(Part 2) Best books about percussion instruments according to redditors

Hey there! I'd like to consider myself a pretty experienced drummer, so hopefully I can be of some help to get you started.

If you aren't too familiar with reading music, I would highly recommend getting Syncopation for the Modern Drummer . It's a great starting book for reading music and familiarizing yourself with common snare & bass drum patterns that can be applied to the drum set.

If you want to learn more how to play the complete drum set, which I'm guessing you'd like to do, check out The Drumset Musician . It provides a basic intro to coordination and ability to use all your limbs separately. (One of my biggest struggles when starting out was forcing my hands and feet to not do the same thing at the same time on the drum set)

Other than those books, YouTube will definitely be your best friend, so don't be afraid to use it!

Best of luck to you, and I hope you end up enjoying the drums as much as I do!

People who like this might also want to check out this one: https://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Dance-Music-Grooves-Hip-Hop/dp/1480393762/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1549558817&sr=8-1&keywords=electronic+dance+music+grooves


It covers more modern styles and is basically a TON of example beats that break down exactly why each one "works" or why certain hits are important to the groove. Also comes with a CD with the MIDI files (set up as an Ableton project) so you can follow along and edit the patterns yourself without creating every pattern from scratch. Highly recommend for producers who don't have a background in drumming.

As a pro who has been playing for more than 40 years - there is no "right" answer to your question. But the most flexible and articulate drummers I know who can "play anything" have a repertoire of rhythmic patterns that fit almost any style of music. Even if they don't know - or have never heard - a specific song before, they can quickly identify the time signature, tempo and style. Then quickly pull out a pattern that fits the song, and adapt it (making small changes) so that it fits precisely. The important thing is to find and feel the groove, then start a dialog with the rest of the rhythm section so that you lay down a solid foundation for the song that the other musicians can build on.

If you are just getting started with this idea - check out Tommy Igoe's "Groove Essentials". It's a how-to that breaks down 50 of the most widely-used rhythms in the world across all kinds of musical styles. You can play along, and the companion book and poster shows you the charts also.

After all these years I can play all of them proficiently, but I learn something new every time I watch Tommy play.

You can buy the boxed set here.

Use a met. Start slow, gradually increase speed. Singles, doubles, paradiddles(inversions). Find songs with neat bass drum patterns, transcribe, practice from slow to fast.

Stick Control. Great for hands, even better for feet.

First lesson for me is names of drums, kick-hh-snare-hh linear beat with counting 1234, and maybe a paradiddle if they're really quick on the uptake. Play the follow the leader rhythm game!

I have a sign that says "It's okay to make mistakes" Best policy ever. Works for you and them. They mess something up, you can remind them of it and move immediately to fixing it!

You want them to be making those mistakes. 80% success to 20% failure is best. If they fail too much, slow it down or break it down.
If they breeze right through it have them count, sing parts, or add an ostinato on a different limb.

Look into Active Listening. Best skill for interacting with students!

I've found that being positive works better in the long run. Say "I'd do this.." instead of "don't do this"

Criticism Sandwich: "this was awesome! I'd do this differently. This was also awesome!

Tell kids they worked hard. I avoid telling them they're talented or smart. There's good research on this. It also gives them control and ownership of their success.

Share your passion, and make it fun. Don't stress yourself out too much either. You can only show them the way, they have to do the work.


Resources:


Chart Reading Workbook for drummers by Bobby Gabriele This one taught me everything I wished I known before about chart reading.

Three Dimensions. This is my favorite book for intro to reading rhythms. I like it cause it's a very clear reading progression, and he breaks it up into short etudes, so the kids can feel successful even just getting a few lines. Also has some basic drumset beats, and some neat technique/rudimental exercises!

Gary Chaffee's Patterns
Buy all four. Work through them with your students. Profit.

Obligatory mention: Stick Control, Syncopation, John Ramsay's Alan Dawson book(systems for syncopation are my favorite part), Bop Drumming(and Beyond bop) by John Riley, Master Studies by Joe Morello, and New Breed 1 & 2.

Second week on Reddit. God I hope all those links work...

I have a couple of recommendations just to get you started.

First, check out Percussion 101 on the Vic Firth education website (http://www.vicfirth.com/education/percussion101.php). This will cover a good bit of concert percussion with video demonstrations.

Second, I highly recommend Gary Cook's "Teaching Percussion" (http://www.amazon.com/Teaching-Percussion-2-DVD-Gary-Cook/dp/0534509908). Another great resource with 2 DVD's of examples as well.

