Lesson, Week 44

Some lessons don't seem to cover much and some are crazy busy. I really think that he doesn't watch the clock and just goes with it when things are going well, but that could just be my perception.

Monday was jam packed.

We started with sticking exercises in 6/8 and working on double strokes. I talked to him about when playing mostly with fingers is appropriate and when playing mostly with wrists is appropriate. The upshot is that, once I've practiced it awhile, I'll have more control and speed with fingers...more power with wrists. So intricate things or soft things are fingers, loud things or the beginning of strokes (where you need rebound) are more wrists.

Then we moved on to a new sheet of triplet exercises. I did pretty good on these. Four way independence is improving, though it is still really, really hard.

Then we played a Count Basie tune and he recommended that I get Miles Davis's Kind of Blue. The Basie tune was really good for strengthening left foot and ride. It's worth using in a regular practice regime I think. I forgot the name, but it's one of the famous ones. I wrote it down.