Percussion Night At Frederick Community College

It doesn't get any better than this! 3 clinics. 3 artists. ALL FREE!!!
Greg Herron, Ray Sword and Frank Gonzalez will present many different topics on percussion and they will team up to perform a three movement chart by Armand Russell titled Percussion Suite. You will also get to see and perform with the FCC Percussion Ensemble.

This clinic is supported by Promark drumsticks, Music & Arts Center and Frederick Community College.

Percussion Ensemble Clinic to be held at Frederick Community College

Frederick Community College's Percussion Ensemble will be having a Percussion clinic open to all on March 20th, 2009 rom 6:30 - 8:30 pm.

Greg Herron, Percussion professor, and Ray Sword, private percussion instructor at Music & Arts, has teamed together to present a percussion ensemble clinic for all of those interested. The clinic will include a discussion, a demonstration by the college's percussion students and then an all out hands on for everyone.

There is no fee for this event. Just bring an open mind, pencil and paper.

Directions, Maps & Parking

Frederick Community College, 7932 Opossumtown Pike, Frederick, Maryland, 21702, is centrally located in the state and about an hour outside Baltimore and Washington, D.C. The modern campus is just minutes off several well-traveled thoroughfares.

From Baltimore: Follow I-70 from Baltimore to Frederick. Exit onto Route 15 north. Follow 15 north to Motter Avenue exit. Turn right onto Motter/Opossumtown Pike. Travel one mile and turn left at entrance to FCC.

From Washington: Follow I-270 northwest from Washington to the junction with I-70 and Route 15. Follow Route 15 north to the Motter Avenue exit. Turn right onto Motter/Opossumtown Pike. Travel one mile and turn left at the entrance to FCC.

From the west: Follow I-70 east from Hagerstown. Take the first Frederick exit to Route 40. Follow Route 40 east to Route 15 junction. Follow Route 15 north to Motter Avenue. Turn right onto Motter/Opossumtown Pike. Travel one mile and turn left at entrance to FCC.

From Anchorage: This obviously would be a really long drive so we suggest you fly instead. We encourage you to take classes online.

From San Francisco: Head east, otherwise you'll run directly into the Pacific Ocean. Depending on your route and sightseeing habits, allow 3 to 5 travel days. Credit classes are out of the question, so consider our one-time continuing education courses, art exhibits or concerts. An online class in Cultural Geography (GG 102) or History of the United States (HI 201), will broaden your travel experience.

See you there.

Ray Sword
Drum Instructor @ Music & Arts

New Official Alternate Mode Kat Percussion Online Dealer

Badassdrumming.com is now an official dealer online for Alternate Mode KAT Percussion products. We continue, at Badassdrumming to bring you the best available products and keep you up to date in your craft. Drumming is always changing and music is always changing. So be prepared. Check out the new line of KAT Percussion now. Click the banner to see this incredible line of products.

Students are EXCITED with their drum lessons.

This past Friday's and Saturday's drum students had their lessons on the new Simmons SD5K Drum Kit for the first time. You should have seen the their reactions!!!

None of them wanted to leave!!! Even the two 6 yr. olds wanted to stay and practice more. Every student got lost in time because they were having so much fun learning. Each one thanked me for bringing in a drum set that is so much fun to play on.

We, as teachers, need to look at what keeps a student interested in learning. If you don't keep it exciting they leave quickly. I say to each teacher out there to evaluate what and how you teach. I say this as help to you if you are losing students or not getting more students. I have parents that drive 40 miles one way just to bring their child to lessons. WHY? Because that child begs to be at lessons.

I here some say that they won't start a student any younger than 9 or 10 years old. Why? Teaching styles may be a little different to each age group but I see better progress while they are younger. I don't worry about them learning to read yet at 6, 7 or 8. I can put that in once they start understanding spoken language and can spell decently.

If you want help to teaching younger students contact me and I'll be glad to help you with methods that work.

Kenneth "Ray" Sword Jr

Drum Lesson Studio coming to Frederick, MD

High Tech Drum Lesson Studio coming to Frederick, MD

Just imagine ... you show up for your drum lesson, enter the practice room and sit down to an electronic kit that can be tailored to the sounds needed for the lesson. From 80's pop sounding toms to a coctail jazz kit to a kit tuned for the Dave Matthews Band style songs or for Contemporary Christian Rock. Whatever sound you need we most likely have it.

Need to practice a tympani part for your school program? Got it covered here. Plus, with the Aux. Input for mp3's and other tunes playback devices AND the built in songs bank, you have many songs and styles ready to practice to.
Just pop it in hit play and you play along with it. If you are using the song bank that is included with this kit you can silence the drumtrack and you play along and hear yourself with the band.

Once we have this track thing established your next step will be to be recorded. I will be growing your chances of fast advancement with all the high tech tools available. In the coming months audio and video recordings of the students lessons will be incorporated into the lesson plan. This gives the student the opportunity to have on record what the lesson plan was, what things we worked on to fix technique and so on. They will be able to see, without a doubt, what was covered in the lesson and what is expected to be ready for the next lesson.

Come and check it out. I'm located at Music & Arts Center on W. Patrick St right across McDonald's and Giant Eagle on Rt. 40 in Frederick, MD. I have available time slots for students on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for the moment. Contact the store for specific times available @ 301.694.0007. Lessons are contracted on a monthly basis.

Ray Sword

Badassdrumming site is up on the new server

Hello all,

We are in the process of getting the site up on the new server and hope to have register and login functions working within the next 48 to 72 hours. There are drummer profiles that are accessible right now and a few other pages.

If you find something not working feel free to report it so we can get right on it.

Hoping that 2009 will be your best year yet.

Kenneth Ray Sword Jr
www.badassdrumming.com

Attention Drummers ...

Attention Drummers. Ray Sword is upgrading the drum lesson studio starting January 16th. Drum set lessons will be taught on the new Simmons SD5K Electronic Drum Kit.



Now you can pop on the headphones, slip in your favorite tunes via, CD, MP3 or other formats and be able to play along and hear yourself playing with the songs of your choice. Due to Simmons CD Input feature now you can enjoy learning while playing along and hear yourself in with the mix. Plus, the 30+ yrs. experience Ray Sword has in playing and teaching learning just got alot easier.

Ray Sword teaches at Music & Arts Center on W. Patrick St. in Frederick, Md on Friday, Saturday and Sunday currently. Lessons are contracted monthly. All drums and percussion are taught. Ages of students from 6 yrs to 60+.

Also, for those that bought a drumset from Music & Arts AND received a 2 Free Lessons Certificate may come in and have those lessons on the Simmons Electronic Drum kit with Ray Sword on Friday, Saturday or Sunday only.

Future plans are to offer recording of student lessons (for a nominal fee) and to expand to videos of the lessons thereafter. Watch for news updates of things to come.

Frederick Community College is looking to expand it's percussion ensemble. If you are a pro or amateur it's all good. See Mr. Herron in the Music Dept. of FCC for more details.