Plug Into Practice with Zach Beery

Practice is an aspect of artistic life that we get fired up about at Sacred Shimmy Studio!

We're passionate about what practice can do for you, as an artist and a person, to build your relationship with your craft and help you fully express yourself. To keep you inspired, we're offering a window into the practice lives of some of our favorite dancers and musicians - each teacher will walk you through a sample practice session in a way you can experience and grab ideas from.

Sacred Shimmy Studio instructor Zach Beery has been practicing the drum for 15 years.  He created Beat Science Drum and Zill class, the first weekly class for Arabic percussion in central Ohio.  He has used his experience with live bellydance music performance and study with master teachers to craft a class accessible to adults who had given up the idea of being able to learn music.  Zach's teaching style is structured, detail oriented, and gives the student clear information to take home and practice to achieve their goals.

Plug Into Practice with Zach will provide a window into his practice from 10 years ago showing the evolution to present being helpful to those starting out and farther along their musical journey.  This class is not the common basic beginner's class designed to show the tones and rhythms.  Instead we will explore useful discoveries on Zach's path to learning the drum revealing secrets on how to improve personal practice habits.  The class will dissect Zach's practice to allow new concepts to form and broaden horizons for what is possible during personal practice time.  Lastly, the pursuit of knowledge is fun while the work can get hard at times.  Zach hopes for inspiration to strike from seeing what he does, and the student's practice journey to blossom.

Zach had to travel to the East Coast, West Coast, Morocco, and Turkey to find great teachers.  He found DVDs helpful, but nothing replaced being in the same room.  At times he wished to be given a magic syllabus with all the answers since without a clear plan it was frustrating, and lessons difficult.   Here is a chance to see the insights into the work and how to approach it.  The idea is that students can apply these concepts to their level and practice needs, and later during practice sessions transform their musical journey with the practice necessary to reach their goals.

Students should be familiar with the basic tones doum, tek, ka, and slap on the drum, and for finger cymbals ringing and muted tones.   Darbuka, frame drum, riqq, finger cymbals, or other hand drums will work for the class.   More important is pen and paper to write down exercises, ideas, and concepts to explore later on you own.

This class will be held via Zoom meeting. Participants will receive a link to the class about an hour before start time. You will also receive a link to a recording of the class that you can download to use at another time. The workshop cost is $25.

Keep your eyes open for workshop announcements for other teachers in the Plug Into Practice September workshop series!