Please review the following information that outlines all key area’s for Grade 1 to know and common topics that are questioned to help aid your musical understanding.
Symbols
There are three images above. These images are used to highlight the following:
- Image 1) Repeating symbols of the previous bar. If it has 1 diagonal line, this mean to repeat the previous bar only. Double diagnal line signifies to repeat the previous 2 bars of music.
- Image 2) Otherwise known as a Coda. Coda’s can be spread throughout anywhere throughout a piece of music and means that when you play to the end of the coda, to return back to the start and do the whole duration again once more. (Unless directly requested otherwise)
- Image 3) 4/4 time signatures. This simply informs the reader that each bar of music must equal to 4 counts, I.e., 1, 2, 3, 4.
BPM & Finding Song Speeds
Each piece of music you will see a marking in the top left hand corner which outlines how fast that song is meant to be played at. You can then use this information to change the modules on the drum kits themselves to match the correct speeds and get the students to play along. (BPM = Beats Per Minute).
Rest Periods & Subdivisions
As shown above, these symbols represent the various rest periods that you can find in the exam books. A rest period is simply a note that tells the reader to stop playing. Key facts:
- Rest periods for example 1 beat means you stop for 1 count.
- ‘What do you do if a rest period appears on a snare line, but there’s other sheet music present?’ This simply means to not play a snare, continue with other notes requested.
Key theory point to know for the technical exercises is how to correctly count notes. For example, as shown in this image there are 5 notes broken into different sub-divisions.
The first two note are crotchets which have a count of 1 each. I.e., 1, 2, 3, 4. Then the 3rd and 4th note that are connected by 1 tail is a quaver which is faster. (1/2 note. So those 2 would now count, 1+).
Therefore, this line reading: 1, 2, 3+, 4.
Sheet Music Placement
Please review the following image which outlines all major sheet music that you’ll see in Grade 1 for the drums.
If you feel confident in the information shown above, please click the button ‘mark as complete’ and move onto the next topic.
