THE EAST COAST DRUMHOOD 鼓村

Performance for this Friday

2012-02-08T23:25:00.001+08:00

Practice makes Perfect !

2012-01-25T05:29:00.000+08:00

Did you notice that there have been some changes made on the blog ? Towards achieving my goals and resolutions for 2012 in Drumhood , i've now created a training guideline for all new and existing drummers to learn, practice and coach during my absence in training. Now, regardless whether there is a coach during training or not OR whether you're at training, at school or even at home, you still can practice your drum skills! Really ...? Where...?

As you can see, there are two different pages up there where one is for Newbies and Beginner drummers while the other is for intermediate drummers and trainers. Both pages outlines what every drummer have to do when you come for practice. Practice for all members should follow their respective training cycle diligently. By doing this, drum training can be more independent and every drummers should be able to assess how good their skills level are. Even when there is no training at school, drummers can still practice at home and if you feel you have finished the whole training program , you can request for exam to advance into the senior group（秋冬）.

So, I hope everyone who reads this blog will start their own practice to improve at your own pace while seniors and trainers should also start to follow this system diligently. Also, please let the new members know about our drumhood blog and join us as our followers !

Just to let you all know, i'll be coming for training practice on 3rd February 2012. Hope to see you all there yeah ! Last but not least , Drumhood would like to take this opportunity to wish all drummers and fans a Happy Chinese New Year and Gong Hei Fatt Choy !

2012 New Year Present

2012-01-13T22:46:00.008+08:00

A very big thanks to our headmistress Pn.Lim and SP Setia Builder Of Distinction.Pn. Lim helped us to find SP Setia Foundation to sponsor us 24 new drums and drum stands.Here's some preview of the new drums.

Attention* There's some dented parts on the drum due to transportation accidents.

We will not use the new drum until we have fully nailed the pipes under the drums.

Adrian

Performing Costume

2012-01-05T08:00:00.000+08:00

Pn. Yeo is asking me to design our new drum costume again and this time i like to hear from you for any ideas you like our drum costume to have for 2012. I thought about it and i think this year's costume design should be based on these few criteria :

1. Designs must display the identity or relates to :
a. School's identity. Eg: CHWS logo, school mascot etc.
b. Drums
c. Malaysian Chinese Culture
d. futuristic

2. All designs are only restricted to these three(3) different colours only.
a. Red
b. Blue
c. White

Try to think out of the box for the design of the whole costume. If you have any designs to post up, you can post in our facebook group page for viewing. Also, all comment for ideas to contribute for the costume designs are welcome ~

Attracting New members

2012-01-01T13:21:00.000+08:00

Here's a video i found on youtube recorded from Tsun Jin High school showing how the drummers from their club attract new students to join their drum team. Any ideas on how we can attract more new students to our school drum team ? or Maybe we can make a similar video like this and post it on youtube. Then, print leaflets to be pasted around the school for students to follow and watch on youtube?

2011 Review and 2012 Resolutions

2011-12-31T11:59:00.000+08:00

Dear Drummers,

It has been an exciting year for both Drumhood and CHWS drum team. Looking back to what we have achieved in 4 years, we have made some good progress in developing good drumming skills and performance quality in comparison to the drum team's level back in 2008. Ever since drumhood started 4 years ago, our drum team had transformed from a drum team that only play drums to a more structured drum team which follows a proper training system. We also had develop several drum choreograph pieces for performances. Another good news is that we're having a new batch of 24 lion drums sponsored by SP Setia Foundation for the first time after such a long wait. Despite all this, i strongly feel that both drumhood and CHWS drum team are still progressing at a much slower pace if we compare with other drum teams from other schools.

Reason being, we have a few setbacks or problems when comes to a proper drum training. I believe everyone knows clearly the problems the drum team is currently facing and we need to do something fast in order to bring the drum team to higher achievements. Before i say anything further, let's not have any finger pointing to find faults in anyone instead let's start to think on how to improve the drum team and give your support where ever that is needed. Therefore in 2012 , here are my resolutions for our drum team next year:

a. Coaching system

- As you all know that i couldn't always be there to coach you but it doesn't mean that i can't coach you - which is why drumhood was created to help you develop your drumming skills during my absence. In 2012, i will come out more training videos for all respective drummers to follow. Drumhood next year will produce two different pages for training that caters to new drummers and existing drummers. In order to achieve this, i will also need more members to be drumhood's blogger. Any interested members from the drum team can let me know by emailing me at phyxius83@yahoo.com

b. Training System

- The core of the drum team's achievements depends strongly to our training system.

