Private Percussion Syllabus

Attendance You are required to attend your lesson each week. Illness verified by a doctor’s note or a death in the family are the only real reasons to miss a lesson. I am not inflexible on this subject, but for your well being as a musician, I hope that you are. Obviously, school tours, performances, etc. are excused, but you must let me know of these well in advance so that we can schedule the appropriate make-up time. I will let you know of any days that I must miss also.

Expectations I expect that you will be prepared for your lesson each week. We will start the semester by creating a personalized curriculum for you, and then, I expect you to stay on schedule. Obviously, we may change certain details of your curriculum during the course of the semester, but you should always know what you are to prepare a few weeks in advance. Falling short of these goals will prevent you from realizing your full potential.

Wind Ensemble All major level percussion students are expected to participate in Wind Ensemble. The ensemble allows you a practical application of the skills you will learn in your lessons.

Required Books All students must obtain the books used in your lessons. These are listed below in the barriers. These books provide a basic educational foundation for percussion education. They are all available from Steve Weiss Music.

Grades will be based on the grade for each lesson. Missed lessons due to unexcused absences will be counted as “F’s”. You will be responsible to pass a barrier at the end of the semester. If you fail your barrier, the highest grade you can receive is a “C”.

Reach Me At:

ROBERT BRIDGE

498-2208 at OCC

449-3801 at Home

Bridger@sunyocc.edu

Suggested Books

Barrier Materials

Garwood Whaley—Musical Studies for the Intermediate Snare Drummer

Mitchell Peters—Advanced Snare Drum Studies

Charles Wilcoxin—All-American Drummer

Simon Sternburg—Modern Drum Studies

Anthony Cirone--Portraits in Rhythm

John Pratt—14 Modern Contest Solos

John Pratt--The New Pratt Book

Garwood Whaley—Primary Handbook for Mallets

Randal Eyles—Mallet Percussion for Young Beginners

George H. Green—Instruction Course for Xylophone

Morris Goldenberg—Modern School for Xylophone, Marimba, Vibraphone

James Moyer—Four-Mallet Method for Marimba

Charles Dowd—Velocity Warm-ups

John Beck—Concepts for Timpani

Also Recommended:

John Wooten—The Drummer’s Rudimental Reference Book

George Stone—Stick Control

Saul Goodman—Modern Method for Timpani

Percussion Barriers

The barrier system is designed as an effort towards a complete and well-rounded percussion education. While your interests may allow you to work in areas outside of the barrier material, the barriers will ensure that you cover those materials that are the foundation of good percussion pedagogy.

The barriers correlate with specific semesters in your course of study. You may work ahead of the barriers; but you may not fall behind. Failing the barrier exam will result in a lesson grade no higher than “c”.

Barrier exam

The exam will take place at a time TBA near the end of each semester. You will be required to read any, or all, of the assigned material for that semester’s barrier.

107 Level Barriers

Snare Drum

Garwood Whaley—Musical Studies for the Intermediate Snare Drummer

1. pages 3-6

2. pages 7-9

3. pages 10-12

4. pages 13-15

5. pages 16-17

6. pages 18-20

7. pages 21-24

8. pages 25-28

9. pages 29-32

Bridge--Snare Drum Technique packet

All Rudiments at NYSSMA level 6 requirements

Mallet Instrument

Garwood Whaley—Primary Handbook for Mallets

Randal Eyles—Mallet Percussion for Young Beginners

George H. Green—Instruction Course for Xylophone

Week	Whaley—pages	Eyles--pages	Green—Lesson #
1	6-9	8-14	none
2	10-13	15-23	none
3	14-17	24-29	Lesson 1
4	18-21	30-34	Ragtime
5	22-25	35-39	Lesson 2
6	26-29	40-47	Ragtime
7	30-33	none	Lesson 3
8	34-37	none	Ragtime
9	38-41	none	Lesson 4 ALL

Scales to NYSSMA Level 4 requirements

Level 1

Snare Drum

Mitchell Peters—Advanced Snare Drum Studies

Charles Wilcoxin—All-American Drummer

Simon Sternburg—Modern Drum Studies

Week	Peters—exercises	Wilcoxin--exercises	Sternburg--exercises
1	1-2	1-2	1-2
2	3	3-4	3-10
3	4	5-7	11-14
4	5	8-10	15-18
5	6	11-14	19-22
6	7	15-16	23-27
7	8	17-20	28-31
8	9-10	21-24	32-35
9	11-12	25-28	36-39

