Frequently Asked Questions
On your first lesson or trial:
Most of our materials will be in papers in A4 size. It will be good to bring along a clear folder to store and organize the exercises. Besides these exercises, we will also be drawing and taking some notes so please bring along a notebook to write down these information.
Your notebook can just be a normal notebook or a manuscript book. But please make sure there is space to write words if you are using a manuscript book. If you have your own sticks you can bring them but it is optional.
If you have your own sticks that will be great. However, fret not if you do not own a pair as we can provide it for you during the lessons.
Part of what we want is to provide affordable drum lessons for those interested. In order to do that, we have reduced our costs and reflect that savings to you. That does not mean that we compromise on the quality of lessons.
Find out more about how we keep our costs low here
For students under 5, we do not recommend to start the classes yet as it will not be very productive for them as they will have difficulties following the instructions given and problems with concentration.
However if your kid is turning 5 soon, we will still be able to accept him after a trial lesson to determine if it is suitable for his development.
Click here to find out more about our drum classes for kids.
Yes we have a free trial available and we recommend you to take it before signing up for the drum lessons. This will allow you to be sure of how we conduct our lessons and that you are completely comfortable with us before enrolling.
The purpose of this free trial is to give a rebate to appreciate you for making this decision with us. However, to prevent abuse and to deter students who are not serious about learning, this free trial is chargeable if you do not sign up after.
Find out more about it here.Â
On practicing and development:
At the initial stage of your development as a drummer, you would need a lot of practice. However, it is important that you understand what it is that you are practicing to be able to practice effectively.
For drums coordination, you will need to do repetitive motions to get your “muscle memory” going and it can still be achieved without a drumset. All you have to do is to have an platform to hit on simulating the position of the drums. This can be your sofa, your bed, some pots, basically anything that you can find.
However, if you are working on your strokes development, it would be recommended to get a practice pad to simulate the rebound of the snare drum to properly develop your techniques.
Alternatively, you may look for a rental studio to practice in. To encourage practice, we have tied up with Bozzworkz studios and all DrumTannery students enjoy a discount when practicing in their facilities. More on that under the facilities and locations section here
We encourage teenagers or adult students to have a practice pad in order to properly develop your strokes. It will also be useful when we start working on your speed on your hands.
For kids, it is optional to have a practice pad as most of our lessons will be more focused on counting, rhythm and coordination practice. As the kids grow older, we will then revisit their strokes as they require a lot of concentration and awareness to practice.
We believe learning an instrument should be a fun yet informative journey. As with any skills, the progress of the students are mainly dependent on the amount of practice that they attain during the learning process. With better results through practice, the students will then be able to appreciate their own efforts and in return, they develop a sense of self-discipline which hopefully not only in drumming but in other areas of their life as well.
A common challenge in music lessons for kids applies to the learning of drums as well: Kids might be resistant to practise as it sometimes can be repetitive and boring, especially when learning a new rhythm. What you can do is to schedule a fixed time for them to practice and to offer rewards to encourage practice. You should also be encouraging when they are practicing and make them feel good about it.
However, if the resistance is very strong, it is fine to allow them to just come for the lessons. Through our engaging lessons, we will still be able to help your child grow and develop their rhythm. As time passes and they get more interested in playing (with achieved results), we can then try again to encourage practice at home.
We have an entire article designated to this topic, click here to find out more!
The number 1 role of a drummer is to keep the beat and time for the band. It is a very essential part of our job when we are playing the music. Everyone has their own “internal time” that we will follow with when we are playing a rhythm.
However, most of our “internal time” are not as accurate as we would like them to be. In order to correct that and to develop a more stable timing, we DEFINITELY encourage the use of a metronome when you are practicing.
For kids, it might be too overwhelming to use a metronome for practice, in those situations, we can just allow the kids to slowly follow the beats of their favorite songs to encourage learning.
There are a few different kind of metronome out there in the market. As you first start up, you do note require the robust build and complexities of a digital dial up metronome, using your mobile or iPad, or even computer, we can use metronome apps at low to no cost to practice effectively.
Our recommended metronome is the Pro Metronome and Metronomics (for more advanced students), both available on iOS and Android.
You will also receive a starter kit with all the information you need to download and operate the metronome once you join us!
On equipments:
Practice pads are built to mimic the snare drum to help drummers develop strokes, speed, and techniques on the drumset. Although many practice pads on the market do not exactly replicate that feeling on the snare drum, you will still be able to articulate your strokes and hear your stick definition much better than playing on the floor, the table, or any other surfaces without causing a rebound which is too “unnatural”.
When you are sure that your passion will persist, you can buy your own set to help with the rate of improvement. Alternatively, you can book a rental studio with full acoustic drum setup inside if noise is an issue.
We recommend Bozzworkz practice studios to practice your beats. For all DrumTannery students, you enjoy a preferred price when booking your practice rooms. Learn more about them here.
If you are worried that your passion might not persist but wants to get your own set, you can get a second hand set to reduce the cost upfront. If one day your passion dies out and you stop playing, you can still sell the set away without much losses.
The noise issue has been a particularly concerned one among drummers and would be drummers in Singapore as many of us live in HDB flats. The different drum companies have been trying to help us cope with this issue with the many different products on the market.
Depending on your budget size, we can advice accordingly on what is the best noise reduction solution that you can have.
Alternatively, we can help to procure and setup a drumset for you based your on budget and needs at a token cost. Please Contact Us to find out more about this service.
As more people are picking up the craft, many drum companies sees this as an opportunity and are producing low costs sets to cater to this market. Brand new drumsets (reputable brands) can now be as low as SGD$650, as opposed to almost twice that price 10 years ago. This in turn makes attaining a drumset to practice much more affordable.
However, these cost does not include the modifications to reduce the volume of the drums. Talk to us if you are our student and we will advice you accordingly based on your budget.
There are many different sizes and types of sticks out there on the market and can be overwhelming at times when you decide to buy your first pair of sticks. We recommend size 5A for both adult and children as they are the the most averagely sized sticks.
We also recommend to buy from reputable brands as they are proven to have solid quality and can last much longer than sticks from mixed brands.