Practicing Basics 1
When I get busy with learning music for work, it's very tempting to skip the "boring" basics and jump right into learning notes. We all know that it's not a good idea…
So, I'm going to revisit all of my basics.
Here is what I did today:
IV from Mitchel Peters "Intermediate Snare Drum Studies"
Metronome set to half note = 60, work up to half note = 75
Make sure to start from both right and left hand
Practice at all dynamics (pp, p, mp, mf, f)
The basics are where technique lives. They're not something you graduate from — they're something you return to, at higher and higher levels of refinement.
When you play a simple exercise with full attention, every flaw in your technique becomes visible. That's not discouraging — it's useful.
Build it into every session: Spend the first 10–15 minutes of every practice session on fundamentals before touching repertoire. It warms up your technique, centers your focus, and reminds you what really matters: the quality of every single note.