Interactive Music Teacher Blog
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I’m a tweety nerd. When we officially launch we are going to update our followers with the what and when of our drum lessons (topics/time) in addition to our random tweets, but in the meantime here are some RT’s from our @imtweeple twitter …

  • Snuggies: It’s hard to be romantic in a snuggie. Homeless people invented the snuggie.
  • Drums: You would think that drummers would be able to dance because we have good rhythm…you’d think….
    Drunk people at bars love four on the floor! Don’t toss the drummer a water bottle because naturally his hands are going to be occupied. It hurt so bad…If you are a drummer, you probably either have cool neighbors or are friends with the local police. Say no to drum machines! 12 years of playing the drums and I still can’t spell rhythm without spell check! Only say the saying “I dance to the beat of my own drum” if you’ve been practicing

    Random: Don’t buy a mail order bride on groupon if you don’t like to share. Axe is not a shower in a can… just sayin’. If I ever fire someone I’m going to actually throw cans at them so they can literally say they got canned today.Libraries are just big Wi-Fi hot spots in which we don’t feel pressured to buy a coffee Do you suffer from tweet regret? Stalkers don’t need twitter, They are always following you. Tweet regret is a serious problem in which people realize that they published something weird to the world….I do for sure -Ryan (The Web Nerd).

    Ever feel like you are rushing or not playing in the pocket? It’s a common problem that can be fixed by doing four things. Work with a metronome everyday for at least ten minutes so you can really internalize the quarter note and have a reference point for time. Sing your drum beats and fills. You’ll notice if you take lessons from Dave that he likes to sing a lot. The reason being is that when you sing the notes, you give the notes their full value. The longer you hold out the note the better. For instance if you are playing a simple Boo Gah (Boo Boo) Gah 1,2,(3 +), 4 on the kick (boo) and snare (gah) you want to sing the whole beat in one breath if you can. Your body will respond to the longer notes that you are singing and this will make you play more locked into the pocket. Another great thing that you can do to play more musically is to practice breathing exercises. These exercises will make you more relaxed, and since you will be getting more oxygen to your brain you will be more clear headed. A great exercise that I use is to breath in for 5 counts, hold it for 20, then exhale for 10. You may have to work up to these numbers but you’ll find that 15 minutes of this a day will make a big difference. The last thing that I want to mention is that if you exercise regularly it will positively effect your playing. Anything that you can do to de-stress you will make it easier to focus on the music you are playing in that moment. -Noteman

    Do you need to work or your music theory/ musicianship/basic reading? Do you need blank sheet music to work out your new music theory skills? Do you think it’s annoying when articles or blogs start off in question form like this? In this article I will answer those first two questions and probably agree with you on your answer to the third one.

  • Strap on your suspenders nerds, you’re in for a treat. http://www.musictheory.net is a fantastic music theory website. The site features well thought out lessons on basic reading, rhythm, and all things music theory. They even teach you the best usage of a Neapolitan chord which sounds delicious and informative, for people who are advanced in theory. The best feature of the website is the exercises page. They have interactive visual exercises on note, chord, and scale identification and also interactive ear training exercises for intervals, scales, and chords. Their are more exercises than what I mentioned so check it out! It’s a great free website that I’ve been using for years. My suspenders feel a little tight…

  • A great site that has a bunch of different useful tools is http://www.8notes.com. They offer music theory lessons as well and some free notation lessons for multiple instruments, but my favorite feature on 8notes is the guitar chord chart. They give you the shapes and how they sound to almost all chords on the guitar. It rules! They have a metronome on the site too

    The answer to the question, “is there anything cooler than a squirrel on a jetski?” is no, but http://www.blanksheetmusic.net, is pretty close! You can print any blank drum sheet music, guitar tabs, or piano music and more on this fantastic website. You can fully customize everything as well!