Mop floor with your hands >> warm ups >> wrist training >> Piece performance training

Regardless whether the team have time or not, this training system should be followed strictly and never be abandoned or skipped for the sake of your performances. In order to make sure this is being done properly, i will need the elder members of the team to always ensure the training for members are implemented diligently.

c. 2012 观摩赛

- I've received news that 2012 观摩赛 will be held in June 2012 and i believe if the training is followed diligently we will be able to join for this competition. In order to make this happen, i will start posting videos for piece performance training starting January 2012 and expect to finish by end of March- leaving another 3 months of full training. A timetable training will be tabled next week for the elder members to follow.

d. New members

- We need New members to join our drum team and my next blog will give the elder members some ideas on how to do this. i will also discuss with Pn. Yeo and some elder members to find ways to do this as well.

So, there you go ... These are my 4 resolutions for 2012 in CHWS drum team and i hope you all will also give your full support in making these 4 resolutions a reality in 2012. Thank you.

As 2011 has now reached to an end , i wish you all Happy new year and keep up that drum spirit in 2012 !!!!

Back From Exams.

2011-11-14T22:29:00.002+08:00

Sorry for not updating the blog so long.These past few moths,a lot of school exams are going on.Now what is left is SPM.Wishing all the SPM examiner good luck.So now our training season will be back except Form 5s.Last Friday we are back for training.We warmed up and trained some old pieces to get our hands to warm back.After that we train for the piece that Abraham gave us during last holiday.After that we think up some new beats so that we can make our piece more interesting.Next friday I'll snap some photos or video and post up to blog.

Adrian.

Beat Accents - Part 2

2011-10-04T09:18:00.000+08:00

If you find the previous exercise for beat accents was easy, now try these beats :

A.) Accent on 1st beat

B.) Accent on 2nd beat

c.) Accent on 3rd beat

d.) Accent on 4th

e.) Accent on 5th

e.) Accent on 6th

g) Accent on 7th

h.) Accent on 8th

How was it...? Easy or Hard doesn't really matter as long you keep on practicing hard. Have fun and more to come.

Abes

Beats with Accent Practices

2011-09-28T09:36:00.001+08:00

In drumming, if there is no accent in your beats, the drum beats you're playing will sound normal and boring. Playing accent beats is about knowing when to play the loud beats and soft beats which will result your beats to sound different from the typical beats you've been playing and creates a sequence of dynamic beats in your drum songs. Sounds hard to comprehend but you'll understand when you watch the videos here. So, here's some basic videos i've made on how to learn to practice beats with accent.

If you find these accent beats are easy, stay tune for the next level of accent beats on my next post.

Regards,
Abes

Final beat for the previous August Training

2011-09-12T23:18:00.001+08:00

As promised, here's the final beat for the training in August. Check it out ~

Don't worry if you still don't know how to play it, because i made a slower version video for you to learn as well. Take your time to play the beat until you can play as fast as the video above.

For those who are already good at the beat, try to play the beat with shouts !

Enjoy,
Coach

Training Review on 28th - 30th August 2011

2011-09-05T11:15:00.002+08:00

Our previous 28th - 30th August 2011 training was quite successful and i'm still happy even though the team was not trained with full attendance from the members but those who came for the training loved what they had achieved in the end of the 3 day training.

Below are the 2 videos i have taken for your own review so that you would know whether you're playing the beats right or wrong or your movements were different or not.

Now, here's your homework before my next visit :

1. Always remember that our practice is not just about drumming. Follow the system i've given you. Mop floor >> warm up (1 hour with all that Godlike stretching exercises)>> Drumming AND Kneeling (15 mins with catch the star exercise) >> drumming after lunch break.

2. Practice this piece and add the final beats which i have taught you on the last day of the training. Those who didn't get to see it that day can learn it from my next video blog which will be updated in a few days later.

3. Practice on "A" more often as we going to finish bridge the whole ABC piece this year !!! Dun forget to practice the "Leg" part as well....

That's all for now.

Coach.

