Vic Firth's & Zildjian's Education Resource Libraries: Free Digital Percussion Learning For The Ages

      While Drumeo and Pocket Percussion Teacher are solid, trustworthy percussion education resources in their own right, they absolutely pale in comparison to the flair, functionality and usefulness of Vic Firth's and Zildjian's Education Resource Libraries.

     From my own personal experience as both a public school and private lesson percussion educator, I strongly recommend both music educators and students utilize both education resource libraries in the following sequence (starting from the very top boxes and progressing towards the bottom of these rows and columns):

     By sequencing music educator and student learning of both libraries as shown above, it helps everyone hone in their percussion learning to not only be more well-rounded between different percussion instruments, but to also start everything on a basic premise before moving towards the more intermediate and advanced concepts that build off percussion fundamentals as well.

     These two specific free percussion education resources ensure that music educators--whether a band director, percussion ensemble director, or in any other music-related position--"... feel that such resources broaden the scope of content and skill areas in which [their students] must become/remain proficient" (Alaniz & Wilson, 2015, p. 24).

And did I already mention that both of these education resource libraries are completely FREE?!

     It's 21st Century digital resources like these prove that "the days of the static paper textbook are numbered..." (Richardson & Mancabelli, 2011, p. 140).  As music educators, it's time for "each one of us [to] make a commitment to change, to learn, and to expand our own conception of what teaching and learning and schooling looks like" (Richardson & Mancabelli, 2011, p. 141).  Without this commitment, we are committing our faculty, staff, students, and ultimately ourselves to stop belonging, growing and succeeding in school and beyond for ages to come.

References

Alaniz, K., & Wilson, D. K. (2015b). Naturalizing Digital Immigrants: The Power Of Collegial Coaching For Technology Integration. Rowman & Littlefield.

Richardson, W., & Mancabelli, R. (2011). Personal Learning Networks: Using the Power of Connections to Transform Education (3rd ed.). Solution Tree.

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Well, that's all for now, my musers!  

I wish you all many happy finds of educational resources to review and use in the very near future!

Pocket Percussion Teacher: A Proper Breakdown of a Free Percussion Resource

 

(PocketPercussionTeacher.com, 2020)

     If Drumeo should be considered a great starting point for all music educators and students to freely learn about drumming on a Drumset, Practice Pad or Snare Drum, I strongly believe that Pocket Percussion Teacher is the next logical step to take on one's Percussion Learning Journey.

    While Pocket Percussion Teacher does not cover any Percussion Instruments Technique whatsoever, it does, however, freely present a multitude of great materials on the following:

• Arpeggio Project
• Audio Education (Electronic Percussion)
• Basic Rudimental Drumming Exercises
• Basic Two-Hand & Four-Hand Keyboard/Mallet Exercises
• Beginning Percussion Music
• Flam Rudiment Development
• Four Measure Melodies
• Keyboard/Mallet Instrument Sight-Reading Exercises
• Major Scales Jam Tracks
• Middle School Snare Drum Warm-Up Sequences
• Percussion Instrument Solo Demonstrations
• Rudimental Drumming Exercises
• Understanding Major Scales

     I love the fact that everything listed above can be easily viewed on its website through a Computer, Phone and/or Tablet Device thanks in large part to its heavy use of a Digital Metronome, MP3 tracks and Music Notation via PDF Documents.

     In addition to holding down a great website, Pocket Percussion Teacher's Creator, Mr. Robbie Green, has produced a fantastic Pocket Percussion Teacher YouTube Channel that features videos related to all of the above materials plus also has up-to-date videos with concert percussion ensemble, drum corps, marching band music as well.  Robbie Green even shows everyone how to use Microsoft PowerPoint to translate Real-Time English Language Speech into Subtitled Multi-Language Captions to assist ESL Students in their English Language Learning!

