It’s hard for me to believe that I am already into my third year at Hunter Street and second year at FBC Pelham! Can you believe that our fall semester is already coming to an end?

This is officially my longest stretch as a music teacher at any one location. I love it, because I have really gotten to see my students grow and develop. Sometimes I really stand amazed at the talent that sits in front of me and the bright futures that lie ahead for these students. 

A few quick reminders about practice (these are general rules, and may differ per student):

1) Who is responsible for making sure that students practice?
            - Age 12 and under: The Parent
            - Age 13 and up: The Student

2) Students should be practicing 10 minutes every day per year that they have been playing the
    instrument. (10 minutes/day = 1 year, 20 minutes/day = 2 years, etc..). I have students that were
    great practicers their first year, but never increased practice time as their skill and material
    advanced.

 3) It is not unusual for students to not want to practice. In my experience, many students do not
     really enjoy playing and practicing until their early teens. Until then, make practice part of
     their normal daily routine and lay a solid foundation. 

A great addition this semester has been the launch of my website: www.stickandstrum.weebly.com. It has been steadily building over the last few months and has many great features. You can find links to lesson books and supplies and my teaching calendar in one easy place. This makes it simple to keep up with which week your student is on and any weeks that may not have lessons. Other great features include online lessons, a blog, gear for sale, product reviews, gear buying guides, tips and tricks, links, and more. By the end of the year I’m hoping to have video lessons on the site to help students work on assignments and exercises between lessons.

If you are on the lookout for a new instrument, check with me first! I try to keep extra guitars and drums on hand to sell and rent to students. I setup each instrument and make sure that it is in top playing condition and my prices are well below what you would pay for comparable new instruments. I highly recommend buying used gear. There are lots of great deals to be found and correctly setup and maintained instruments will improve with age! On a related note, if your student has upgraded recently and you have old gear (guitars, drums, keyboards, etc) around that you would like to get rid of let me know! I am always on the lookout for solid equipment for students of all experience levels and I really enjoy fixing up and repairing instruments. 
                 -shane
 
Exciting things in the works here at stickandstrum! This week I ordered some drum mics and other recording gear. By the end of the year I'm hoping to have some video lessons posted. I know a lot of people (myself included) are visual learners and sometimes it's just a lot easier to do something when you can see someone else do it. I'm looking forward to being able to post some warmups, guitar licks, strum patterns, drum fills, grooves, etc. Video lessons will serve two main purposes: reinforcing what I teach in lessons to current students and offering instruction and ideas to non-students. 

Video lessons are something that I have always wanted to be able to offer students. I know how frustrating it is to sit in a lesson and begin to grasp something and then completely forget it when you go home to work on it. This semester especially, I have noticed a few key areas where I think video lessons would really benefit students between lessons:
  1. Strum Patterns: I have quite a few students learning chords and how to strum this semester. It's a lot easier to follow when there is someone guiding you along. It's an entirely different situation when you're at home alone looking at a sheet of paper and trying to figure out what to do!
  2. Drum Warmups: There are a few warmups and ideas that I've talked about this semester that not all of my students have fully grasped yet. One of these is the Subdivision Warmup. This is another example where it's sometimes just easier to watch and play along.
  3. Particular songs and exercises: There are plenty of random songs and exercises from the lesson books and elsewhere that I've been working on with students this semester. I'm really looking forward to being able to post videos of these songs to help students out between lessons. 
  4. Chords: Simple videos playing through various basic chords so that you can see and hear them as you work through them at home.
If you aren't a current student, I think that there is still tremendous benefit to watching and learning from videos. Nothing replaces one-on-one instruction with a teacher that can guide and correct you, but the right videos can go a long way to lay a solid foundation. 

So, until I get some videos up here is a great drum site that I frequent and highly recommend!

Drummer Connection

I love this site. You will definitely be hearing more from me about Drummer Connection and Billy Ashbough. Billy has some great lessons ranging from beginner to advanced. He's a solid drummer (having played with everyone from *N Sync and Britney Spears to Tim Mcgraw and Gloria Esteban) and a great teacher. I've learned a lot from him and I highly recommend these videos. There are hundreds of videos ranging from drum rudiments, to fills, to setting up your set, to stick twirls. The site also features drumless tracks that you can play along to. Great site.