You might have noticed that I've been updating the blog less frequently. It's because I started a new job on March 1st! I'm trying to adjust to my schedule and find a good balance between work vs. free time. Speaking of "time," when was the last time you worked on your time? If it's been a while, I got something for you!

Today, I'm excited to share "Test of Time Challenge" 🥳 (You can download the PDF via the link below)

Download the Challenge

No matter what instrument you play or sing, I hope you can agree that having a "good time" is essential to becoming a high-level musician. In most concerts, we don't get to play with a metronome. Whether you are taking an audition, playing a solo piece, chamber music, or an orchestra, "good time" has to come from within.

That's exactly why I made this challenge!

This challenge will help you to:

• practice keeping time even through rests

• develop confident and accurate internal pulse

• focus on making your time better without worrying about pitches

• form a great habit to practice time with a metronome

*Instruction on how to practice is on the sheet music PDF

As always, please feel free to contact me with any comments, requests, or questions by replying to this email. It’s my goal to make this newsletter as useful to you as possible!

Here is an inspirational quote of the day 💫

"The heart of music is its rhythm. The heart of rhythm section music is the rhythm." - Wynton Marsalis

Have a wonderful week & Happy Practicing!

I can't believe it's already the last week of February. Time flies! I was very fortunate to have an in-person performance opportunity this past weekend. The work involved playing 5 concerti for a professional video recording with just one 3 hour rehearsal and one 4 hour dress rehearsal/ videotaping. Since I haven't played in an orchestra for about a year, I wanted to make sure to sound my best. How did I do that? That's today's topic!

I missed playing with people in the same room so much!

Here is the step-by-step guide on how to prepare for your first rehearsal!

1) Get the music ASAP

Sometimes, it takes a while to receive the music because the librarian needs some time to prepare them. If you know the program already and are public domain classical music, check IMSLP website to find your part. While you are there, download the scores also. You will need them in later steps. *be aware that the part's edition on IMSLP might be different from what the orchestra is going to use. It's always best if you can get your music from the organizer.

2) Listen with the Score 

Before you start practicing your part, find a recording of the piece on YouTube, Spotify, your CD collection (if you still have a CD player...), find a comfortable seat, and listen as you follow the score. I like to conduct while listening so I can make sure that I'm interpreting the beat correctly. The purpose of this is so that you understand the big picture. Make a mental note on tricky tempo changes, difficult spots, and musical styles. 

3) Listen again with your Part

Now you can get to your part and listen again, but have a pencil handy this time. If you are in the winds, brass, percussion section, you have more rests than the string section. To avoid getting lost, you want to put in cues; noticeable instrument entrance (I love noting trumpet or horn entrances), orchestration change, soloist entrance (if it's a concerto), tutti section, etc. If anything is unclear, you can go back to the score. All the answers are there! 

 4) Practice with your Instrument(s)

At this stage, you should have a good idea of how the piece goes and which passage(s) needs practicing. You can keep marking your part as you play through the part. For example, I will write in stickings, timpani tuning changes, or stick/ mallet changes at this point. These are the things you don't find out until you play. 

5) Play-Along Time!

Here comes the fun step. Get the recordings ready, and you are going to play along. (headphones recommended) Do you have a lot of rest like me? Don't try to skip and find your entrance. You want to practice counting rests and catching all the cues you have written in your part. If there are tricky spots, write down the minutes of the sport in the recording so you can go back to it quickly next time; it saves a lot of time later. 

6) Play-Along with a different recording (if you have time)

The hardest thing about playing in an orchestra is that you have to be ready for anything. The conductor could go faster or slower than the recording you used to study. Your colleague might miss an entrance, and you might not hear the cue you wrote in. The orchestra might not be together and sounds very confusing and different from the recording. 

That's why I recommend listening to a few different recordings of the same piece played by different people. 