    “The goal at IMT is to provide top quality music instruction to people all around the globe” says CEO Ryan Fox. The company is launching initially as a live streaming drum lessons website only, but they have plans to offer guitar, bass, voice and piano lessons in the future. The drum lessons are taught by professional drummer Dave Rollans on Tuesdays and Thursdays, offering classes for beginner students and intermediate/advanced students on both days. The lessons are 30 minutes long with a five minute Q and A at the end of each session. Students can ask Dave questions during the lesson and at the end during the Q and A, via the chat feature. If students can’t make the live lessons they can watch them on their own time in the archives. IMT archives the last 4 lessons per skill level, which leaves students plenty of material to work on. If you have never played the drums in your life, the company has provided 8 essential video tutorials from their pre-recorded lessons vault to get any beginner started and up to speed for the live lessons. These videos include lessons on basic drum beats, technique, how to read drum notation, and other essential skills that every beginner needs.

  • The cost of a subscription is $19.99 a month which averages out to be about 8 thirty minute lessons per month, per skill level. www.interactivemusicteacher.com also has a pre-recorded video section which includes 49 videos taught by Dave Rollans which focus on technique, rudiments, and how to play various styles of music from Rock to Jazz, Latin to Funk, and many others. Each lesson includes on screen drum notation so students can make the connection between what Dave is playing and what is written in the music.

  • Dave Rollans is an experienced studio musician from San Diego Ca. He has studied from some heavy hitters in the drum world including Jeff Hamilton, Russ Miller, Dave Weckl, Rick Latham, and quite a few more. Dave also lived and studied in Brazil which influenced his style as a player and as an instructor. You can get accustomed to Dave’s teaching style by visiting the website’s blog where you will find free drum video tutorials on popular rock songs from bands like The Black Keys, MGMT, and Arcade Fire.

    TRX Cymbal Co® Artist Flood the Drummer®, is a Sports-Edutainment™
    Superstar known for his speed, accuracy and progressive rudimental
    application in the self entitled genre Flood FreeStyle™. In addition to
    his mainstream performance credits which include a legendary school
    performance with Herbie Hancock, Flood the Drummer® is the author of the
    critically acclaimed B.E.E.P® curriculum Rudiments of Success; a business
    and idea development course that use the tradtional drumset as a
    non-tradtional teaching tool.

    As an advocate for education reform, Flood the Drummer® has self-published
    his first E-Book entitled B.E.E.P®, The Blueprint to Education Reform;
    available for free download at http://techbookonline.com/beep.html Flood
    the Drummer® is also a member of Professionals for Progress®; a landmark
    group within the National Coalition of African-American Organizations
    that’s currently advocating for fair and adequate funding for Philadelphia
    Schools. To learn how you can get involved, please visit
    www.sosphilly.com

    As a entrepreneur, Flood the Drummer® is the CEO/Founder of Techbook
    Online Corporation®; commonly referred to as TBO Inc, the official home of
    Sports-Edutainment. Founded in 2011, Flood the Drummer formed
    J.U.S.T.I.C.E® (Joint Unification Structures That Integrate Creativity
    into Education) a global movement wherein educators, corporations and
    non-profit organizations unite to provide innovative educational options
    that engage students, supports teachers and changes the culture of
    business. IMT are the most recent members of J.U.S.T.I.C.E® and their page
    can be seen at http://www.techbookonline.com/interactivemusicteacher.html
    Follow Flood the Drummer® on Twitter @floodthedrummer

    TBO Inc
    The Official Home of Sports-Edutainment
    JOIN THE MOVEMENT!
    www.techbookonline.com

    The music video to this song is pretty funny :)

    Hiiiii YA! I just roundhouse kicked your giant soda out of your hand!

    Stick this in your sandwich and eat it!

    Dave Rollans is teaching one more week of free lessons! The lesson days and times are Tuesday 8/16 and Thursday 8/18 from 5:30pm-6:00pm Pt for beginners, and from 6:30pm-7pm for Intermediate/Advanced students. Go to the live lessons page , click play when the button appears, and you are ready to go. Type your name into the chat if you want to directly ask Dave questions during the lesson. If you want to check out our archives of previous live lessons, just scroll down and click on either the beginner or intermediate/advanced pictures. The last two weeks of lessons per skill level are archived. On August 23rd, 2011 the live lessons/archives portion of the site can only be accessed by subscribing. Subscriptions are 19.99 a month.

  • Lesson Schedule for subscribers: Tuesdays and Thursdays: 5:30pm-6:00pm Pt for Beginners and 6:30pm-7pm for Intermediate/Advanced students

    I wrote a little diddy: “drum on your desk, drum on your chair, drive everyone crazy everywhere”