Basic Reading Page

While I tend to mostly use the Melody Rhythm Reading exercises these days (in the “Reading” lesson tab) to teach rhythmic reading, you may prefer this more traditional approach to teach students how to read the most common rhythms they need to know in 4/4 time. It starts out very simple, and progresses gradually up through sextuplets.

I first teach this page with natural sticking, because it is the most common sticking used in most method books.  With natural sticking, the right hand plays the strong beats of any given subdivision, and the left hand plays the weak beats. Natural sticking can be easier to learn than alternating singles because of its consistency, but for my drumset students, I like to teach alternating singles with this reading page as well in order to promote ambidexterity.

I eventually have my students read this page with no stickings written in, to demonstrate their comprehension of both sticking concepts.