Final Thoughts:

The bottom line is that you want to strive to be the most prepared person in the room. Whether this is for your school, paid work, or volunteer, always play your best. There is a famous saying I've heard a lot in NYC, "You never know who is in the room." Playing your best anywhere is especially important in the freelancing world, where words of mouth and colleagues' recommendations are how you get work. 

As a musician, every note we play speaks louder than words on your resume!

Here is today's inspiration for you! ⭐️

"You can't knock on opportunity's door and not be ready." – Bruno Mars

Until next time & Happy Practicing!

I hope you had a nice Valentine's Day and President's Day. I enjoyed some extra free time this weekend as my regular teaching was off. I watched one of the movies that inspired this week's challenge! 

Today, I'm excited to share "Key Change Challenge #2!" (Miyazaki Film ver.)" 🥳

(You can download the PDF, click track, and reference MIDI via the button below)

Who loves Studio Ghibli films by Hayao Miyazaki? I do!🙋🏻‍♀️ It's safe to say that all Japanese children grow up watching his classics such as My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, and Nausicaa in the Valley of the Wind, and more. My name "Chihiro" is more known in the U.S. and the world because of his film Spirited Away, thanks to Miyazaki! Music by Joe Hisaishi certainly elevates all of his films. They are so many wonderful melodies that I love.

​
That's why I made this challenge featuring his music. This is a sequel to the “Key Change Challenge (holiday ver.)”. If you enjoy this kind of challenge, check that one, too.

This challenge will train your ability to:

• React & process different key signatures quickly

• Change tempo right away

• Play with a click track

How to Practice:

• I recommend that you sightread this the first time you try playing so that you can test your sight-reading ability

• Practice with the click track

• Record yourself to double-check your accuracy

As always, please feel free to contact me with any comments, requests, or questions by replying to this email. It’s my goal to make this newsletter as useful to you as possible!

Here is an inspirational quote from legendary pianist Chick Corea, who recently left the world. I never got to meet him, but I've been his fan - his album Crystal Silence with Gary Burton is my favorite. Every obituary written by my friends who had met or worked with him taught me how humble and generous he was. This quote really sums up his admirable attitude towards learning.

"My one thing is I continue to be interested and want to be a student. I don't want to be a master. When I'm learning something, I'm in my element." - Chick Corea

Have a wonderful week & Happy Practicing!

Chihiro

Happy Tuesday! Just a heads up this newsletter is more of a story and a bit longer than usual, so you might wanna grab a coffee, sit down, and relax.

Today, I want to share my story of how cold-calling eventually led me to play on Broadway. I hope my experience encourages you to try cold-calling someone you've been wanting to meet. It is a very powerful tool you can use to expand your network.

Me in front of the Miss Saigon marquee

​In fall 2010, right after I graduated from Juilliard, I was saying yes to every gig I got offered, no matter how little it paid. I also had a ticking bomb of an immigration Visa status expiring in less than a year. The only reason I could survive was that I found a room to live in for $400 a month (thanks to my friend’s family). I was in a cab on my way to one of those low-pay gigs (spending basically half of the payment on the cab fare to bring my instruments), wondering how I’m ever going to “make it”. To my surprise, in that cab ride, I got a call saying I won a Radio City Christmas Spectacular job. I had no idea at the time my new friends and colleagues would teach me so much about the Broadway scene, including the importance of cold-calling.

Radio City Christmas Spectacular

I should mention that Radio City Christmas Spectacular isn’t technically a Broadway show, however, musicians who are hired were frequent regulars and substitutes of Broadway shows. It was my first time playing a fun “show biz” type music to 5000 people per show each day, being paid a union wage. Coming from playing classical music and new music to a much smaller audience, it felt like I discovered an alternate universe. This experience made playing on Broadway one of my dream jobs. It’s true when people say to surround yourself with who you want to be. It was so mind-opening being around veteran Broadway musicians every day for 2 months, playing 4 to 6 shows a day! I had plenty of chances to pick their brains during breaks between shows in the cafeteria located next to the “Band Car” (aka. Orchestra pit) - “So, how do I play on Broadway?” “How did you start playing on Broadway?”, I’d ask. The no.1 advice I received was to cold-call regular musicians, so I got to work.