    While not exactly an "End-All-Be-All" Percussion Resource to answer all things percussion, Robbie Green has still done a phenomenal job in building up a FREE percussion resource that provides Students of All Ages and Music Educators of All Experiences with 21st Century technological tools that "guide and support teachers in using Internet-based and hybrid learning platforms, digital content, and collaborative learning systems to reinforce and expand student learning" (Alaniz & Wilson, 2015, p. 61).  As a result, I strongly believe that Pocket Percussion Teacher is a fulfilling educational resource that propels students to become computational thinkers, creative communicators, empowered learners, global collaborators, and knowledge constructors in the 21st Century in accordance with Student Standards of The International Society for Technology in Education (ITSE, 2024).

    With all that being said, don't just walk--RUN--on over to Pocket Percussion Teacher today and see for yourself without a doubt what it's all about!🏃‍♀️‍➡️

References

Alaniz, K., & Wilson, D. K. (2015b). Naturalizing Digital Immigrants: The Power Of Collegial Coaching For Technology Integration. Rowman & Littlefield.

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2024). ISTE Standards: For Students. ISTE. Retrieved November 15, 2024 from https://iste.org/standards/students.

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     Still in need of Multiple FREE Percussion Resources?!  

     Then, stay tuned for my upcoming blog entry on Vic Firth's Education Resource Library!

DRUMEO: A Comparative Analysis of its Free Version vs. Paid Subscription Service Version

 

                                                    (Drumeo.com, 2024)

    As an official percussion educator since 2005, I have always prided myself on striving to not only continuously build up my own knowledge of percussion instrument maintenance, music notation, rudiments, and techniques, but find unique and fun ways to relay this same information back to my percussion students as well.

     Back in Late March 2020 during the early part of The COVID-19 Lockdown, I started to wonder what I could and would be able to do percussion-wise in an isolated state at home with my wife and young daughter at the time.  With my family's blessing, I was able to research and review multiple Drumming-Related Applications, Websites and YouTube Channels to see what I could download, print out, save, and/or screenshot for my personal learning and academic use with the goal of "...expanding the learning experiences of every student" (Alaniz & Wilson, 2015, p. 61).

Enter: Drumeo.

     Not only did I find the Drumeo Website to be very eye-catching, but their social media platforms presence on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube Channel to be just as cool as well.  For three straight years, I only used their free drumming resources as they became available and made sure to follow-up and follow-through on any free brand-new materials as they were released.

That all changed in October 2023.

     At that point in time, Drumeo was offering a Special Bundle Pack that included One-Year Access to Drumeo's Paid Subscription Service, a pair of Drumeo Drumsticks, a Drumeo Drum Pad, and a Drumeo Drum Stand for $200.  Given how much I knew each of these items costed by themselves, I felt like that I couldn't pass up the chance to see everything Drumeo was about--especially when my Percussion Ensemble Class could benefit from experiencing some of its features in-class.

(Musora.com, 2024)

So what exactly are the differences between The Free Version and Paid Subscription Version?  

     I think the best way to see would be to table everything Drumeo:

    As you can see for the most part, you are paying Drumeo for yearly access to learning how to play Drums, Guitar, Piano and Singing through Musora that includes multiple courses that allow you to comment on videos; perform full instrument workouts with music notation and play-along tracks; message multiple musicians; and play along to popular songs transcribed for multiple instruments.

    Between October 2023 and October 2024, here are the official Drumeo Method Statistics that I was able to amass in a year's time of watching, listening and practicing with its Paid Subscription Service:

                                                      (Drumeo.com, 2024)

     After trying to figure out what to make of the above for a whole year, I'm not sure that Drumeo's Paid Subscription Service tallied my stats as accurate as it could have over that same length of time.  I know for sure that I had completed more than 3 Total Minutes of Practice Time--whether it was all done on my Laptop or Phone Device while I drumming on my drum pad, drumset or snare drum--but alas...I also know that I was not into commenting on too many of the videos as most paid subscriber comments on these same Drumeo Videos I watched, listened and practiced to were neither constructive nor relevant to the drumming work at-hand.

