My book Drumset For Preschoolers was designed to be used with drum kits of all types (Including mini, full size, electronic, and the Rock Band video game peripheral), Over time, I discovered another p...
When buckets (see Bucket Drumming 101 ) are used as drums in classes for young children, it brings up an interesting dilemma: How do you best mute these plastic instruments without adversely affecting...
In this unique educational article by Andy Ziker , Andy explains how he expanded his private teaching studio with an after-school bucket drumming class for young children, pre-school through third gra...
An Ear Grabber The following two circumstances have brought home the importance of hearing protection, giving me a constant reminder to proceed with caution. — A top student from the past, a 16 year-o...
Years ago, when I wrote Drumscapes (recently released in an upgraded version called Drumcraft by Cherry Lane/Hal Leonard), I included some general drum-related content. These were responses to questio...
Beginning students will often show up at their first lesson with incredibly big drumsticks. I often joke with them, “Please donʼt hit me over the head with those things!” These sticks can be as long a...
Try Publishing recently released my new method book, Drumset for Preschoolers: A Guide for Parents/Teachers of 2-6 Year-Olds designed to provide young children with a fun and valuable drumming experie...
Drum teachers (and private music teachers in general) commonly run into the following dilemma: they miss lessons due to family vacations, illness, and conflicts with gigs. School districts arrange sub...
Advancements in technology continue to soar at an exponential rate. When I first wrote the article 20 Aspects to an Ideal Teaching Studio Environment , I knew that some of the content would soon becom...
Alex walked into the drum studio for his 4th lesson with a feeling of dread. He was learning from his new teacher, but wasn’t feeling comfortable. His mom had picked up on this and was coming in today...
In bi-annual waves, a handful of my drum students try out for junior high or high school jazz band. They (or their parents) have a look of desperation in their eyes as they inform me, "The audition is...
A Novel Approach to Teaching and Learning Rhythm In the last article, I talked about Mixtures (combinations of one eighth note and two 16th notes in a beat) and how a mathematical approach to rhythm (...
A Novel Approach to Teaching and Learning Rhythm In the first two articles, I introduced a unique method for teaching rhythm and described a series of related exercises. In this article, I will demons...
A Novel Approach to Teaching and Learning Rhythm In the first installment of this series, I told the story of my personal struggle (as a young person) with learning to read and play rhythms. Later, th...
A Novel Approach to Teaching and Learning Rhythm When I was 13 years old, my drum teacher taught me the rudiments and. more important, how to groove. He had an encouraging way about him, always smilin...
The following includes excerpts from Andy Ziker’s book Drumscapes: The Essential Guide to Playing Drumset , which is recommended for teachers of beginning to intermediate students. The 3 + 1 Exercise:...
The following piece is a companion to the article/transcription about the Travis Barker remix of Crank That , which appears in the June 2008 issue of Modern Drummer (the one with Cindy Blackman on the...
In this free drum lesson, Andy Ziker shares his own snare drum solo composition, dedicated to his childhood drum instructor, Billy "Stix" Nicks . The composition makes use of 14 standard drum rudiment...
photo used with permission by Try Publising. Many parents (grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.) refrain from buying mini-drumkits for their youngsters for fear of creating a huge racket in their home. T...
In the August 2008 edition of Modern Drummer, I told the story one of my teenage drum students, Amanda, who played the video game Rock Band so obsessively that she subsequently improved her single str...
During a college big band rehearsal, I was baffled by a complex chart. The band director came over to the right side of the drumset (my music stand was on the left, over the hi-hat), and placed his he...
