Tell Me About Drum and Violin Lessons

[JumpyTheFrog]

Tigger (11) just started drum lessons today. Little Guy (8) started violin last week. Any advice about lessons, practicing at home, etc? Little Guy is using a borrowed 1/2 violin. Tigger has a practice pad. We want him to have a few weeks or months of lessons before deciding about buying any drums.

[JumpyTheFrog]

One question I have: The drum teacher is aimed at drums for rock, swing, Latin, bluegrass, etc. Basically, any style but classical. How well does the drumming transfer over? Someday I might want Tigger to be in a homeschool symphonic band or orchestra.

[EmilyGF]

Never miss a day of violin practice.

 

That was the best advice I've gotten. And we've been doing violin 20 months and and missed less than 5 days of practice - I even practiced with her while in labor at 8 cm dilation and have practiced in places like airport lounges and truck stops while traveling.

 

Emily

[JumpyTheFrog]

Sounds good to me. I figured it was better to have them practice for ten minutes every day than twice a week for thirty minutes.

Edited August 1, 2017 by HoppyTheToad

[tuesdayschild]

Our experience with instruments and practise ....

 

A desire to want to play each instrument was key in our home -  DS plays drums   (he's spent time with violin and piano)  and DD plays, piano, violin, and guitar.

 

We found having good instruments to learn on was key to both our Dc continuing on with their lessons and practise - rubbish instruments make practise really hard work ; and, then having a purpose to learn to play ensured the practise was being done.  (ie:  homeschool band, church playing, orchestra etc..)

 

We invested in an electronic drum set - so practise over the last 5yrs has been achieved with our drummer having his headphones on.

Our violinist practises with a violin mute.

 

(Perhaps you're wanting to pursue percussion instruction as opposed to straight drumset playing, if your DS may want to play symphonic band or orchestra.)

 

Hope you will find what works for you and yours.

 

 

 

 

 

[Dmmetler]

On percussion, make sure he learns to read music, both rhythm and notation. My band students had to have a bell kit at home and would rotate instruments. You can get a set that includes a snare drum or practice pad on a stand and a bell kit for a reasonable price.

[JumpyTheFrog]

He learned recorder a few years ago, so he is familiar with playing notes. 

 

Is a bell kit like a small xylophone?

[Donna]

Practice every day you eat. Make it part of the routine. Break difficult tasks into smaller more manageable tasks. Practice to make it easier.

[wintermom]

Sit in on every lesson so that you can support the practice at home. The violin especially is very difficult to master. Intonation (playing the notes in tune) is very challenging. If you can help provide feedback, encouragement and support to your young child, the progress is usually more steady. It doesn't matter if you play violin yourself, you will learn a lot by being present for the lessons and you'll know what to listen for.

[Dmmetler]

Yes-they tend to be metal bars rather than wood (Xylophones are extremely expensive), and have a several octave chromatic range. The ones sold in kits are on a waist-high stand. Here's a kit from a very reputable percussion company

https://smile.amazon.com/Pearl-PK900C-Educational-Bell-Kit/dp/B004T0NFCC/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501678608&sr=8-1-fkmr1&keywords=lmi+bell+set

 

There are less expensive ones-this is the one I recommended to parents on a budget, or who wanted a small travel instrument. The sound is actually quite good, and much quieter than most bell sets (when I had years that I had a dozen percussionists in my beginning band I'd use these and write out parts for them to double other instruments so everyone could play instead of three playing and the rest being stuck waiting most of the time. Since they were relatively quiet, it wasn't overpowering, albeit a bit tinkly. ) The mallets that come with it stink, though, so those should be replaced by rubber-headed bell mallets.

 

https://smile.amazon.com/Lyons-25-Note-Xylophone-Glockenspiel-Case/dp/B001VO7FPC/ref=pd_sbs_267_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B001VO7FPC&pd_rd_r=5162PA5PT53CZZQGNFTV&pd_rd_w=BuHoW&pd_rd_wg=kSeLb&psc=1&refRID=5162PA5PT53CZZQGNFTV

 

This is a good set of basic mallets for any bell set.

https://smile.amazon.com/Vic-Firth-V240-Bell-Mallets/dp/B000EEHOJM/ref=sr_1_1?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1501679224&sr=1-1&keywords=Bell+mallets

 

The downside is that the bars are quite a bit smaller, and height can be challenging-most tables will be too high or two low to hold it at about waist high, while the sets with stands are adjustable.

