7th grade Beginner Percussion
Weekly Assignments
Week 3.2 - HERE
(The code is: 3.1 translates to “3rd six weeks - Week 1”)
7TH GRADERS - Welcome to Percussion!
Congratulations on being selected to the percussion section at Vanston or McDonald for next year. Welcome to the family! You are now part of a great organization that will push you to become better than you ever thought possible. Get ready to learn and to work hard! If you can imagine yourself being great, then you will be able to reach the goals that you set forth!
Snare Pad & Marimba
We will play a lot of pad at the beginning of the year. However, at some point in the 3rd six weeks we switch to playing Marimba just as much as playing the pad. Do not think that we will just be drummers. We will learn to play hundreds of instruments, but it all starts with the pad and Marimba. Keep an open mind, and continue to work hard to play all instruments at the same level.
Percussion Lessons
Lessons are one of the best ways to get really good, and then continuing to get better each week. Lessons are $16 per lesson payable directly to your teacher. Lessons meet one per week throughout the year. When a student is getting one-on-one instruction from a fantastic master teacher, then that student is much more likely to keep getting better each week. Also, we are learning several instruments at once, so the specialist can help develop skills on a different instrument than we are working in class.
Class Binders
Every student should have a binder with 8 dividers. Please use this to file away music and handouts from class. Parents, feel free to look through the binder weekly to see what music your student is learning. Also, the very front should have the Objective Sheet and Practice Record (on back) that you should be seeing weekly.
This is how it should be organized for our percussion class - HERE is a link to the system.
Weekly Assignments
Each week the students will get a sheet detailing what they should be practicing each day. It will include upcoming test material, as well. There is always several days notice on tests and several weeks or even months notice on performances.
Summer Lessons
During the summer we do have spots open for percussion lessons. This is EXTREMELY important for percussionists since we are always learning so many instruments. By the beginning of 8th grade the students will be competing against students from other schools that started band in 6th grade. It is critical that we push to get up to the correct level of performance by the beginning of the 8th grade year!
Please contact Mr. Mathew for more information about taking percussion private lessons from our excellent teachers. Lessons will be either on Wednesday or Friday during summer. Schedule will be available in the middle of May.