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Every week we endeavor to bring you fun and interesting exercises on different percussion instruments. Some weeks we will have instrument-specific exercises that are intended more for individual practice.
This week, however, all of the exercises will be playable by all instruments at the same time. These can serve as fun exercises to play with your drum line or a percussion friend on two (or three or four) different instruments. Yesterday’s snare drum exercise focused on the single paradiddle and the three variations of shifting accents—which I call the inverted paradiddle, single mill, and alternating quad.
This exercise for two-mallet keyboard percussion uses the same sticking with ascending and descending scale patterns. As an added challenge, it quickly cycles through all twelve major keys. (Be careful on the final measure!) Enjoy!
Check back tomorrow! The remaining instruments to be featured this week will be: marching tenors, two-person bass drum splits, and timpani.