Edinburgh Napier University

  Drum kit technologies such as sample pads, triggers and percussion controllers are now a common addition to the acoustic drum kit setups used by many drummers. However, traditional drum kit pedagogy, which is firmly rooted in developing confidence in the performance of rudimental patterns or coordination exercises and applying these to a traditional drum kit layout (Stillie 2019), only partially addresses the needs of learners who are exploring how to use these technologies in their kit setups and live performance. Therefore, it is important that new pedagogic approaches are developed to ensure that students can develop knowledge, skills and understanding of these technologies as part of their general drum kit studies.
This paper reports on a small-scale study conducted with fourth year undergraduate drum kit students from Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland. The research explored student’s perspectives of studying a curriculum designed to teach the creative use of these drum kit related technologies. Key themes explored during the research were the student’s perspectives of learning using a flipped classroom approach, how they developed a practicable understanding of the technologies, what they found challenging about their learning experience, the improvements (or detriments) to their playing of the traditional drum kit, and the perceived value that learning these technologies will have to their future career.