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ISSUE #77 \__\__\___TEMPO DISPATCH  ___/__/__/ May 5, 2003
         Monthly Newsletter / DRUM SET LESSONS
  Copyright Bill Powelson 2003 all rights reserved.
________________'IT'S ALL ABOUT DRUMS'______________
* Tips * Tricks * Hints * F*r*e*e Drumset-Lessons *
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IN THIS ISSUE . . . (TABLE OF CONTENTS . . .)

(Feature-Article/lesson)
1. UNDERSTANDING BEAT-NAMES.

2. Humor: Why we Love our kids.
__________________________________
|____Understanding Beat Names_____|


     Understanding Beat Names can lead to a greater understanding
of the note value system and it can improve your sight-reading
abilities.
     Advanced students and beginners will be wise to study the
early lessons at the password site from the top down.  Just scan
them quickly if you already know the material, but do go over them . . .
    Be sure you've MEMORIZED the Basic Dance beats and their names.
They are named somewhat by the notation system. 

    We tend to name many of the beats by the notation we may be playing on
the HI-HAT.  In other words, 16th 4/4, is called 16th 4/4 because we are
playing 16th-notes on the hi-hat, per measure, in 4/4 time.

    Learning in this way will teach you the note values, and the notation
system more easily and quickly.  More importantly, you'll actually be
learning to play like a pro, at the same time.

    ALWAYS REMEMBER . . . Our primary objective is to PLAY
the drums.  It's important to learn the awesome techniques we
see and hear so many other drummers do onstage, or within the
recordings we buy. 
    So . . . focus on jamming with your favorite recordings from
the very start.

    These lessons will explain the things you'll be hearing in the
music.  You'll learn to listen deeper to your favorite music as you
play it, and your sight-reading skills will develop as you study the
lessons, play the music, and have a good time.
    When playing along with recordings, challenge yourself
to refer to the notation 'terms', as they are used in the lessons. 
In other words, if you are hearing 16th-notes, 8th triplets, or
any other note-value, in a song, try to recognize them and refer
to those patterns by their note-value names.
    Try to imagine how those patterns would appear if you were to
write them as musical notation.  Better still . . . grab a pen,
some paper, and write what you are hearing.

    Your ability to read and write notation will steadily grow as
you progress through all the 122+ lessons of the course.


THE POINT . . .
    You shouldn't try to direct special focus on learning to read.  Just follow
the lessons and learn to play.  Your reading abilities will emerge as a by-product
of the fun, when you also jam and play along with your favorite recordings.
    Jamming should dominate more than 80% of this learning project. 
Miss that point and you may be doomed from the start.


    Have a ball . . .  :>)
    That's what it's all about.

.......................................................

     Here online, many of you may find it easy to absorb
SEVERAL lessons per week, while others may need several weeks
on each lesson! 

     That's the advantage of online lessons!

_________________________________
|___________HUMOR? ______________|

Why We Love Our Kids:

      I was driving with my three young children one warm
summer evening when a woman in the convertible ahead of us
stood up and waved. She was stark naked!
      As I was reeling from the shock, I heard my five-year-old
shout from the back seat, "Mom! That lady isn't wearing a
seat belt!"

     My son Zachary, 4, came screaming out of the bathroom to
tell me he'd dropped his toothbrush in the toilet. So I fished

it out and threw it in the garbage.
     Zachary stood there thinking for a moment, then ran to my bathroom
and came out with my toothbrush. He held it up and said with a charming
little smile, "We better throw this one out too then, 'cause it fell in
the toilet a few days ago."

    On the first day of school, a first grader handed his teacher
a note from his mother. The note read, "The opinions expressed by this
child are not necessarily those of his parents."

    A woman was trying hard to get the catsup to come out of the
jar. During her struggle, the phone rang so she asked her four-year-old
daughter to answer the phone.
    "It's the minister, Mommy," the child said to her mother.  Then she
added, "Mommy can't come to the phone to talk to you right now, she's
hitting the bottle."

    A little boy got lost at the YMCA and found himself in the women's
locker room. When he was spotted, the room burst into shrieks, with
ladies grabbing towels and running for cover. The little boy watched
in amazement and then asked, "What's the matter haven't you ever seen
a little boy before?"

POLICE:
    While taking a routine vandalism report at an elementary
school, I was interrupted by a little girl about six years old.
Looking up and down at my uniform, she asked, "Are you a cop?"
   "Yes," I answered and continued writing the report. "My mother
said if I ever needed help I should ask the police. Is that right?"
   "Yes, that's right," I told her.
   "Well, then," she said as she extended her foot toward me,
"would you please tie my shoe?"

   It was the end of the day when I parked my police van in front of the
station. As I gathered my equipment, my K-9 partner, Jake, was barking,
and I saw a little boy staring in at me. "Is that a dog you got back
there?" he asked.
   "It sure is," I replied.
   Puzzled, the boy looked at me and then towards the back of the van.
   Finally he said, "What'd he do?"

ELDERLY:
   While working for an organization that delivers lunches to
elderly shut-ins, I used to take my four-year-old daughter on my
afternoon rounds.  She was unfailingly intrigued by the various
appliances of old age, particularly the canes, walkers and
wheelchairs.
   One day I found her staring at a pair of false teeth soaking
in a glass.  As I braced myself for the inevitable barrage of
questions, she merely turned and whispered, "The tooth fairy will
never believe this!"

Thanks to Jim Casey
for sending these thoughts . . .

vermontdrums.com
.......................................


END OF TEMPO DISPATCH #77 May 5, 2003

 

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Copyright Bill Powelson 1994 all rights reserved.