Beginning Snare Drum (Overall Lesson Curriculum)

Pre-Book Work:

 Develop a connection between parent and student to make student feel comfortable
 State your expectations for practicing and future lessons to student and parent:
o Bring pencil, binder for music handouts, metronome, sticks, practice pad, and required
texts for lessons
o Student should practice between 20-30 minutes every day (10-15 minutes in the morning
and 10-15 minutes in the evening)
 Work on basic stick control (start with eight on a hand) and placement of sticks on drum
 Solidify body posture around the drum and establish comfortable drum height and music stand
position for student
General Practice:

 Work on counting out loud so student can get better understanding of keeping time (having met is
required)
 Work on difficult material slowly and work up to tempo
 Develop good habit of writing in stickings (alternate, RH lead, and LH lead)
A Fresh Approach to the Snare Drum (Mark Wessels):
1. Basic stick exercises (introduce natural stroke), understanding essential musical terms (ie: staff,
bar line, measure, etc)…pg. 7, ((supplemental packet))
2. Quarter notes and rests (introduce down stroke), more in-depth explanation of duple time
signature (2/4, 3/4, 4/4)…pg. 8
3. Roll-development (buzz /multiple bounce)…….pg.9, (Rothman--pg. 25-32)
4. Eighth and half notes and rests (introduce tap and upstrokes) (explain what an accent
is)……..pg.10, 11, 12, 13 (ignore 3/8, 4/8 section), 14 (1st two lines at top only)
5. Dotted quarter and half notes…(Rothman--pg. 9-14)
6. Ties……(Rothman--pg. 9-14)
7. Triplet eighth notes and triplet meter…….(Rothman--pg. 16-19), pg 13 (middle page), 21
(middle page)
8. Continue with triplets (quarter note triplets, half note triplets)…… (Rothman--pg. 20-23)
9. Sixteenth and whole notes and rests…pg 18, 19 (top half only), 22 (except last line), 23 (except
last line), 24(top half only), 25 (top half only), (Rothman--pg. 11-13)
10. Paradiddles and other diddle variants…….((supplemental packet))
11. Roll-development (double stroke)….. pg 30-34, (Rothman--pg. 25-32)
12. Flams/Ruffs….. pgs 21-27 (bottom half only), ((supplemental packet))
13. Putting it all Together…36-50(end of book), ((supplemental packet))
Basic Drumming Made Easy (Joel Rothman):
1. Part One: Reading Basic Rhythm (dotted notes and ties)…pgs 9-14
2. Part One: Reading Basic Rhythm (triplet eighth notes)…pgs 16-19
3. Part One: Reading Basic Rhythms (triple meter with triplet eighth notes)…pgs 20-23
4. Part Two: Reading Rolls (buzzes and double bounces)…pgs 25-32
The Supplemental Packet will consist of different sections from the following book:

 “Rhythm and Rudiments” by Gordon Rencher

o Theory Section…pgs 7-15
o Dotted Notes….pg 26-27
o Eighth Note Accents…pg71
o Flams…pgs 36-37
o Ruffs…pg 60
o Paradiddles…pg 62
o All Duets…pgs 29, 38, 52-54