One thing that I like to do for my students, that may be different from other teachers, is writing unique exercises and ‘licks’ for each kid. I feel that because each student is different, the approach to each core fundamental should be different as well. One student will struggle with A while working on diddles and another will struggle with B, and their exercises should reflect that. One skill that I try to teach my students is how to create their own exercises to think critically about their playing and think creatively about solutions. Here are my 3 best tips (trust me I have way more) about building an exercise.
Know what you want to work on and don’t try to do too much. For this example lets say that we are trying to improve accent tap heights and the student is struggling to keep their taps down. That will be the focus of the exercise.
Start from the bottom and work your way up. For this example we would start with a check patten (the basic rhythm we will be using and the foundation). In this case that would be the taps perhaps 16th notes. Focus on keeping them low and establishing the proper tap height during these check patterns.
Try to add something contextual to the exercise. Once we have built up adding in accents, maybe a patter with a right hand, and a patter with the left, now add in some patterns that will be seen frequently in their drumming to help work on those more common passages.
The point of exercises is to work fundamentals under a magnifying glass, with a lot of repetition. It is extremely important that these exercises are focusing on the right thing in the right way. And playing an exercise correctly always feels great!
Hilary