Rhythms & Rests: Auxiliary Percussion Book

Erickson resists the temptation to isolate rhythm study from musicality. By anchoring every drill in a full band arrangement, students practice not in a vacuum but within actual ensemble contexts, which means the rhythmic challenges stick because they're wrapped in real music. The emphasis on rests and mixed meters (5/8, 7/8) addresses gaps that many standard method books leave unexamined.

Focused and building. Each unit compounds in difficulty, moving from foundational rhythmic concepts through increasingly complex meters while maintaining the sense that every drill serves a purpose. The band arrangements at each unit's end offer release and musicality after concentrated technical work.

Percussion students in concert band who need grounded, systematic work on rhythm reading and rest interpretation. This book serves players from middle school through early high school who are ready to move beyond simple 4/4 and 2/4 patterns.

• Count rests aloud during prep drills before moving to silent counting; students who can articulate the silence build clearer internal pulse control.
• Use the etude-as-duet option to pair stronger players with developing ones, creating peer reinforcement without singling anyone out.
• Approach the changing eighth-note rhythms gradually across multiple rehearsals; introducing 5/8 and 7/8 through isolated drills first, then applying them in the full band piece, prevents cognitive overload.
• Have students mark their parts with circled rests during prep work so they see silence as an active choice, not a gap.

Integrate one unit per rehearsal cycle so that students encounter a new rhythmic concept, work through related drills over 2-3 rehearsals, and then experience it in context with the full band arrangement. This sequence works well during the fall concert season when band is learning a varied repertoire that may include contemporary pieces with irregular meters.

• Reading and interpreting rests of varying durations (whole rests, half rests, quarter rests, eighth rests)
• Performing rhythms in mixed meters (5/8, 7/8, and other non-standard time signatures)
• Maintaining ensemble pulse while navigating changing eighth-note patterns
• Independence and control as a duet partner
• Transferring isolated rhythm patterns into full ensemble performance