A Balanced Approach To Practice

Teacher - “What did you practice this week?”

Student - “I mostly played with songs.”

Teacher - “. . . ”

It doesn’t take long before a student realizes that playing along with music is INSANELY FUN. Not only is it fun but it’s also a great way to implement all the things you’ve been practicing. But, If you’re only playing songs, what is there to implement?

It’s a chicken-egg scenario.

This is why I like to teach students to approach practicing like we should a balanced diet. - if we hit the major ‘food groups’ on a regular basis, we should have the ‘nutrients’ to mature into drummers who have the adaptability to play in any scenario.

Here are some examples of things to ‘eat’ (eye-roll) on a regular basis:

• Rudiments/Stick Control

• Coordination Development

• Reading

• Speed Development

• Metronome work

• Exploration and Experimentation

• Playing With Songs (Of Course!)