private drum lessons with ariel

My lessons are pretty structured and include a lot of technique, rudiments, and reading. I encourage students to bring me songs and suggest things they want to learn. I also have quite a detailed curriculum.

Things to know:

The classes are designed to be a check in between practicing.

Developing muscle memory is arguably the most important part of learning drums, or any instrument.

Consider if you are able to commit to practicing 15 minutes every day or at least most days. Ideally practice becomes part of your daily routine. This is the fastest way to learn an instrument and develop muscle memory. Even 10 minutes a day is fine. Frequency / regularity is more important than length of time.

Some people do not have access to their drum set every day. For example, if your drum set is at your grandparents house and you only go there twice a week. If this is the case, I encourage you to still practice on your practice pad for 10 minutes every day.

I use the metronome a lot.

Learning any instrument is repetitive but drums is the most repetitive instrument of all. I would say it is more similar to training for a sport than any other instrument. Drums tends to be a “slow start” instrument. Meaning you may not be able to play full songs right off the bat. It may take a while to developing physical skills and speed before you can play songs.

I really enjoy reading and teaching from sheet music. If that is something you are interested in learning then you should definitely send me a message.

Other important information:

  1. I only take on students who have regular access to a drum kit. Either electric or acoustic is fine. You can rent one from Long & McQuade as well. If you do not have a drum set to practice on then I do not recommend taking lessons.

  2. Students are required to pay for all booked lessons, attended or not. Your tuition reserves a set time in the schedule so no make up lessons will be allowed. Please read the “tuition” page for more information.

  3. I teach from a book called “Groove Evolution” by my teacher Murray Creed. I sell this book for $35. I also use my own handouts that I create which are included in the class fee.

Thank you for reading!

Ariel