We are excited to announce a brand new book+CD project entitled FIVE MINUTE DRILL by Ralph Hicks & Eric Rath. The book is a series of small exercises for practice pad and mallet keyboard that combine to form 5-minute sequences, each of which is accompanied by custom-tailored play-along tracks on CD-ROM. It is designed for both teachers and students. The project was brought about by Hicks and Rath who, as band directors themselves, recognized a lack of attention to daily fundamentals for many young classroom percussionists.
The focus of the book is on the students having fun while practicing and playing along to the stylized audio tracks. Each exercise has play-along tracks at 3 different tempos to choose from, and there is plenty of variety!
The book goes hand-in-hand with the popular Hicks/Rath compilation Beyond Basic Percussion, which provides 10 beginner level percussion ensembles that target various obstacles that face young players but in a musical way.
