Mad Beatz alum teaches his class an important lesson 🥁

Mr Greg Greer, instrumental music teacher at the Charter School for Arts & Sciences, and a 2021 alumni of Mad Beatz Philly's Emerging Teacher Training Program, teaches his 5th and 6th grade percussion class how to play with good technique. In this case, Mr Greer focuses on the difference between playing a legato stroke with focus on wrist flexibility (correct) versus playing a legato stroke from the arm, with stiffness in the wrists and grip (incorrect). Mr Greer bridges the comprehension gap crucial to effective teaching (from unknown to know) by likening the wrist-based legato stroke to dribbling a basketball.
After his students have demonstrated understanding of the wrist and how it remains flexible during the performance of legato strokes, Mr Greer continues by asking his students to move their wrists while counting through a legato 8th note drumming warmup (Warmup 1). This step in the learning sequence connects the feel of a proper legato stroke to the warmup itself, helping students internalize the counting sequence and muscle memory necessary to build good habits whenever they play drums or other percussion instruments.
Mad Beatz Philly thanks the Scattergood, Nelson, and Stockton-Rush Bartol Foundations for their support of our Emerging Teacher Training Program, which has engaged over 50 non-certified, emerging educators between the ages of 16-35 from Philadelphia communities since its start in 2017. Today, more than 30 alumni of Mad Beatz Philly's Emerging Teacher Training Program are making an impact in Philadelphia public, private, and charter schools and community centers, earning competitive wages and inspiring young drummers to explore their culture, creativity, and capacity for learning world-class musicianship skills.
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