Drums step by step

Step by Step on DrumsVolume 1, by Marco Kurmann is very appealing, interesting and child-friendly thanks to the numerous comic-style illustrations. It guides pupils and teachers in a targeted manner. The teaching aid was designed as a guide for music school lessons and deliberately contains no explanations and very little text. In this way, the author allows teachers to incorporate their own ideas and input. There is also plenty of space on the pages for this.

After a brief overview of what the first step involves, we start with quarter and eighth notes on the snare. Gradually, various grooves with eighth notes are introduced and soon the toms are included. In between, there are short theory sections in which answers to the respective questions are entered and there is room for your own additions.

In the five steps of volume 1, the students get to know the individual instruments of the drum set, deal with basic musical terms and learn notes from the whole to four-sixteenth note figures. Drumset solos, snare drum duets and drumset duets conclude each step. Audio files for the pieces can be downloaded as full versions or click tracks from the author's website. The duets are even available with the first or second voice separately and in two different tempos.

Thanks to the successful mixture of sensible rhythmic progression and many beats that increase in difficulty, this teaching aid offers a clear, structured structure as well as exciting and varied learning. In 20 steps, divided into four volumes, the Step by Step on Drums the ideal basic training in the first four to six years of drum lessons.

Marco Kurmann: Step by Step on Drums, Leitfaden für den Schlagzeugunterricht, Volume 1, 98 p., € 24.00, Leu-Verlag, Neusäss, ISBN 978-3-89775-189-7