Jury Piece—Student and teacher agree on selection

40 PAS Rudiments

Mallet Instrument

Morris Goldenberg—Modern School for Xylophone, Marimba, Vibraphone

George H. Green—Instruction Course for Xylophone

Week	Goldenberg--pages	Green—Lesson #
1	8-11	Lesson 5
2	12-15	Ragtime
3	16-19	Lesson 6
4	20-22	Ragtime
5	23-26	Lesson 7
6	27-28	Ragtime
7	29-31	Lesson 8
8	32-33	Ragtime
9	34-36	Lesson 9--All

Jury Piece—Student and teacher agree on selection

Scales to NYSSMA Level 6 requirements

Level 2

Snare Drum

Mitchell Peters—Advanced Snare Drum Studies

Charles Wilcoxin—All-American Drummer

Simon Sternburg—Modern Drum Studies

Rob Bridge--Orchestral Snare Drum Packet

Week	Peters—exercises	Wilcoxin--exercises	Sternburg--exercises
1	13	29-32	40-43
2	14	33-34	44-47
3	15-16	35-36	48-51
4	17	37-40	52-55
5	18-19	41-42	56-59
6	20	43-44	60-63
7	21-22	45-46	64-67
8	23-24	47-48	68-71
9	25	49-50	72-75

Jury Piece—Student and teacher agree on selection

Bridge--Orchestra Sheets

Mallet Instrument

Morris Goldenberg—Modern School for Xylophone, Marimba, Vibraphone

George H. Green—Instruction Course for Xylophone

James Moyer—Four-Mallet Method for Marimba

Week	Goldenberg--pages	Green—Lesson #	Moyer—pages
1	37-39	Lesson 10	4-9
2	40-42		10-12
3	43-44	Lesson 11	12-14
4	45-48		15-17
5	49-50	Lesson 12	18
6	51-52		19-20
7	52-55	Lesson 13	21-23
8	56-58		24-25
9	59-61	Lesson 14--All	26-27

Jury Piece—Student and teacher agree on 4-mallet selection

Scales to NYSSMA Level 6 requirements

Level 3

Snare Drum

Anthony Cirone--Portraits in Rhythm

John Pratt—14 Modern Contest Solos

John Pratt--The New Pratt Book

Rob Bridge--Orchestral Snare Drum Packet

Week	Cirone—exercises	Pratt	Excerpts
1	1	Conquering Legions…	Bolero
2	2		Bartok Concerto
3		Drum Corps on Parade	Capriccio Espagnol
4	3		Schuman III
5	4	Pine Cone Forrest	Scheherezade
6			Lt. Kije
7	5-6	Gladstone Cadets	Prokofief 5
8	7,9,10		Shostakovich 10
9	11-13

Jury Piece—Student and teacher agree on selection

Bridge--Orchestra Sheets

Level 3 Drum Set Option – do weeks 1-5 above and 107a level (minus the Whaley book.)

Finish Level 3 SD in Level 4.

Mallet Instrument

Morris Goldenberg—Modern School for Xylophone, Marimba, Vibraphone

George H. Green—Instruction Course for Xylophone

James Moyer—Four-Mallet Method for Marimba

Charles Dowd--Velocity Warm-ups

Week	Goldenberg--pages	Green—Lesson #	Moyer—pages	Dowd—pages
1	62-63	Lesson 15	29-30	8-12
2	64-65		31-33	13-14
3	66-67	Lesson 16	34-35	15-20
4	68-69		36-41	21-22
5	70-71	Lesson 17	42-43	23-27
6	72-73		44-45	28-32
7	74-75	Lesson 18	46-48	33
8	76-77		49-52	34-35
9	78-79	Lesson 19--All	53-57	36-37

Jury Piece—Student and teacher agree on 2 & 4-mallet selections

Dowd “common note” scale exercise

Timpani

John Beck—Concepts for Timpani

Week	Beck—pages
1	16-23	Slow & Medium Lift
2
3	25-27	Fast Lift
4	35-36	Roll Exercise
5	36-40
6	41-51
7	52-55	Muffling
8	76-87	Pedaling
9

Level 4

Snare Drum

Continue Audition Preparation

Jury Piece—Student and teacher agree on selection

Mallet Instrument

Morris Goldenberg—Modern School for Xylophone, Marimba, Vibraphone

George H. Green—Instruction Course for Xylophone

Week	Goldenberg--pages	Green—Lesson #
1	80-81	Lesson 20
2	82-83
3	83-85	Lesson 21
4	85-87
5	87-89	Lesson 22
6	90-91
7	91-93	Lesson 23--All
8	93	Lesson 24--All
9		Lesson 25--All

Jury Piece—Student and teacher agree on 2 & 4-mallet selections

Continue audition preparation

Timpani

Continue audition preparation

Drum Set

Bridge--Drum Set Packet (Styles, Independence & Reading)

Orchestral Snare Drum Exercises

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