 

 

You can get a basic bell method book and work through it. The mallets should be held like bicycle handlebars, with the mallets facing in, and bounce on the bar to get a nice ring. One thing I love about teaching mallet percussion is that it has such an obvious feedback and is simple enough that many kids can self-correct, with relatively few bad habits developing early compared to other instruments. There are much more complicated techniques, especially for Marimba, but that can be left for down the road a bit.

[Sarah CB]

Sit in on every lesson so that you can support the practice at home. The violin especially is very difficult to master. Intonation (playing the notes in tune) is very challenging. If you can help provide feedback, encouragement and support to your young child, the progress is usually more steady. It doesn't matter if you play violin yourself, you will learn a lot by being present for the lessons and you'll know what to listen for.

 

Yes. This. I can't even begin to imagine how different the boys' playing would have been without my involvement, especially in those early years. Posture is so important, too and so subtle. I learned how to help them practice at home and I was an active practice participant and lesson observer for many years. 

[catz]

Never miss a day of violin practice.

 

That was the best advice I've gotten. And we've been doing violin 20 months and and missed less than 5 days of practice - I even practiced with her while in labor at 8 cm dilation and have practiced in places like airport lounges and truck stops while traveling.

 

Emily

 

I do almost agree with this!  We've always taken 1 day of the week off.  It's always pre-planned and often one of our busier days of the week.  Often on Saturday or Sunday.  But otherwise it's a non-negotiable. 

 

Building a practice habit consistently over time is much more important than having a long drawn out practices.  You can start small.  I think this can apply to drums too.  If you're homeschooling, just roll it into your school day.

 

From a friendly neighborhood 11 year old piano (voice, guitar) parent and a 8 year violin (voice) parent.  Kid #1 is going to be a junior and suddenly is talking about majoring in music in college.  How far we've come!  :)

[JumpyTheFrog]

I did sit in on most of the two violin lessons because I knew my 8 yo wouldn't remember a lot of what the teacher said. I wanted to make sure I saw how to hold everything correctly so I can help him at home.

 

This year I am trying something new and keeping track of time spent on each subject. I also set a minimum number of hours of school they must do each week. Since music practice counts toward the hours, they are both excited about practicing.

[Lady Marmalade]

One question I have: The drum teacher is aimed at drums for rock, swing, Latin, bluegrass, etc. Basically, any style but classical. How well does the drumming transfer over? Someday I might want Tigger to be in a homeschool symphonic band or orchestra.

 

Weeellll, in my experience, crossing over is difficult.  In my experience, the people who learned to play a kit first had a really hard time reading music and playing various percussion instruments in a band/orchestra/symphony setting.  When I was in high school we had seriously awesome drummers who would rock out on the kit for pep band, but hand them the sheet music and any single piece of equipment during regular class and they tanked it every time.  It was a glorious day for them when the director pulled out a rare piece of composition that called for an actual kit.  Of course, then there was trying to read THAT music, and in the end the director usually just gave instruction to make it sound good.

 

You certainly can't go wrong with drum lessons- a GOOD drummer is hard to come by.  But if there is any thought to doing something other than sitting at a kit, you should look into regular percussion lessons also. 

 

I recommend This Book, a pair of sticks and a drum practice pad.  Once he finishes this book, pick up the second one.  Very straightforward and thorough without being daunting.  And it will enable him to be able to read a percussion line and do just about anything the music may ask of him.  

[JumpyTheFrog]

 In my experience, the people who learned to play a kit first had a really hard time reading music and playing various percussion instruments in a band/orchestra/symphony setting.  

 

Is the problem that they are learning to play by ear instead of by reading music? I absolutely want to make sure Tigger learns to play by reading music, not just by ear.

 

They spent much of the first lesson learning about the value of various notes.

[Lady Marmalade]

Is the problem that they are learning to play by ear instead of by reading music? I absolutely want to make sure Tigger learns to play by reading music, not just by ear.

 

They spent much of the first lesson learning about the value of various notes.

 

I don't think it's a "by ear" vs. "reading music" thing but that really, they're two completely different animals.  When you're playing the drums as a kit, it's a full body work-out, you're using different muscle groups and your brain thinks differently to keep all those pieces together to make one great sound out of it.  

 

It's a completely different task to look at a piece of sheet music, counting in your head/following a director and playing what is on the page with just your hands.

 

That's why I suggested percussion lessons as a separate activity- because it really is.  For some, I'm sure it is because they learned on the kit to play by ear first and only did that for a long time before jumping in on a band activity.  

[MamaChicken]

I have 2 violinists, one of whom also plays drums. I'll echo some good advice above, practice every day. Keep it fun. Play games. Go see live music. Definitely sit in on lessons and take notes. In a couple years your violist may easily learn to play rock and roll guitar and then you'll have a rock band (spoken from experience) :)