Malam Amal Pancaragam Swadaya

2011-07-20T20:25:00.006+08:00

On 16th July. 11 of us(Rong Cheng,Yi Xun,ZhenChang,Yu Hong,Brandon,ChiaHui,Shi Xuan.Yi Jen,Lih Min,XingXin and Khangding)was involved in this performance.That night,Khang Ding was badly ill.But he still performs.Cheers to him!I also heard a lot of praises from my friends,teachers,headmistress and our parents.This proves that we are improving.Keep up the good work team!Sorry for a low quality video and a bit of snapshots only.I was scolded by the audience beacause i blocked them.But i was able to record the video.

While the performance.

Band performance.

The video

Did you guys know that only our performance was enjoyed quietly by the audience.I am very proud of you all.=)

Proud to be a drummer.

Adrian

9th July's Performance.

2011-07-11T19:41:00.003+08:00

In this new performance,we learned a lot of things and tried out something that is new.That is mixing our drum beats with Malay and Indian drum beats.Its's quite hard but we over come this problem.The mix makes a very nice beat.Hope we can cooperative with them again next time.Enjoy the snap shots below.

The hall.

8 of us. =)

The indians

On the truck.

Some preview on the truck.=)

i'll update the blog again very soon after i get the pics and repots for the coming performance.

Adrian

Sorry for the delays.

2011-07-08T21:13:00.003+08:00

I am very sorry that i delayed the update for the blog everybody.We're having a performance for tomorrow night due to Najib is coming.For the up coming performance for us is the School Band(Pancaragam Swadaya) concert.We have changed some of the actions of the piece to make it look better and fresher.Here's some snapshots for what we did this few weeks time.

Explaning what we did wrong on the practice.

While practicing.

Telling Yu Hong what is his mistake.

A bit of training for the leg parts.

Discussion between us for the perfromances coming.

Hope we did well in performances coming.All the best Gendang Ganggies!!Believe in yourself!

Adrian

Some Updates...

2011-06-15T10:18:00.000+08:00

Here are some updates on Drumhood:

a.) Drumhood is glad to announce that Mr. Adrian Chua has officially joined the drumhood blogging team and let us all welcome him with open arms. We're also expecting another blogger to join us but am still waiting for confirmation from Adrian regarding her participation. Having them joining the blogging team will help to be both my eyes and ears to understand and keep me updated about the team's current progress in CHWS so that i'll be able to gauge your skills and provide the most suitable training for you on my next visit.

b.) I personally think that the CHWS 24 drum team need a lot of physical training and rudiments training. For this particular reason i've came up videos for three(3) specific training.
i.) Warm-ups ( Basic )
ii.) Rudiments ( Basic & Intermediate )
iii.) Performing Movements ( Basic & Intermediate )
Basic videos will be out next week while the rest will be publish next month before my next visit for your next training.

c.) Now that holidays are over, did you all do some training on your own...? Anyways, here's what i did and maybe you guys can improve your skills by doing the same thing....

What we did on 5/27/2011

2011-06-02T23:16:00.006+08:00

Actually,after exam's holiday we(old members) planned to have a examination for the new members.But the bad news is our school band is using the hall due to their coach is back.So few of us(me,Yi Xun,Yu Hong,Khang Ding and Guanshen) planned to have a clean up for our drum room.

Band using the hall.

some pictures we took during the clean up.

it's kinda tired for 4 peoples to carry about 30 drums.

we also practiced our old piece like Kenny post on the Facebook like eg.天地,and malam bakat.

hope you all old members that did not attend this clean up,please update yourself with the leg parts below.thanks.

Adrian

Weekly Practice 06/05/2011 - For All members

2011-05-05T23:08:00.000+08:00

Here's a few things we need to change in our usual practice:

(1) From this week onwards, i think we should start having team names rather than just calling 新生，新旧生 & 旧生。 Instead of using these names, i would suggest :

新生 --> 新生 or Trainee
新旧生 --> B 组
旧生 --〉A 组

You guys might find this awkward but i think it's good to start adjusting to these new names from now on.

(2)Practice starts at 9 a.m. All members must bring your own notebooks and drum pads. If you don't have a drum pad, i suggest you must bring a thick book to use as a temporary drum pad.

