The Reading Drummer

Take your drumming to the next level by improving your reading chops.

This Berklee Workshop, ideal for both beginning students and professional drummers alike, is everything a drummer needs to learn how to sight-read drum notation. The diagrams, language, and structure used in this book help make learning to read drum music easy and natural.

Each lesson introduces a new concept or beat, including dynamic markings and articulations, helping drummers develop skill and technique. The exercises in this workshop will sharpen every drummer's understanding of fundamental rhythms and beats, and bring their playing to the next level.

Additional features:

• more than 50 lessons complete with general practice tips

• steady learning progression from reading quarter notes to sixteenth-note triplets

• practice rhythms containing accents, flams, rolls, ruffs, tempo and meter changes, and much more

• third edition adds duets and includes additional notational elements

BUZZ

"An indispensable tool for my beginning and intermediate students. Its challenging, engaging, and highly musical exercises demonstrate the fundamentals for drummers of all levels."

—Ron Savage, Chair, Ensemble Dept, Berklee College of Music

"Dave's book has been a great resource for me in the classroom. I find his comprehensive approach to be very accessible to even my most basic level students, yet it offers challenge to the more advanced students as well. This book is a staple in my list of teaching resources."

—David Cowan, Drummer with Andre Ward and Esoteriqa

"My personal experience with this book spans ten years. It progresses logically in presenting the drum as a musical instrument. I can't think of a better book to further the students' reading skills."

—Risto Skrikberg, Percussion instructor, Tampere Conservatory, Finland

"This is a welcome addition to help drummers learn that the art of reading is to make it sound like it's not being read."

—Fred Buda, Percussionist, Boston Pops; Faculty, New England Conservatory of Music

About the Author

David Vose, professor at Berklee College of Music, has been a percussion instructor, author, researcher, and clinician for many years. He has performed with such rock groups as the Drifters, Freddy Cannon, and Freedom. He is an artist clinician with the Zildjian Company, Grover Percussion, and the Yamaha Corporation of America. He has been a consultant, arranger, and teacher of many championship drum corps, including the North Star, Reading Buccaneers, Boston Crusaders, and the Cadets of Bergen County.

Sample Lessons on Berklee Shares

Samples from this title are available on Berkleeshares.com, where you can download free music lessons and share them with your friends.

• Advanced Reading Study for Drummers (PDF lesson)
  
• Intermediate Reading Study for Drummers (PDF lesson)
  
• Beginner Reading Studies for Drummers (PDF lesson)
  

Also by Dave Vose

Drum Studies: Concepts, Reading, Phrasing, and Technique