"Instruments and associated percussion techniques from Latin America, Brazil and the ever fascinating genre of African percussion are taught to Percussion Concepts students."

The Benefits Of Semi-private Lessons

For centuries, man has played the drums. Arguably the world’s oldest musical instrument, the drums (percussion instruments) have been taught in many different ways which have adapted to cultural and social levels of society. For some styles of percussion, the traditional use of Western notated music is the best tool to use to teach a student to play. Other styles of percussion are taught by the aural method, sometimes referred to as the “by rote” method.

At times, a percussion student needs to have precise one on one instruction to learn the various techniques and skills necessary to play an instrument. At other times, a student needs to learn to fit their learned part into the context of other drummers playing.

This is where the concepts of rhythm, timing and coordination are developed. If a drummer (percussionist) never gets to interact with a group of musicians, the aspiring percussion player never gets to develop the confidence necessary to provide the “leadership pulse” of a musical ensemble.

School band programs are an extremely helpful part of this learning process, but sometimes can not provide all that is necessary for a student to excel. Sometimes, a young band student will only have a small incidental part to play during an entire classroom period (maybe just a small triangle or woodblock). Often times, a school band may have an overabundance of young percussion students, thus limiting the opportunity for each individual students involvement.

Some percussion ensemble class curriculum occasionally exists in more developed school band programs, but this type of instruction is often seasonal and does not have the consistency to make a huge difference in a student’s ability.

It is from this observed need as explained above that I have adopted this exciting method of teaching percussion.

The Method

The Percussion Concepts method of teaching enables students to have the best of all worlds. When learning in a small group setting (usually just 4-6 students), students get the individual attention they need, while developing confidence and a sense of interaction within the small ensemble. Because the group is small, students are kept busy! No counting large numbers of rest measures. No small parts. Students are assigned only challenging (at their appropriate level), interactive parts, which are played on pro quality instruments.

Students of Percussion Concepts learn everything about drumming and percussion, and are exposed to and taught all the percussion skills necessary to confidently function within a school band program and beyond.

The often overlooked skill of reading music is aggressively taught and students receive a concentrated dose of good percussive technique fundamentals during each lesson.

Class periods are a full one hour long, so students have time to learn proper practice technique so they know what to do when back home.

The curriculum is all inclusive. From concert and orchestral percussion, to marching (rudimental) percussion, to mallet percussion, to jazz, rock, funk, Latin (drum set) percussion, Percussion Concepts students get exposed to it all.

Areas of learning not generally taught within a typical school program are also offered to students. One highly specialized category is referred to as “World Percussion” instruments. Instruments and associated percussion techniques from Latin America, Brazil and the ever fascinating genre of African percussion are taught to Percussion Concepts students.

All students are placed in a semi private setting with other students of approximately the same age and skill level.

Adults too, can benefit from the small percussion group learning method. Be sure to ask about adult class groups.