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Mel Bay's First Lessons Drumset (Paperback + CD + DVD) Review

Star Ratings: Teaching Effectiveness: Styles Covered: Features: Ease of Use: Formats of Supplied Materials: Customer Support: Value for Money: Editor's Overall Rating:

Cost

• $14.95 on Amazon.com. Includes free shipping on total orders over $25.

Features:

• Multimedia course, containing a 32 page book, a CD and a DVD.

• Step-by-step lesson book, with chapters on introductory topics including:
• • Understanding notes.
  • The staff.
  • The drum set.
  • The drum stick.
  • Grips.
  • Strokes and dynamics.
  • Note values.

• Audio CD containing:
• • Played examples of the drum patterns from the book.
  • Metronome tracks at 13 different speeds.
  • Play-along track.

• 25 minute video DVD.

Editor's Verdict:

Mel Bay's First Lessons Drumset is one of the simplest and most stripped-back drum tuition courses on the market. Designed for absolute beginners, the book introduces such topics as setting up the drum kit and reading music notation. Basic music theory is also explored, and the topics are then related to the drums and their performance. This provides a useful introduction to music, as well as setting up the essential knowledge required for playing any musical instrument. The pace of the lessons is fairly slow, and the material is very limited, encouraging the learner to practice each topic in detail. All of this means that the book is very suitable for children, particularly those for whom drums is their first experience of musical performance. However, any other person is likely to soon get bored with this slow and simple approach.

The book has been designed well for young children, with very large printing of the musical notation - particularly useful if it is a child's first experience of it. Another useful touch is the set of metronome tracks on the CD, allowing the player to select one of a number of speeds to practice along to. The CD also contains examples of the patterns contained in the book, which is again an essential addition for those who have no previous experience reading rhythms. Altogether, it has been put together quite well for the target audience.

The main weakness of Mel Bay's First Lessons Drumset is its limited scope and length. Whilst there are several introductory topics covered, the course never progresses onto anything more than these. There is a play-along track on the CD, but other courses may contain several or even dozens. There is a twenty-five minute lesson DVD, but many other courses contain several hours of video material. If you are looking for a new hobby to keep you occupied, this drum course will soon leave you looking for further material.

If you are looking for an introductory tool for young children who have no previous musical experience, aspects of this package will likely prove useful. (Also available is a version of this product without the DVD, which is similarly packaged, so be sure you are buying the one you want.) However, for those who are more ambitious or who have even the slightest amount of previous musical experience, we would advise a more comprehensive course with more content.

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Review of Mel Bay's First Lessons Drumset (Paperback + CD + DVD)