Inside the "Band Car" before a performance of Radio City Christmas Spectacular

​Wikipedia’s definition of cold-calling is “the solicitation of business from potential customers who have had no prior contact with the salesperson conducting the call.” This definition doesn’t match with how I approach it, though. I think of it more like “reaching out to someone you don’t know with a genuine curiosity to the person”. No one likes an obvious sales pitch, right? I now realize how crucial it was for me to do this right.

Today, the best way to reach out to someone you don’t know is to send an email unless you know the person you are trying to contact doesn’t check their emails and prefers phone calls. Below is an example of a voicemail I left when I cold-called (I actually did call then, since it was 10 years ago & most of them didn’t pick up since they didn’t know my number).

“Hello (insert name), my name is Chihiro Shibayama. I got your number from (insert name of the person who gave you the number or where you found it if it’s public somewhere). I just played a season at the Radio City Christmas Spectacular and I really enjoyed it. I would love to learn more about the Broadway-style of playing. I was wondering if you would be able to let me sit in the pit while you play so I can learn from you. Thank you very much for your time. I look forward to hearing from you. My phone number is XXX-XXX-XXXX, again, XXX-XXX-XXXX. Thank you. Have a great day!”

I left a message like this to over 10 percussionists. Was I nervous? YES!! I had to write everything down, and practice before I made my first call. Eventually, all of them got back to me and one of them asked me if I wanted to sub for him many months later.

Here are some important points when you reach out to someone.

- Be genuine & be you // this is your elevator pitch of who you are, what you do, what you want to be doing.

- Be concise but polite // no one wants to read an essay from a stranger. Spend some time crafting a perfect email that tells your story and intention in a few paragraphs.

- *Don’t say “I want to sub for you” // your only goal is to introduce yourself. Broadway regular musicians receive calls, texts, and emails all the time to sub for them. They actually “know” why they are contacting you, so not necessary to mention it. *this is specific to contacting someone who plays on Broadway

- Avoid sounding like you want something from that person // similar to the last point, the first time you contact someone is just an introduction, so focus on getting your first meeting.

- The tone of your voice // should be excited and not indifferent. Positive energy is key.

…and after you get a response (hopefully 🤞)

​

- Be Responsive // when & if they write back, make sure you respond right away

- Be thankful // they didn’t have to respond to you but they did. If you do arrange to speak to them in person, online, or phone, make sure they know that you appreciate their time and kindness

- Follow Up & Keep in Touch // If you get to speak with the person, send a quick follow-up email after thanking them. Ask them to let you know of their upcoming events and support them. You can also let them know about your future events. Your goal is to be in their circle.

The same idea works outside of the Broadway scene, too. In fact, I still reach out to people I don’t know using the same concept. I know first hand that it requires a bit of courage to contact someone you don’t know. But take a deep breath, and just do it! Doing so might bring nothing or might give you a surprise opportunity when you forget about it. Either way, you took action and that’s what matters.

Last but not least - you might be thinking, "This sounds great, but there are no gigs right now! What's the point of reaching out to people now?" That's a good point, however, getting gigs doesn't have to be the only reason to get to know someone in your field. Just by talking to this person, you might learn something new or be inspired. He or she could be your new friend or mentor. Maybe you ask for a lesson. Possibilities are endless! Chances are, normally very busy people probably have more time now to respond to you.

Here are Broadway related articles in case you are interested - 1) “My Way to Broadway” I talk about 3 key moments before getting my first Broadway show. 2) “5 Steps to Playing on Broadway” a simple one-page guide

Here is today's inspiration for you! ⭐️

“Opportunities don’t happen. You create them.“ – Chris Grosser, Photographer & Senior Sales Consultant for Tesla

Until next time & Happy Practicing!

