Digbeets
Digbeets* - a collection of warm-ups and technique exercises with electronic backing tracks designed to help percussionists “dig” practicing a little more. PDF files and recordings of the backing tracks can be found below.
Are there any percussion techniques you’d like me to write a "Digbeet” about? Let me know in the form at the bottom of the page! And if you’ve found any of these useful, I’d love to hear about that too!
(or you can download individual pdf files below)
digbeet: Forgot the Foxtrot
(16th note timing, Accent-tap, and Double Beat builder)
Written to facilitate the learning of “Echo Gamma Eight” (coming to my online store soon)
Both “Echo Gamma Eight” and “Digbeet: Forgot the Foxtrot” were written as a part of my “Compose 31 Pieces of Music in 31 Days” Challenge in March of 2022. Each were written in one day. I chronicled the challenge on YouTube with a video every day of March 2022 (At least at the time of writing this, I had anyway….It’s currently March 25th. Fingers crossed for the rest of the month!)
Digbeet - 7/8 Q3
(7/8 time signature and quarter note triplet builder)
This exercise introduces the concept of the 7/8 time signature using the 2-2-3 accent pattern, as well as establishing comfort with playing quarter note triplets.
7/8 Q3 was written to reinforce the rhythmic skills necessary the “The Great Divide”, a percussion ensemble commissioned for the Pea Ridge High School Percussion Ensemble. It is available for purchase in my online store.
Digbeet - db16g
(double beat and 16th note grid builder)
This exercise helps build double beat muscle memory and introduces accents in a basic 16th note grid. These two concepts are incredibly important to all percussionists.
db16g was written to reinforce the skills necessary for Security Breach, a percussion ensemble commissioned for the Pea Ridge Middle School Band. It is available for purchase in my online store
Digbeet - 16-NT FB
(16th note timing and flam rudiment building exercise)
This exercise helps develop the timing of 16th notes and rests, as well as the the following Flam rudiments, Flam, Flam Tap, Flam Accent, and Pataflafla.
16-NT FB was written to reinforce the skills necessary for Awakening Storm, a percussion ensemble commissioned for the Pea Ridge Middle School Band. It is available for purchase in my online store.
Where did “Digbeets” come from?
*The name “Digbeets” came from a conversation during a family Thanksgiving meal a few years back. Somehow my brother mentioned that he always liked the name “Sebastian Digby” for a son, and at the time I was trying to come up with the name for my sheet music publishing company. (Which eventually became “Yellow Envelope Publications”) I really liked the ring of it and after some googling and chatting with my brother I adjusted the spelling to Digbee in hopes of less confusion. That night I bought the domain for digbeemusic.com. After thinking about it, I thought that Sebastian Digbee being a made up person who didn’t have an existing musical presence was no better than simply going with “Drew Morris Music”. I eventually abandoned using Digbee as a company name, but at some point I thought of writing technical exercises to accompany percussion ensembles in my catalog, and instead of simply calling them “technical exercises”, I decided to call them Digbeets, in honor of my almost-company name, my brother’s awesome taste in baby names, and because I thought it had a nice ring to it.
I’m considering packaging these into a book once I write a few more. They would still be available for free on my website, but if I printed them up in book format, is that something you might be interested in purchasing?