Teaching

'Mission Statement to listen to and provide to the individual needs of all my students, within a person centred approach.'

I am at the moment, accepting a limited number of students from beginner to advanced, each student will receive individual one to one, tailored tuition. Please contact me via the above numbers and address.

Times and fees

Lessons are for 1 hour and cost £25.00. For younger students 40 minute lessons are available for £18.00 and half hour lessons for £13.00

A 40 minute introductory assessment lesson for £18 is available to all.

Lessons are pre - purchased in blocks of four at £100 for the 1 hour lessons, £72 for the 40 minute lessons and £52 for the half hour lessons.

SPECIAL DEAL - BUY 12 LESSONS AND GET THE 13TH FREE

Evening lessons are normally once a week (at the same time); schoolchildren may follow term times if you wish... and of course holidays may be taken when you (or I) need them.

Daytime lessons can be once a fortnight if you wish

At least 24hrs notice is required for cancellation and rescheduling of lessons otherwise a full fee is chargeable.

For more advanced players, who would like less frequent lessons on an ad hoc basis, this too can be arranged with me..tel 01663 749870

Hello and welcome to the first of many bits and pieces of fun and learning from behind the drum kit. I hope to soon include some audio examples for you to work with, as the site is improved . . Enjoy and please contact me if you are stuck with anything. Michael

Exercise 1 Exercise 1 is a "Rhythm changes" exercise where we can really look at those fills, in the moments when we have really dug in to the song, and reach for the unreachable fill, particularly in ballads and half time feel, when we suddenly need to double up. This is true of any style of music, and to be versatile in all areas, careful study and listening of selected pieces is essential, whether it's a piece of music with a jazz/swing feel, a hard rock or Latin feel. Actually doing this and not increasing in tempo is well worth taking time out to practice some simple change ups. Here are some for you to enjoy, take your time and if you can it's a must to play against a click or pulse, to fully understand and feel the pull against the time in question.
Exercise 2 - introduction In exercise 2, below we now move to playing the triplets around the drums, the count remains the same as before, we must however remember that each grouping of triplet quavers adds up to the value of one crotchet beat as shown in the diagram.
Exercise 2 Exercise 2 is a small section from a paper I wrote a while ago, which again voices triplets moving around the drum set, try playing in conjunction with maybe a medium 6/8 blues groove, and then moving the eights to sixteenth triplets.. The exercises are based on a drum set having three tom toms, two rack and one floor. In the preceding lesson, we will look at building a complete pattern across the kit. Of course we can replace the eighth note triplets with sixteenth note ones, a medium tempo 6/8 blues rhythm is useful to try your fill inns out on. Have fun. Michael
note values presented here are the standard note values,associated with all notation
four bar phrase with fills In this page are excercises within a four bar loop or phrase,written in eighth notes,the fills are designed to build sight reading, and seamless movement from rhythm,to fill inn

Exercise 1

Exercise 1 is a "Rhythm changes" exercise where we can really look at those fills, in the moments when we have really dug in to the song, and reach for the unreachable fill, particularly in ballads and half time feel, when we suddenly need to double up. This is true of any style of music, and to be versatile in all areas, careful study and listening of selected pieces is essential, whether it's a piece of music with a jazz/swing feel, a hard rock or Latin feel. Actually doing this and not increasing in tempo is well worth taking time out to practice some simple change ups. Here are some for you to enjoy, take your time and if you can it's a must to play against a click or pulse, to fully understand and feel the pull against the time in question.

Exercise 2 - introduction

In exercise 2, below we now move to playing the triplets around the drums, the count remains the same as before, we must however remember that each grouping of triplet quavers adds up to the value of one crotchet beat as shown in the diagram.

Exercise 2

Exercise 2 is a small section from a paper I wrote a while ago, which again voices triplets moving around the drum set, try playing in conjunction with maybe a medium 6/8 blues groove, and then moving the eights to sixteenth triplets.. The exercises are based on a drum set having three tom toms, two rack and one floor. In the preceding lesson, we will look at building a complete pattern across the kit. Of course we can replace the eighth note triplets with sixteenth note ones, a medium tempo 6/8 blues rhythm is useful to try your fill inns out on. Have fun. Michael

note values

presented here are the standard note values,associated with all notation

four bar phrase with fills

In this page are excercises within a four bar loop or phrase,written in eighth notes,the fills are designed to build sight reading, and seamless movement from rhythm,to fill inn