My 5-Minute Routine for a New Student: First Lesson Checklist

I have been teaching drum lessons for twenty years. The first lesson with a new student is still the lesson I least enjoy walking into unprepared.

Not because I am nervous. But because a poor first lesson is hard to recover from. A student who leaves the first lesson thinking “this is not for me” probably does not come back.

This is the routine I use. Five minutes of preparation. Concrete steps.

Step 1: Ask one question before the lesson starts

Before the student touches a drumstick:

“What do you want to be able to do after a year of lessons?”

Not: “what do you expect from the lessons?” That leads to vague answers. “Just get better” says nothing.

“Play along to half a song with my band” — that says something. “My child wants to learn percussion for the school orchestra” — also concrete.

The answer to this question determines the direction of everything that follows.

Step 2: Explain one thing, let them do it immediately

The mistake I used to make: explaining too much in the first lesson.

Theory about notes. Explanation of how a drum kit works. The names of all the parts. The student looks glazed and taps something somewhere.

Now: explain one thing, let them do it immediately.

“This is the bass drum. Play this pattern along.” That is the first 15 minutes. They play something. It sounds recognisable. They feel that they can do something.

That feeling — I can do this — is the reason they come back.

Step 3: Make the first assignment more concrete than you think

At the end of the lesson I give an assignment. Most teachers say:

“Practise this piece this week.”

I say:

“Practise this pattern on Tuesday and Thursday, five minutes each time. Not more. See if you can play it more slowly than today.”

Three elements: which pattern, when, how long. Without those three elements the assignment is too vague to carry out.

Step 4: Write it down (not in your head)

After the first lesson I know:

• What the student’s goal is
• What they can do
• What the first assignment is

If this is in my head, I forget it by the second lesson. Especially if I have eleven other students that week.

I write it down in a lesson plan. Not in a notebook. In a system that lives under the student’s name. Then before the second lesson I do not have to think: “what was it again?”

Step 5: Name one concrete thing that went well

Before the student leaves:

“What you already did well today: you keep a consistent bass drum. That is the hardest thing of all, and you had it right away.”

Not vague like “well done!” Concrete. What specifically went well.

This is not meant to be encouraging. It is information. The student then knows what they have to build on.

The checklist summarised

Before the lesson:

• Do I know the student’s goal?
• Have I prepared one thing to learn?

During the lesson:

• Did I get the student playing as quickly as possible?
• Did I make the assignment concrete (what, when, how long)?

After the lesson:

• Is the goal and assignment written down?
• Did I name one concrete success?

Six ticks. Five minutes of preparation. That is all.

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Try Musicdott — First month free. Lesson plan per student, track assignments. See the three plans.

Questions? Email mail@musicdott.app or WhatsApp.

— Stefan, drum teacher and maker of Musicdott

Note: this piece started as an AI draft (Claude), rewritten by Stefan.