(3) Our format of practice for all teams should follow a much proper and rigid system. That is:

a. Mopping the floors
b. Warm up
c. 手腕
d. Piece Training

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Warm - up section :
1。头部
-左右上下
-瞬时转，逆时转
2。肩膀
- 上停1个part , 下停1个part
- 向前转，向后转
3。胸部
- 左右前后
-自由移动
4。手部
-向前，向后摇摆
5。腰部
-左停，右停
-瞬时转，逆时转
6。胯部
-左右遥
7。压腿
-左右压
8。Split + 青蛙pose
9。Push up
- normal (10 reps) [ 手指向上]
- 手指向内（10 reps )
10。三角顶
11。 Child pose
end~

手腕 Set A :
1. Bounce 8 (left + right )
--> 8 parts
--> 4 parts
--> 2 parts
--> 1 part
2. Bounce 4
3. Double stroke [ RRLL RRLL RRLL RRLL ]
--> Here, you can try to double up .
4. Para Diddle [ RLRR LRLL ]
5. Reverse Para Diddle [ RLRR LRLL RRLR LLRL ]
6. RLRR LRLR LRLL RLRL
7. RLLR LRRL
8. RRLL R LLRR L
9. RRLRR LLRLL
10. RRLRR LLRLL RRLL RLL RLL
11. 三连音 Triplets [R RL R RL R RL R RL ]
12. 四连音
13. 4-2
14. 4-2, 4-4-2, 4-4-4-2
15. Shi Shi

教练上

旧生-脚part

2011-05-05T21:15:00.000+08:00

For the leg section, the senior group managed to develop 7 new beats and I hope the senior group will keep on practicing these 7 beats in order to be familiar with the beats and the flow of the rhythm. Last week, I've also discussed with Adrian about the flow of these 7 beats where we will start with :

A. Shi Xuan ( sorry for the accidental timing mistake when shooting the video )

B. Ren Zhang

C. You Feng

D. Suk Chin

E. Chia Hui

F. Xingxin

G. Adrian

Training update 22/4/11

2011-04-22T20:26:00.010+08:00

Breakdown of today's training session:

New members learned rudiments 1 to 5 and a bit of triplets
Old members practiced group A beats

I informed the new members about you conducting a training session next week. I told them training will start at 9 and end at 12. Next session begins at 1 and ends around 4 or 5. Quite a number of them could not make it for the afternoon session due to their tuitions etc.

I did not teach them Miyake because there's not enough drums for all of them and I think most of them will have a hard time coping up with it. Even some of the old members have some trouble with it.

As you requested, we recorded a video of the old members performing Group A beats. Basically I just called them to sit in the group A formation and everyone played the same beats. Haven't had much time to arrange their places due to lack of time and some of the old members were absent as they're attending prefect's camp. I guess I'll leave it to you to decide the formations when you train them next week.

Here's the video:

We'll be waiting for your updates. That's all so far. See you next week!

Kenny

Training Information - 29th & 30th April 2011

2011-04-17T21:57:00.000+08:00

For this coming training, here are some preparation i need you guys to do before , during and after this month's training.

For 29th April 2011
a. Before Training
- Give me an update on what the new students and old students have learned. Please let me know by this week. Thanks!
- Prepare a drum pad (if you have one) or a useless book for wrist training.
- Bring your own notebooks and pen please. Old students please prepare extra papers and pen just in case the new students forgot to bring.

b. During Training
- We'll start practice at 9 a.m till 5pm. As usual, wipe the floors and do warm ups first before i come and then i'll continue from there.
- New students will have breaks at 12pm sharp for lunch . Old students will have to stay for an extra 1 hour before going for their lunch break. For both new and old students, i suggest you guys have a light and quick lunch in order to maximize your training hours.
- Training Resumes at 1pm for New students while Old students will go for their lunch break and come back at 2pm and ends at 6pm. Old students will continue practice their piece malam bakat.

c. After Training
- A short meeting with the old students for review.

For 30th April 2011:

1. Warm ups

2. Wrist training
- will introduce 3 new sets of beats to practice.

3. Brainstorm session for ABC piece

4 Continue for ABC piece beats.

Abes

维中四宝

2011-04-12T20:03:00.000+08:00

相信大家都会很期待我这月尾会带来的练习。坦白说，我也一样的很期待也很想念你们这班鼓友。既然已经度过了自己的忙碌期，所以前几天也做了不少拍子的录影。我先会放些旧队员比较熟习的拍子，然后慢慢的放些新的。。。

今天，想介绍的拍子是我们的《维中四宝》. 听起来好陌生对吗？哪如果我说是《四大天王》，你们就应该懂了吧。把它改成《维中四宝》也是因为我觉得这名称比《四大天王》更贴切。这是因为这拍子只是在这鼓队历史可听到的。当然，你往往在其他地方会听到些拍子和《维中四宝》是有点相似；但我可以肯定它和《维中四宝》是完全不同的拍子。