And last, I would recommend having the Morris Goldenberg "Modern School for Snare Drum" (http://www.amazon.com/Modern-School-Morris-Goldenberg-Classics/dp/075790906X). The front half is mostly snare exudes and exercises, but the back half has good amount of material, most with excerpts from orchestral works as examples.

Those are a few examples you can do on your own. Good luck!

If you can spare the money I most definitely recommend finding a teacher. You will want to start with rudiments (they can be boring, but you'll be glad you did them in the long haul) and while you can pick them up from books, having a teacher giving feedback helps a lot. You don't have to stay with a teacher on the long-term, if you make it clear that you just want a solid base most teachers know what you mean and want.

If you don't have that money, these are three books I highly recommend to anybody who wants to play any percussion instrument:

http://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-For-Snare-Drummer/dp/1892764040/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b

Description: This book is full of rudiments. Like ctrocks said: This book is evil. You will most likely both grow to hate and love it. Hate it for both how boring rudiments can get (to me, at least) and how hard they get. But love it for the results and seeing how all those rudiments advance your playing immensely. I suggest picking this up as soon as possible.



http://www.amazon.com/Accents-Rebounds-For-Snare-Drummer/dp/1892764067/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1343162586&sr=8-1&keywords=Accents+and+Rebounds

Description: The 'sequel' to Stick Control. This book adds accents and even more difficult rhythms. I would suggest picking this up at an intermediate level.

http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Steps-Syncopation-Modern-Drummer/dp/0882847953/ref=cm_lmf_tit_5

Description: Don't let this book fool you. It all starts out really simple. But this is one of those books that really lays down a foundation you will be very grateful for. And when you're getting to a more advanced level, you will see how you can translate a lot of these syncopated rhythms to the entire drumkit. I suggest picking this up as soon as possible.


http://www.amazon.com/4-Way-Coordination-Development-Complete-Independence/dp/0769233708/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_c

Description: This book is very well named. You will want to grab this book after you got the basics down, imo. You want to work on the independence of your limbs as soon as possible, but not too soon. Yet again: rudiments. But now rudiments that require all limbs.


http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Techniques-For-Modern-Drummer/dp/0757995403

Description: We're starting to get into the bigger leagues with this book. I honestly don't quite know how to describe this book except for the word: challenging. Challenging in a very, very good way. I recommend picking this up once you're starting to get into a more advanced stage.


These books are for the basics, imo and in the opinion of many fellow drummers as far as I know. But don't forget: the books are merely tools. You don't want to be only playing rudiments, you'll go crazy. I tended to go for a trade: every half out of rudiments rewards me with a half our of putting on tracks and rocking out. Resulting in one-hour sessions a day. Hope this helps!

Edit: Feeling bored so added more books and descriptions.

A link if anyone is interested in buying:

http://www.amazon.com/Alfreds-Music-Playing-International-Rudiments/dp/1470618567

OH, I'm an idiot. Sorry. Here are some good books -

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0692284087/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/089898890X/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_7?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1576236099/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_6?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER


Also maybe just ask your band teacher to give you the basics in some off time?

I think he means this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Conversations-Clave-Technical-Independence-Afro-Cuban/dp/0769299474

I like to use a mix of quantized XOX beats with some real-time pad mashing. Sometimes I'll program in claves from this book by Billy Martin, then just jam out something on top.

Lately, I've been having a ton of fun using the 'advanced' sequencer mode on the Rytm, where you can set different lengths for each track, and pick a looping point (or not, for some polyrhythmic fun). It becomes really easy to make varied, but natural sounding transitions by switching between different tracks and altering their lengths and patterns. I can move to a 4 on the floor bass drum to something with a bit more swing with a push of a button, then miss with the interaction between the closed and open hi-hats, and suddenly you have a brand new beat. What I'd really like though, is a feature like on the Intellijel Metropolis sequencer where you can set repeats on individual steps.

I think that Jazzology book /u/SP12turbo recommended will have you pretty well covered on music theory, it looks fantastic, though I haven't read it. The Jazz Language by Dan Hearle is pretty good, too (and mercifully short). It usually shows up in Jazz Theory discussions. Helped me out a lot, too. Cheap, too IIRC.

I always recommend some books on fugue and counterpoint since I think horizontal composition is often neglected. Most pop songs are not written by a 4 piece band anymore so I think having a serious command of horizontality is important. If you can't think of a fugue, the theme song from Castlevania is one. It's by Bach and it's awesome. Because Bach is awesome. I like Mann's The Study of Fugue, it has selections (just the good parts) of a lot of classic texts by the masters.

