It is drumkit day with the Kerr Street Big band. Even after 2 years with them, I'm still sight reading half the music. My practice regime, besides the Big band, consisted of listening to big band music in the car on the way to practice. The link is below. 

What the keys to being a good sight reader?

1. You must be able to play your instrument at the level required for the situation you find yourself in. So everyday, I practice all my instruments: piano, vibes, and drum kit.
2. You need to practice sight reading. I became a great reader because as a youth I was too lazy to practice but I enjoyed reading music and making noise. (I can still remember being baffled from sharps and flats, so I would just skip the note!!!) My suggestion for improving is to practice sightreading with the metronome and audio recorder going. This will give you an idea of what group sight reading is all about. 
3. You need strong musicianship skills in ear training, theory, and lots of ensemble experience. For example, one way I am able to stay in place is my ability to hear the cadences line up with the rehearshal letters. The presupposes being able to hear chord progressions and knowing what a cadence is. 

My mallet practice consisted of major scales and broken chords, followed by voice leading through some tunes and then playing along with Emmett Cohen's version of Duke Ellington's Satin Doll. 

I started with the Dior warmup and then worked up this etude from "The All-American Drummer." At my current rate, I'll be done the book by the end of summer. I've been doing Rick's warmup virtually everyday for 18+months. Both my colleagues and I can hear the difference in my control, touch and confidence.  If you haven't had lessons with Rick yet, I highly recommend it. 

This afternoon I will spend time working on my bass drum work, the problem child.​

Mallet warmup. 
1. 12 major scales in 16ths quarter=70
2. 12 harmonic minor scales in 16ths quarter=70
3. Practice vibraphone key muting. 
4. 60 broken jazz chord 2 octave arpeggios, in 16ths quarter=70.
​5. minor ii V i rootless chord progressions. 
​6. Practice playing "Blue Skies" in various keys. 
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My drum set practice routine.

• I warmup with either Rick Dior or Jeff Randell online. 10 to 20 minutes.
• I practice a rudimental etude from Charlie Wilcoxon’s All-American Drummer or similar book.
• I practice repertoire from the band.
• I work on coordination exercises from a book like Carmen Appice’s Realistic Rock.
• I will sight read a pop song by playing along with its recording.
• I will often do a full or short transcription
• I finish the session by playing along with classic jazz recordings. 

I completed my jazz warmup ritual and then I dug into Rusty Burge's rootless chord strategy. 

Step 1: play 3rd/7th or 7th/3rd in the left hand with 2 mallets. 
Step 2: add 9ths and 5th or altered tones above with the other 2 mallets. 

Then I spent some times playing standards from memory. Now I'm off to the drum kit. 

1. Friday night rehearsal Upper Canada Brass Band
2. Saturday morning Kerr Street Big Band
3. Saturday night Upper Canada Brass Band concert
4. Sunday morning service with the Metropolitan Brass Band
5. Sunday afternoon doors open concert with the Metropolitan Brass Band

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Did my body hold up? No, it did not, so I won't do that again. At age 30 maybe I could have managed it, but at age 66 no way. And I'm in shape. But the fatigue made my mind foggy. 

Today's practice. 
It was a slow day because my upper back muscles are sore. I spent a few minutes reviewing the 4-mallet minor rootless voicings. Then I practiced some tunes for this summer's upcoming concerts in Muskoka. 

It will be a slow day for practice because this morning I'm playing in the Kerr Street Big Band, then teaching in Mississauga and finally performing tonight with Upper Canada Brass in Markham. Tonight besides my drum kit duties I have one vibraphone solo!
 
However, on the drive I will have the opportunity to listen to music. 

Count Basie, Live at the Sands
Buddy Rich, Big Swing Face
Modern Jazz Quartet with Sonny Rollins
Gary Burton with Chich Corea, Pat Metheny, Roy Haynes, and Sonny Rollins.

I believe that listening is practicing. So it will be a good day for practice.  

I changed it up today by working on ragtime and classical techniques from the books below. Then I went through 12 keys of major rootless voicings to a backing track at a moderate tempo. So far, so good. However, the rootless ii V i progressions are slow to stick in my old head. But, I'm not giving up. 

I finished by jamming with Wes Montgomery's version of Summertime. It has some groovy chords. ​

Today I'm warming up on major, dominant, and phrygian bebop scales. Then I practice the 60 jazz chords with a half step pick up. I will use a metronome to give me real time feedback of my timing precision. 
But mostly, I must practice drums becuase I have 3 drumming events and 2 rehearshals this weekend. 

Friday evening: Dress rehearsal with Upper Canada Brass
Saturday morning: Kerr Street Big Band rehearshal
Saturday evening: Upper Canada Brass concert
Sunday morning: Church service with the Metropolitan Silver band
Sunday afternoon: doors open concnert with the Metropolitan Silver Band

Sunday evening I will go to bed early. 

Holiday weekend and I took 2 days off. 

The challenge with a malletkat is playing it expressively. (This is note an easy task.) When I listen back to my practice recordings I can hear my expressive flatness, especially when playing unaccompanied. So, this week my quest is to play more expressively. 

Step 1: I set the minimum volume on the vibes to 6. This gives me more control at the lower dynamic level. 
Step 2: I spent some time playing the broken 60 jazz chords with a crescendo going up and a diminuendo going down. I did the same with scales. 
Step 3: I pulled out some easy classical piano pieces and focused on playing them expressively. I become more aware of the feel of the mallets at the softer dynamic. Did I succeed in playing more expressively? Sometimes. Tomorrow I will experiment with different mallets. 
Step 4: I jammed on Blue Moon

1. All melodic minor scales, 2 octaves
2. All major scales in 3rds, 2 octaves
3. 60, 2nd inversion broken jazz chords
4. Rootless voicings to tunes below. 
5. 2 octave arpeggios on C major7, C7, Cm7, Db major 7, Db7.
6. Ear training. I learned Afro Blue from the original recording. Corrected the key and the fake book melody.