References

Alaniz, K., & Wilson, D. K. (2015b). Naturalizing Digital Immigrants: The Power Of Collegial Coaching For Technology Integration. Rowman & Littlefield.

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     Overall, do I think that Drumeo's Paid Subscription Service is worth its $200+ Annual Cost?🤔

NO!🚫

     In my eyes, The Free Version of Drumeo on YouTube already offers 24 Hours-A-Day/7 Days-A-Week/365-Days-A-Year Access for percussionists of all ages and experience levels to dive hands-first into 1,800+ High-Quality Drumset, Practice Pad and Snare Drum Videos without paying a single dollar.💵

And that, to me, makes Drumeo an essential 21st Century Digital Percussion Resource and Tool for Percussive Excellence!🏆

**Just know going in with Drumeo, that you will be limited to exclusively watching and interacting with Drumset, Practice Pad and Snare Drum-Related Videos that do not cover anything with Keyboard/Mallet Instruments or Auxiliary Percussion Instruments such as the Concert Bass Drum, Hand Drums, and The Triangle.**

     With all that being said, are ya'll ready to read up on a FREE Percussion Resource that includes Keyboard/Mallet Instrument Materials?!  Then, stay tuned for my upcoming post on Pocket Percussion Teacher!

Inspecting Technology Integration Innovation at Albemarle County Public Schools

 

(Edutopia.com, 2015)

Hola, musers!🙋‍♂️

     It's that time again--time for celebration of technology integration! 💻📱

     In the case of the Albemarle County Public Schools System, there is a great influx of innovation being spread across their district in how they support their educators through providing proper professional development, authentic learning assistance for engaging students, and best technology practices between educators and students alike via different facets of technological knowledge and skills (Edutopia.com, 2015).

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     In watching through the entirety of the Albemarle County Public Schools YouTube Video shown above, it becomes very apparent that their instructional coaches do a lot of work behind the scenes of not only helping their educators work on creating effective lesson plans, but also strongly encourage their educators to critically think through the "how" and "why" of what they are teaching on-site with their participating students, faculty and staff as well (Edutopia.com, 2015).

(Edutopia.com, 2015)

     Through the utilization of a robust instructional coaching network, the Albemarle Public Schools System is able to cover all of their twenty-seven schools with twenty-four instructional coaches that work across at least three different schools (Edutopia.com, 2015).  

     The instructional coaches get together with their school educators to figure out what they need and what they want to achieve in their classrooms over the course of a given school year.  This network of instructional coaches, in turn, collaborate with one another to share the work of their educator pairings and to further infuse technology resources and tools as integral parts of learning units through project-based learning.  Usually, this is all achieved through lesson plan modeling and on-site educator observations to provide proper real-time educator feedback (Edutopia.com, 2015).  

     All-in-all, the Albemarle Public Schools System ensures that all five phases of The Collegial Coaching Model For Technology Integration are followed up and followed through by their instructional coaches and corresponding educators: Establishing The Need; Creating Partnerships; Targeting Differentiated Projects; Assessing The Progress; and Reflecting On The Integration (Alaniz & Wilson, 2015, p. 37). 

References

Edutopia. (2015, September 18). Instructional Coaching: Seeding District-Wide Innovation. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0IrZ5jrvCo

Alaniz, K., & Wilson, D. K. (2015). Naturalizing Digital immigrants: The Power Of Collegial Coaching For Technology Integration. Rowman & Littlefield.

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     Well, my musers, that's all I have at the moment!  I hope all of your school programs can integrate 21st Century technology through effective means as seen nationwide in programs like that of Albemarle County Public Schools--in due time through due diligence.  Until then, feel free to discuss in the comment section down below how your school programs are doing with technology and what kinds of approaches your schools are taking to empower educators and students alike towards a much brighter future.