Sight Reading

Before your actual drum audition, you will be taken to a small room where you get to practice the sight reading material for about 15 minutes (goes by very quick). Sometimes these rooms do have drum kits, but just to be safe bring your drum pad to the audition.

Your going to see about 5 or 6 pages of drum reading material that gets progressively harder. However these pages are not full songs. each page has about 3 or 4 examples, each one being around 8-12 bars long.




The first examples will be in 4/4. As it gets harder you will see some snare solos in 3/4 using 8th and 16th notes, and also some sight reading in 6/8 complete with crescendos and decrescendo symbols.

You dont have to be amazing at sight reading to be able to pass this part of the audition. If you can read and can sight read pretty much anything from the Jazz Real Book, you should be fine.

To find some examples of drum sight reading material, please check the Berklee College Of Music website for music minus drum tracks and play along chart HERE

Good Luck!!