Wilcoxon solo: #77

If you want to explore old-school rudimental drumming, I suggest checking out the huge book, All-American Drum Solos by Charlie Wilcoxon. These solos are short and sweet -- two solos per page -- and they are packed with as much or as little challenge as you want.
When thumnbing through this book to see what I want to try next, I remember some good advice from drumming friend and instructor extraordinaire Kevin Donka: when you see someone playing a piece you have yet to master, remember that you can learn it, too, if you just keep practicing and working at it.

That is how I came to sign up to record myself playing this solo for the Wilcox Rudimentasl Challenge group on Facebook.

It took awhile to work this one up. It forces me to work on my weaker left hand as I perfect the timing of single-stroke triplets, and paradiddles that begin on my left hand. And while the final result may seem slow, it took me literally weeks of regular practice to get it worked up to that speed comfortably.

Kevin Lehman, coordinator of the Challenge, is saving up all the videos (including this one) and will compile them into one place where they can be viewed online, so drummers anywhere will be able to access the library and learn from the hundreds of drummers who've taken on the challenge. I'm glad to be among the drummers whose videos will become part of what promises to be a useful learning resource.

If you feel inspired to try working up a solo of three from this book, know that the book is hard to find used, and rather expensive new.
I was lucky to find a used copy at Powell's last year.
However, if you have a Google or Facebook account, you can download a pdf of the entire book to your computer, and open up any page you like on your screen:
https://www.academia.edu/10713061/Charley_Wilcoxon_The_All_American_Drummer_150_Rudimental_Solos