My daughter is going into 10th grade and is a drummer. She just can not seem to be able to march and play a drum and keep time. I am guessing it is a focus issue as she is a more severe adhd child. I need ideas on how to help her be able to march as she is very frustrated and does not want to be in pit. Also, if anyone has ideas for accomodations for band as she just seems to need longer to learn music and keep playing on time with everyone else. She does well at home, it’s just being in a large group with lots of distractions and the need to multitask.
Re: ADHD and marching band
As a musician, I can tell you that some people are just better than others at keeping time. If you want to improve your daughter’s counting, have her practice using a metronome. In addition, she should count (either outloud or in her head) when she is drumming. Also, if your daughter is not an experienced musician, she may not have a firm grasp on exactly how to count quarter notes vs. half notes vs. eighth notes, etc.
Being in a large, distracting group would really highlight any weaknesses there. Keeping time does requiring focusing, and that, of course, is a big problem for ADHD kids. If you can give her some external control like counting softly outloud it might help.
Andrea
Consider cutting back on what she plays — if the rest of the band is doing 5 things, let her focus on four? She’ll have to do something nondisruptive while that’s going on, but it could give her a chance to take a brain break.