Happy February & Black History Month! As I write this email, New York City is getting a ton of snow ❄️It's a day like this, that I am quite grateful to have a warm home. I'm also excited that this is my 10th newsletter. If you want to see the past contents, you can always go to my blog page.

Today, I'm sharing my "Reading Challenge #2!" 🥳 (You can download the PDF via the link)

Learning that people enjoyed the “Polyrhythm Reading Challenge”, I made another open instrumentation rhythm challenge that contains 4 levels. This one is focused on our ability to recognize and play music with many rests.

I wrote this challenge in two ways: 1) with melodic material 2) rhythm only, so that one can choose to just work on the rhythm or both notes and rhythm. ⭐️💫

This challenge will train your ability to:

• Sightread rhythms and/ or notes

• Read various length rests

• Play rhythms accurately in quarter notes, 8th notes, triples, and 16th notes division

How to Practice:

• I recommend that you sightread this the first time you try playing so that you can test your sight-reading ability

• Always put on a metronome and incrementally speed up when you feel comfortable

• Record yourself to double-check your accuracy

• To make it more challenging, you can reduce the metronome “tick” - for example, silence the beat 2 and 4, so that you only hear the “tick” every half note. Similarly, you can silence beat 2, 3, and 4, so that you only hear the downbeat every bar to test your time.

As always, please feel free to contact me with any comments, requests, or questions by replying to this email. It’s my goal to make this newsletter as useful to you as possible!

Here is a little inspiration for today ⭐️

“It’s not where you come from, it’s where you are going that counts.”

- Ella Fitzgerald

Have a wonderful week & Happy Practicing!

It’s hard to believe it’s already the last week of January! I hope you are staying healthy and warm.

I started to think a lot about how to effectively get the most done in my practice session as I continue to do the 30-Day 10min Practice Challenge, (as you can see in the picture, I’m on day 14 now).

There is a lot of information out there on this topic, but I wanted to share some of my favorites.

​Here is the list of 3 tips you can start using today to practice effectively.

Tip 1: Focus on the task at hand

💫 Get rid of destructions - turn off TV, close computer, and your phone on Airplane mode

💫 Make the goal of each practice session very clear

💫 Practice slowly and accurately with repetition

Tip 2: Schedule practice sessions ahead of time with enough breaks and stick to it

💫 Put your practice schedule in your calendar ahead of time (the day before, or the week before, whatever fits your style), not the day of. This way, all you have to do is follow your schedule

💫 Short but focused practice sessions are more effective than long mindless session

💫 You can divide time of the day into multiple practice sessions. For example, 1 hour in the morning, lunch, 2 hours in the afternoon, dinner, 1 hour in the evening is more effective than 4 hours all in the afternoon.

Tip 3: Practice in your brain in vivid details (mental practice)

💫 Once the physical motion has been established, it can be reinforced in your head just by imagining it. 💭This is pretty cool!

Bonus tip : Try meditating before practicing or whenever you feel overwhelmed

💫 According to the Headspace website, meditation can positively impact your focus, mood, stress, and more

💫 There is also a technique called "centering" famously taught by Dr. Don Green and Noa Kageyama

If you haven't tried meditating, I highly recommend it not just for your musicianship but for general happiness and mental health.

​
As always, please feel free to contact me with any comments, requests, or questions by replying to this email. It’s my goal to make this newsletter as helpful to you as possible.

Here is a little inspiration about practicing ⭐️

“Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect”

– Vince Lombardi, American football coach

Have a wonderful week & Happy Practicing!

