:_________________ My Percussion Notes Name:__________________________ 6 Name:__________________________ Parent Signature:_________________ Percussion Week 5 Practice Chart Snare Drum and Keyboard Percussion Check off what days you complete each item. Your goal is to complete each exercise 5 days this week. Please have your parents sign, and turn it in at the next percussion class. Orchestra Bells Exercises Items Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun 1. Warm-up with “8 on a Hand.” Make sure that your wrist is the only thing that moves while you are playing. 1 min. 2. Complete and Practice the Dynamic Worksheet #1. 4 min. 3. E.E. #49 Hey Ho! Nobody’s Home Work on rhythmic accuracy and reading the music as you play the song. Try not to just memorize it. 4 min. 4. E.E. #54 Frere Jacques Make sure to use the correct sticking and dynamics as writ- ten in the song. 3 min. Snare Drum Exercises 4. Review the new Rudiment descriptions. Practice the examples on the page. 2 min. 5. Snare Drum Exercises Worksheet #3. Use the exercise worksheet to focus on the first three snare drum rudiments. 5 min. 6. E.E. #34, 35, 36 Apply these new ru- diments to these songs. Play with the CD to help maintain a stead beat. 5 min. **PRACTICE HINTS** For snare drum it is important that you take time to just practice the rudi- ments. By practicing them alone, the stickings will come naturally when they appear in music. 7 1 More Accessories! Volume 1, Issue 7 Week 6 More, More, More... Inside this week: Dynamics on 3 Snare Drum Percussion for a Living?? Snare Drum 4 Rudiments #3 Snare Drum 5 There are many types of the end it’s all percussion. rudimental drumming. It Exercises percussion players out there carries through playing snare Marriam-Webster’s Diction- Worksheet #4 today in the spot light. ary defines the act of per- drum, drum set, or even PVC Of course we see the drum cussing as; “the beating or pipes. Accessories of 6 set players of our favorite striking of a musical instru- Good practice and talent will the Week rock bands jamming out on ment.” In the percussion get you many places in life, their 20 piece sets, but world anything that makes a but hard work will always Mallet Sticking 8 there’s more out there than sound is a percussion instru- need to accompany it. and Note Read- you know. ment. ing Worksheet Most of us have probably More conventional percus- Weekly Practice 10 heard of Blue Man Group and sionists are the ones we see Chart Stomp. Both are Broadway in our town military marching shows that help to redefine bands and in the city sym- what percussion is. The Blue phony orchestras. We also Man Group with their PVC see them in our amusement pipe instruments and Stomp parks, on cruises, and in the We’re Getting with their garbage can lids,; music we hear when we watch Close to the End they use a lot of different movies. Be sure you are mak- percussion. Most of these percussionists ing the most of these It doesn’t matter what they have a background rooted in percussion lessons. are using to create sound, in the basic fundamentals of Just a few more weeks remain and then you’ll be on your own to learn as much about being a percus- sionist as you can. What To Expect This Week... Keep up the hard work! As we get deeper into our differently on orchestra pended cymbal roll. understanding of percussion bells. Also included are two work- instruments, this week we A new fundamental, the mul- sheets to help you with rudi- will work on ways to make our tiple bounce stroke on eighth ments, sticking patterns, and playing more musical. notes, which is key to many note reading. We will discuss how to make rudiments will be covered. dynamic changes appropri- As well as three new percus- ately on the snare drum and sion accessories: crash cym- see how we approach them bals, maracas, and the sus- 2 Dynamics help Creating Dynamics on the Snare Drum make music more interesting. Just as on wind instruments, percussion instruments have the ability to play at varying dynamic levels When we use Dynamic levels on the snare drum are controlled by the them in our speed and starting height of the stick. The higher and faster the stick drops the louder the sound it will produce. music it can create different Piano dynamics are controls with small wrist motions while fortes will require more arm motion.