Percussion instrument
In drum lessons you learn timing, grooves and a steady sense of time – from the very first beat to the feeling of playing in a band. Cuxhaven Music School is a public, non-profit music school in Cuxhaven-Ritzebüttel, run by FeMiC e.V. Lessons are open to children, teenagers and adults – whether you are starting out or coming back to music.
At the music school he gives individual and paired drum lessons for all ages and leads the Pop Instrument Carousel, in which primary-school children get to know the drums, percussion, keyboard, electric guitar and electric bass.
View Boris Moench’s profile →Children can start from around six or seven, often on a practice pad or a smaller kit at first. Electronic drums allow quiet practice with headphones and are a good solution in a flat in particular. Every child already brings a feeling for rhythm with them.
Boris Moench teaches all ages.
Whether drum lessons are also possible in a group is something we are happy to discuss when you get in touch.
Individual lessons cost from 69 € a month (children and teenagers) or from 83 € (adults). You will find all fees – including 45-minute lessons and lesson blocks – on our fees page.
The easiest way to request a free trial lesson is our contact form – choose “Drum kit” as the subject. You can reach the office by phone on 04721 666868 on Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 12 noon; the office is closed during the school holidays. You can also contact the teachers directly – their details are in the profiles on our teachers page.
You will find us in the historic Ritzebüttler Schule building:
Cuxhaven Music School · FeMiC e.V., Grodener Chaussee 11, 27472 Cuxhaven
The drum kit is the rhythmic engine of every band. One player works a whole set of drums and cymbals with hands and feet, setting the tempo and the feel.
The drum kit is an assembly of several drums and cymbals played by a single person with sticks and foot pedals. It supplies the pulse and the energy of the music and is the rhythmic engine of virtually every band.
The drum set emerged in the early twentieth century around the jazz of New Orleans, when individual percussion instruments were combined so that one person could operate them all at once – above all through the invention of the foot pedal for the bass drum. With swing, rock and pop the kit went on developing continuously.
A typical kit consists of a bass drum (with foot pedal), a snare drum, a few toms, the pedal-operated hi-hat and ride and crash cymbals. Striking a drumhead sets the stretched membrane vibrating; the cymbals are made of metal alloys. The tone colour of the heads can be adjusted with the tuning lugs.
Unlike a melodic instrument, the drums are tuned not to particular pitches but in relation to one another. The interplay of heads and cymbals produces a wide tonal range – from quiet brushwork to a powerful groove. Dynamics, the deliberate alternation of loud and soft, is a central means of expression.
On the drums all four limbs work together: both hands on the sticks, both feet on the pedals. Playing grows out of basic grooves, fills and a reliable sense of time. Fundamental sticking patterns – the rudiments – and reading rhythmic notation are part of the craft.
The drum kit is the backbone of rock, pop, jazz, funk and metal. It sets tempo and feel and holds the band together. Good drumming often goes unnoticed – but without it the music loses its drive.
An acoustic kit sounds alive and responds finely to every nuance, but it is loud. An electronic set takes up less room and allows quiet practice through headphones — ideal in a flat. Many players begin with a simple practice pad and a pair of sticks, since technique and timing can be learned superbly well there too.
The basic kit includes sticks of a suitable weight, a practice pad and a metronome to help develop a steady tempo. Because an acoustic set is loud, ear protection is advisable. Even ten to fifteen minutes of regular practice on the pad brings noticeable progress in hand and foot technique.
Rhythm is in everyone – which is why the first groove on the drums often comes surprisingly quickly and is immediately enjoyable. As the band’s engine you are indispensable when playing together and take a leading role. Technique and timing can be trained excellently on a simple practice pad alone, with no loud kit at all. Regular practice with a metronome develops the steady sense of time that holds all music together. Playing with others comes to the fore early, too, since a groove takes shape fastest in company. Anyone who enjoys making music actively and with their whole body will feel entirely at home behind a drum kit.