Lessons


I love teaching. With 30+ years of teaching behind me, I think I'm getting the hang of it! I teach all levels from beginner to pro. With an emphasis on getting beginners on the drums and playing asap, I like to give the learner useful and fun things to practice that give them the power to jam with other musicians and express themselves musically. Even with the most simple skill set, a new student can do many fun and creative things.

While theory and reading are very important, so is learning to play by ear. It is the balance between the two that makes a great musician. Some students love to improvise and are afraid of reading. Others love reading and are afraid to improvise. Both are actually quite simple when explained the right way. I have a never ending catalog of exercises and tricks for all types of students to help them become well balanced musicians.

As well as demonstrating things on the drums I also pull out the bass or the guitar and jam along. It is so important to learn your roll as part of band and what better way to do that than jamming! Every beat I teach comes with a mini jam session so all my students get to understand how drums and bass work together to create a groove. I also enjoy learning songs of my students choosing so we can play them together. And if you are really unlucky, I may even sing them too..

VCE music students are also very welcome. I am very familiar with what it takes to do well in VCE music. I have guided dozens of students through the process in addition to scoring an A+ on my own VCE drum kit solo performance exam way back in 1994. I can also teach the AMEB syllabus, but reluctantly as I find heading straight to the VCE syllabus sooner much more beneficial.

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Lessons are available Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays between 3:30 and 8pm in Richmond. All enquiries to mr.timburnham@gmail.com or click the contact link to message.

LESSONS IN PDFs

After nearly 30 years of teaching drum kit, I have developed hundreds of exercises for students of all levels. Here are a few examples in PDF for you to enjoy.