给了它这名称，我就认为我应该负起这责任把它传教给你们。接手吧！

会打吗。。。？不会。。？没关系。。。我特地把整个拍子分成四个录影片~

大家加油！！！

教练上。

Miyake

2011-04-10T02:17:00.000+08:00

Recently，i'm doing some research on Japanese drumming so i thought of teaching you guys some of the beats that i've already know. One of the first Japanese beats that i've learned throughout my drumming career is Miyake. I know i have taught you guys about Miyake before but not sure how many of you guys still remember how to play Miyake? Anyway, Here's a slow version of learning Miyake.

Here's the normal tempo of playing the beat.

Hope you guys have fun !

Abes

YMM Terengganu Dinner Performance

2011-04-02T23:16:00.005+08:00

The team performed in conjunction with the YMM Terengganu 30th Anniversary Dinner on 25th March 2011 at CHWS primary school. 3 new members - Hwee See, Wei Jie and Yi Jun joined the performance.

Going out limteh together right after a performance at night has always been a tradition in this team. Everyone wanted to go without hesitation. Me, Jing Xiong and Guan Yih, brother of Guan Sheng drove all of them to Warung Cili Padi for supper. Even the teacher in charge, Madam Wee was shocked that all of them wanted to go as she was worried about their safety.

I told her it's not the first time anymore. Hah.

After that we had a good time chatting and joking around until midnight.

Last Friday (yesterday) there's no training session as many went for Cheng Meng. Anyways, training for all new and old members will resume next Friday. I guess that's all for today's post.

My final message to all 16 of you plus Evelyn and Sook Chin, the team are counting on you. You guys should start planning something for Malam Kebudayaan 2011. Good luck!

Kenny

Events so far..

2011-03-21T14:45:00.012+08:00

Thought of updating our blog with a simple post about some events in 2011. *Haven't blog for quite some time!*

February 11 : Danny Koo, our senior, now an Astro celebrity surprisingly visited us. Had lunch together and we had a great time with him. Too bad not everyone was back when this photo was taken. Anyway, we wish you all the best in your career, Danny!

February 24 : Sports Day 2011

Prior to the performance, I noticed that the team was in a state of panic due to the lack of time for practice. Fortunately, you guys coped well and managed to put out a good performance. I wished I was there to witness you guys but I couldn't as I was in KL for a camp.

March 14 - March 16 : Gendang camp 2011

First of all, congratulations to team 2011 for successfully organizing our annual camp. Although it was not perfect, but I can see that you guys are starting to show some of your creativity and leadership skills, especially while choreographing the new member's last day performance. Keep on with that.

There are still many things to improve eg. time management, discipline, and the food. Last year was ok but the I heard complaints about the food this year. Be sure to remember that everyone's paying and it's not cheap.

Many of you still need to gear up your self-confidence and ways of communicating ( towards new members eg. teaching) It's important that everyone understands what you want to say.

While teaching, be patient and sometimes you guys need to understand how the learners felt. Is your teaching boring? Is your message clear enough? I'm not boasting, but did you guys see how me, Zhuang and Jing Xiong teach? We make it clear what we wanted you to do.

One good thing you guys did for this camp is that training was not that packed as you guys managed to slot some games and activities for them. Keep up the good work and try to think more activities for them.

Please think about what I've said in this post. Everyone has to play their part. Remember that"NO ONE IS BIGGER THAN THE TEAM". There's an upcoming performance in CHWS primary this Friday. Please focus on that for now. Finally, for the ex-form 5 members including me, I wish you all good luck for this Wednesday's SPM results.

Kenny

Drumhood Blogger Wanted !

2011-02-28T19:15:00.001+08:00

To all old members or interested individuals out there :

Drumhood is looking for a potential blogger to continue provide you a better drumming experience ! Here are some of drumhood's requirements:

A. candidate must know how to use blogspot.com to write blogs, embed videos and pictures
B. Must at least possess an average proficiency in Both English and Chinese language.
C. Willing to spent time to do a phone meeting or emails with the coach on a weekly basis. ( Don't worry. I'll call you to save your money on calls. )
D. candidate must be staying in Kuala Terengganu as you are required to attend the practice session on Fridays.

Interested candidates can call me (0122369831) for more details.

Abraham