Playing Timpani in “Glory” with John Legend & Common - in Selma, AL

How was your Martin Luther King Day? I was remembering about a performance I was a part of six years ago honoring his life in Selma Alabama. I really look up to how he dedicated his life to helping and inspiring others. It is my hope to do the same with the power of music and whatever abilities I can offer! We performed "Glory" with John Legend and Common, which was written for the movie “Selma”. Edmund Pettus Bridge is where 600 people marched demanding an end to discrimination in voter registration in 1965. If you would like to learn more about the history, "Selma" is a great movie about how the civil rights movement. 

I'm also on day 9 of the 30-Day 10min Practice Challenge. I'm feeling very good about myself for continuing this challenge (pressure is also on since I'm the one who started this challenge!🙄). You can follow my journey via the link on my Instagram (@chihiroplayspercussion)

Today, I'm sharing my "Polyrhythm Maker"!!🥳 (You can download the PDFs via the link)

Continuing the theme of last week’s Polyrhythm Challenge, I wanted to dive deep into the world of polyrhythm. 

Have you ever encountered a polyrhythm in a piece that you just wanted to fake because you felt like there is no way to play it accurately? I certainly have! 😖

That’s why I made this Polyrhythm Maker so that you can figure out EXACTLY how to play whatever polyrhythms come your way ⭐️💫 

The Polyrhythm Maker will:

💫 Teach you how to figure out any polyrhythms by making an easy-to-play grid of notes

💫 Give you a chance to practice difficult polyrhythms accurately

💫 Come with an instruction PDF, LCM calculator, and graph paper to do your own project

As always, please feel free to contact me with any comments, requests, or questions by replying to this email. It’s my goal to make this newsletter as helpful to you as possible. 

Here is a little inspiration from Dr. King ⭐️

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”

– Martin Luther King Jr.

Have a wonderful week & Happy Practicing!

How's your new year going so far? I kicked off the 30-Day 10min Practice Challenge yesterday, so I'm feeling pretty inspired and excited to keep it up. Even if you can't start with me, I hope you give it a try on your own time. 

Today, I'm sharing my "Polyrhythm Reading Challenge!" 🥳 (You can download the PDF & MIDI reference via the link)

I am a big fan of polyrhythms. I feel "cool" when I'm playing, and it also sounds cool. It is tricky to be accurate if you don't subdivide correctly. When I'm faced with a challenging polyrhythm spot in a piece, I first understand how it exactly fits into the beat, put on a metronome, and practice until it flows nicely. I remember playing Lou Harrison's "Fugue for percussion quartet" in my undergrad - it was a very challenging piece full of polyrhythms but loved how fluid it sounded when we played the rhythms correctly.

That’s why I wrote this reading challenge that lets you work on reading both polyrhythms and notes ⭐️💫 

This challenge will train you to:

• Work on different polyrhythms against different pulse (metronome)

• Be a better sight-reader

• Play rhythms accurately in tempo

If you find this challenge too easy, you can always modify the metronome pulse - for example, in Level 1, you can make the metronome tick only on beat 1 of every measure so that you will have to keep the tempo very accurately. 

On a different note, it's my birthday today!🎂I’m very grateful to be healthy and have started this newsletter last year. Each week, I look forward to sending this newsletter to you, so THANK YOU for your support. 

As always, please feel free to contact me with any comments, requests, or questions by replying to this email. It’s my goal to make this newsletter as helpful to you as possible. 

Here is a little inspiration for today ⭐️

“There’s no substitute for hard work. If you work hard and prepare yourself, you might get beat, but you’ll never lose.” 

– Nancy Lieberman, American former professional basketball player and coach

Have a wonderful week & Happy Practicing!

Happy New Year!! 🎉 I hope you had a wonderful holiday season. Some of you might know that it's the year of the Ox in the Chinese zodiac, which happens to be my sign. Since Ox is the symbol of diligence, persistence, and honestyI created a challenge that was inspired by these great qualities of the Ox sign. 🐄

Today, I'm sharing my "30-Day Practice Challenge Worksheet" 🥳 (You can download the PDF via the link) I’ll be sharing my progress via Instagram & Facebook group, starting Monday, 1/11/20. Please join me on this challenge!

