Kevin Sticht
About
Hello! I'm Kevin and it's nice to meet you.
Before I dive into myself, my one goal in teaching is to give you a happy and healthy relationship with music. That's it! If you walk away from our lessons, be it one or for years, I want you to always have a relationship with music that makes you smile. When you go see a movie, you appreciate the score. You're listening to a new song and you can pick out the melody or drum beat and appreciate the complexity and layers to the music. So if this interests you, keep on reading.
A little about myself: I've been playing music for 20 years now. I have a Bachelor's of Music in Percussion Performance. I'm a two time world champion in the highest competing division of indoor drumline (Pulse Percussion, WGI Independent World, 2014 and 2016). I've done a month long tour of China with a professional orchestra (Hollywood Concert Orchestra, Dec. 2019). I've toured with my own band through the SouthWest. I've played in pro stadiums like the Alamodome and Lucas Oil Stadium. All this to say, I have experience.
I've been a teacher for the last 10 years. I've taught from ages 8-85 and I've worked with more schools and groups than I can count. I've taught one on one lessons and groups up to 150 people. I've taught online lessons for the last 5 years and have a professional set up with multiple cameras and lights to help demonstrate the correct way to play.
Finally, I'm here to help YOU with your goals. Let me know what you're looking to accomplish. It might be an audition coming up, to further develop your skills, or you just want to dive into the new world of music. Whatever it is, I want to help you achieve it.
I look forward to hearing from you and thank you so much for reading through this. I hope you have a wonderful day. I hope to hear from you soon with any questions, comments, concerns, complaints, compliments, or curiosities!
P.S. I really enjoy Marvel movies, baking, and disc golf.
Teaching Style
My teacher taught me there are two mandatory skills to get you any gig. Solid fundamentals and strong sight reading skills. I focus on teaching the fundamentals to always get a good sound out of your instrument and to read any music that's put in front of you. I pace my lessons so my students can see their progress. I follow up every lesson with an email so you know exactly what we did in the lesson, what you should be practicing this week, and when our next lesson is. I also create a google drive for every one of my students that includes a doc that is updated every lesson with what you should be practicing to show your progress. I also include any supplemental materials in the folder as well.
I have 3 basic rules for lesson:
1. Be honest
2. Have fun
3. Listen to your body
With these three, they take care of the most fundamental principles in music and life. Honesty is so important for real progress. It saves us time and teaches my students the importance of honesty. Have fun because music should BE FUN! It's an enjoyable activity that challenges us but lets us create and express ourselves. And finally, we need to listen to our bodies. When we are in pain, take the time to recover. Let's adapt our lessons so we can still learn and progress without causing damage to our bodies.
Curriculum
I've pretty much answered my method of teaching in the previous sections but for different instruments, here are the texts I recommend.
Drums:
Breaking it Down, for Kids. Vol 1-4
These take students from quarter notes, introducing the different parts of the kit, basic drum grooves all the way to 16th notes and complex drum grooves and fills.
Survival Guide for the Modern Drummer by Jim Riley
This book has multiple play along tracks that are drumless so you can add your own ideas. It goes through multiple genres with explanations of how to play them, multiple examples of different ideas and how to incorporate them into the music, and over 100 tracks to solidify your playing in the different genres.
Stick Control by George Lawrence Stone
Any drummer will tell you this is a staple in every drummer's arsenal. This takes you through multiple exercises that focus on playing every combination imaginable. From simple sticking patterns to switching between fivelet and septuplet rolls, both open and closed.
Concert Percussion:
Fundamental Method for Mallets, Vol 1-2 by Mitchell Peters
This book introduce simple patterns in exercises and then demonstrates them in etudes. The sections are broken down into different key signatures and get progressively harder as the books go on.
40 Progressive Etudes for Trumpet by Sigmund Herring
These are simple exercises great for reading on Mallets.
Method of Movement for Marimba by Leigh Howard Stevens
This is one of the BEST books for 4 mallet marimba playing. It goes over every possible movement with over 300 exercises to develop the movements over different intervals and situations.
Intermediate Snare Drums Studies by Mitchell Peters
This book is used in multiple auditions. The etudes include different techniques including dynamics, rolls, triplets, syncopation, time signatures, and more. After finishing this book, students will have a strong understanding of the fundamental skills of snare drum playing.
Piano:
Alfred's Piano Lesson Book, Level 1-6 by Willard A. Palmer
These are the best books I have found, for children and adults alike, to take a student from knowing nothing about piano to playing beautiful etudes. They teach the grand staff, key signatures, chord progressions, fingering patterns, and much more music theory.
For all instruments:
I include supplemental resources for any student if I think it will help. These may range from YouTube videos, additional sheet music like method books or etudes, to personalized videos demonstrating a certain section of music or a technique.
Credentials & Affiliations
Bachelors of Music, Percussion Performance from CSU, Fullerton