Lessons

Lessons are given using the 'Drumsense' programme, a nationally recognised and highly acclaimed teaching programme which is suitable for complete beginners as well as more experienced players.

Backed up with other material, alot of which has been written by Dave Hazlewood, the proprietor, the lessons are structured so as to develop all areas needed to be a professional drummer, but still remembering the main point of playing drums which is 'to have fun'.

Progress sheets are kept for all students to ensure balanced development to aid this, each student is also given a practice schedule each lesson.

Lessons are divided into the following areas. Don't worry if some of it doesn't make sense. It will do in time.

• Grooves
  Timekeeping and groove playing on the drum kit is the essential part of being a drummer.
• Fills
  Using the full drum kit to fill in between grooves.
• Styles
  From Rock to Blues and Metal to Jazz, most styles of music are looked at.
• Technique & Rudimental Studies
  As well as learning what to play, it is important to know how to play. Technique is a major part of playing the drums and good technique will make a great drummer.
• Drum Theory
  How to read music is an often overlooked but essential part of playing drums, as is learning how to put the drum kit together and tune it.
• Chart Reading
  Playing music to CDs which reading music develops all areas of playing including timekeeping, concentration and co-ordination.
• Live Playing Techniques
  This includes learning favourite songs, 'mapping' songs, playing to CDs without a chart, timekeeping and stage craft.

Practice

In all of the above areas we start very basic and progress to an advanced level. It is therefore essential to practice.

To start with a small amount of relevant practice goes a long way, but, as a student progresses, the workloads gets greater. This is where some people find they hit a wall with their playing because they don't put in enough time between lessons.

Remember.....
.....People that want to practice, find time
.....People that don't want to practice, find excuses

Don't let this put you off. Your practice should reflect what you want out of drumming. After all, it should be fun! As long as you are getting what you want out of it, then it's ok. On the other hand, if you want to be the next great session player and you only practice once a week, it's not going to happen!