People often talk about New Year’s resolutions, but it’s not easy keeping up with the goal. Have you started something (new diet, new workout routine, etc.) with excitement only to stop after a few days? I certainly have (many times)!🤦🏻‍♀️

I was quite surprised with myself when I was able to complete a “30-day 10min Yoga Challenge” I found on YouTube in April. This unexpected success got me thinking, “Why did it work this time?” 🤔

👉I have 3 thoughts.

🌵1. Short time frame: when you create a routine that takes too long to complete, it’s easy to make excuses to get out of it saying “I’m too busy today”. If it’s 10min, it’s much easier to commit to than 1 hour every day. 

🌵2. Feeling of accomplishment: when you witness that you can continue something more than a few days, you feel accomplished and confident. This fuels your motivation to finish the challenge

🌵3. Positive results: you start to see the positive results of continuing the challenge. This is the most important part of doing the challenge in the first place. Just like you plant a seed, you water it every day, and you can see it growing - which should make you feel excited and happy.

That’s why I made this 30-Day Practice Challenge worksheet. 💪

👉 Here are some suggestions on how to use it:

• Each session can be as short or long as you make it, but I suggest starting with 10 min

• Set a timer for each practice session

• Print the worksheet so that you can physically write down your goals

• Goals can be short-term or long-term (ex. warm-up, work on a piece, sight-read)

• Check off each circle when you are done (you can put stickers if that makes you happy!)

• Skipped a day? No need to feel bad, just continue on the next day!

Lastly, here is today's inspiration ⭐️

"Practice isn't the thing you do once you're good. It's the thing you do that makes you good."

-Malcolm Gladwell

Have a wonderful first few days of 2021 🎉 & Happy Practicing!

I hope you are having a relaxing holiday season. I have been staying inside, cooking/ eating way too much sugar, and catching up on reading. 

Today, I'm sharing my "4 Mallet Twinkle - daily warm up" 🥳 (You can download the PDF via the link)

I realized that many 4 Mallet method books have basic exercises that are not so “musical”. While it is great for working on a specific technique, it’s not so great for developing a good sense of phrasing. I’m all about efficiency and killing two birds with one stone when it comes to practicing!

That’s why I wrote this warm up based on the “Twinkle Twinkle” tune that everyone knows. 

This resource can be used to:

• Warm up 4-mallet playing daily 

• Evaluate each hand’s technique carefully

• Work on controlling dynamics on each mallet by bring out the familiar melody 

• Develop a great sense of musicality while warming up

• Cover most of basic 4 mallet marimba techniques such as independence, double stops, and rolls all in this 2-page warm up

By the way, I use the traditional grip or cross grip for 4-mallet playing. I believe that no matter what grip you play, you can learn to be excellent, as long as you give enough time to work on it and the grip is physically fit for you. If any of you want to try learning or have questions about traditional grip, I’m happy to help. You can always reach me at “chihiro@chihiroshibayama.com”

Lastly, I'd like to share a dose of inspiration with you! ⭐️

“. .the most crucial ingredient by far for success in music is . . .what happens in the practice room.” - William Westney, American Pianist 

I hope you and your family have a safe and wonderful holiday season 🥳

Happy (holiday) Practicing!

Chihiro

In this video, I explain & demonstrate how to tune timpani using your relative pitch skill. Have you ever experienced this scenario? You practiced your timpa...

It is hard to believe that this strange year of 2020 is almost over. I'm sincerely hoping that 2021 will be a better year for all of us, especially for the performing arts world.

Today, I'm sharing my "Interval Cheat Sheet" 🥳 (You can download the PDF via the link)

A video explaining “How to Tune Timpani” is also up on Youtube!

I have a confession. I always envied my colleagues with perfect pitch a little. “It must be so convenient to have as a musician”, I thought. Turns out, I never really needed it to work as a professional because I developed a good relative pitch. 👂In reality, the only time a percussionist could benefit from having a perfect pitch is when we tune timpani, or when we have to find pitched flower pots in Home Depot! (I was a weird customer with mallets and tuner hitting their products. #lifeofapercussionist 🤷🏻‍♀️)

After I made the timpani tuning challenge last week, I thought of making this Interval Cheat Sheet. To get better at tuning timpani, we need to be able to sing all of the intervals accurately and quickly. I also wanted more people who are insecure about their ability to sing or play in tune to feel confident about having good ears.

This resource can be used to:

• Learn how to find all the intervals from minor 2nd to an octave going up and down using familiar songs

• Teach intervals to students who are new to the concept of intervals

• Get better at tuning timpani quickly by memorizing these interval songs

I would also love for you to share your New Year's "musical" resolution. It is my goal to create resources and challenges to help you achieve your goal.

Lastly, I'd like to share a dose of inspiration with you! ⭐️

“All musicians practice ear training constantly, whether or not they are cognizant of it. If, when listening to a piece of music, a musician is envisioning how to play it or is trying to play along, that musician is using his or her “ear” - the understanding and recognition of musical elements - for guidance.” – Steve Vai, American guitarist & composer

I hope you and your family have a safe and wonderful holiday season 🥳

Happy (holiday) Practicing!

Chihiro 🥁

Positive Percussionist

www.chihiroshibayama.com​

​YouTube || Instagram || Facebook

Today, I'm sharing a challenge called "Rhythm Challenge (funny notation)" 🥳 (You can download the PDF via the link)

This challenge is inspired by my experience having to learn new music with awkwardly notated music. Have you ever worked on a piece that just looked “funny” (aka. very hard to read)? - the kind that has weird groupings of notes and unnecessary rests? I sincerely hope that you don’t run into many of these, but you never know. Why don’t I help you get ready for that by this challenge? This can be played by any instrument although it says “snare drum”. Just pick your favorite pitch and give it a try. 

This challenge will train your ability to:

• Read the same rhythms notated in different ways

• Stay calm and analyze the rhythm

• Learn good notation practice by seeing bad examples

If you do the challenge, please tag me on Instagram @chihiroplayspercussion with the hashtag #positivepercussionist - GOOD LUCK! 

Today’s challenge is called "Timpani Tuning Challenge (happy birthday)"!🥳 (You can download the PDF via the link)

This challenge is inspired by my DCI (Drum Corps International) days as a timpanist of the Glassmen, where I played basically a tuba part on 5 drums. This challenge will have you play the famous happy birthday song on 2 and 3 drums because we don’t always have 5 drums, right? Here are  some pictures from my DCI days.

This challenge will train your ability to:

• Plan tuning changes with a limited number of drums

• Work on pedaling

• Tune correctly & quickly

• Keep the phrasing going while pedaling

If you dare to do the challenge in public, please tag me on Instagram @chihiroplayspercussion with the hashtag #timpanituningchallenge - GOOD LUCK! 👍

Me playing timpani for DCI championship with the Glassmen

Today, I'm sharing a brand new practice challenge called "Key Change Challenge 1 (holiday ver.)"!🥳 You can download the PDF & click track here. 

This challenge is inspired by my days performing at Radio City Christmas Spectacular, where I played 90 min non-stop of holiday music all on click track up to 6 times a day! Broadway shows and film scores often have a lot of key changes and tempo changes. 

This challenge will train your ability to:

• react & process different key signatures quickly

• change tempo right away

• play with a click track

If you dare to do the challenge in public, please tag me on Instagram @chihiroplayspercussion with a hashtag #keychangechallenge - GOOD LUCK! 👍

Click on the image to receive a free guide!

Today, November 25th, 2020, I launched my newsletter “Positive Percussionist”!

I hope to share my knowledge as a percussionist, working musician, as well as positive vibe.

To sign up to the newsletter, please click HERE!