For Percussion, which as I'm sure you know is quite relevant in modern music, check out The Drummer's Bible - it's an encyclopedic reference. It's pretty much amazing. You don't need to play drums to benefit from it, it's really a percussion book. Pretty much every beat from a genre of music ever is in there with at least one representative. I can't oversell the book. Go buy it.

https://www.amazon.com/Drummers-Bible-Every-Afro-Cuban-Zydeco/dp/1937276198

There's a church organist who has a series of books on kindle with a focus on chord theory too, if a bit more basic, that are good if you can get past the English being somewhat broken and needing a bit more proofing. I think you can get all of them for @$3.

Bought this book back when I had my EMu Drumulator found it helpful

200 Drum Machine Patterns[Drum Pattern Book ] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0881886327/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_IKijDbEM59S8E)

> BTW, that wiki song structure article is a mess

Agreed. I linked to that wiki article without even really looking. Personally, I like the following books that go into a lot more detail in regards to production and EDM:

• Music Theory for Computer Musicians
  
• Composition for Computer Musicians
  
• Harmony for Computer Musicians
  
• Dance Music Manual
  
• The Drummers Bible
  
• Mixing Audio: Concepts, Practices, and Tools
  
• Making Music: 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers
  
  All the above are solid books.

Are you familiar with rudiments at all? Pick up Stick Control and Syncopation For the Modern Drummer, for starters. Those are the
drummers bibles.

I've Enjoyed:

http://vicfirth.com/40-essential-rudiments/ - this is a good place to start imo, all you need is a practice pad and a pair of sticks.

http://www.snarescience.com/index.php - some crazy difficult Drum Corps stuff on here.

Realistic Rock - rock based rhythms. Decent book.

Art of Bop Drumming - I'm currently in the process of learning to play jazz, and I couldn't imagine a better starting point.


I've heard great things about:

Stick Control - many people would suggest you start here, it's a classic.

Chart Topping Drum Beats - this looks like a fantastic place to start learning reading music for drum set.

Jojo Mayer's Secret Weapons Part 1 - goes over hand technique.

Jojo Mayer's Secret Weapons II - covers foot technique.

The Drumset Musician - covers many different styles.

As for videos, Drumeo has a Youtube channel with plenty of quality information.

My personal opinion on hand / foot technique is watch a variety of lessons / other drummers and just find what works for you.

Snarescience.com has a very large collection of free exercises. The problem with them is that they are mostly written only for snare.

A little more ready to go resource is frm Vic Firth. The resource is called Marching Percussion 101. The exercises in there cover most of the basics well enough.

You probably won't like my definitive answer. I personally write my exercises so that I can get exactly what I want. Each and every drumline is different in some way and also probably need a different set of exercises to compliment that fact. I do generally take the exercises I write from things I have done before. For example the current exercise packet I wrote for my main line is based off a book by Bill Bachman called "The Essential Guide for the Modern Drummer."The exercise packet I used in the past was largely based off of my college instructor's marching band packet. I still use that one for more basic groups.

You are going to have to throw me a bone with your second question. Is the group competitive? Are they marching? What is the general skill level? How much time do I have?

Any reason why your teacher is telling you that you have no chance??

For my audition I just played a few drum set grooves (swing, bossa nova, samba, 3/4 swing, and a ballad), sight read a snare drum solo, and sight read a marimba piece. I had already spent a semester in the percussion ensemble (because I originally wanted to be an English major, but after meeting the faculty of both departments I settled on music) so my teacher already knew me and had a good idea of my skill level.

My first semester was mainly rudiments and solos from Cirone's portraits in rhythm. Pretty much snare drum only focusing on building my technique. My next semester I got started on Frank Malabe's Afro-Cuban book and John Riley's Art of Bop Drumming. Beyond that I worked through Riley's Beyond Bop Drumming, Ed Uribe's book on Afro-Cuban drumming, and his book on Brazilian drumming. After that I spent a lot of time working on solo transcriptions, playing pieces that my instructor and I picked out for drums and vibes, jamming with my instructor on vibes or on drum set, and working on pieces that I was writing. By the end at lot of what I was doing was driven by my interests and what I wanted to work on to improve.

As far as the music department as a whole I took your standard history, theory, aural skills, and piano classes, along with tons and tons of ensembles.

David Garibaldi's Future Sounds is a great groove book. I also like Tommy Igoe's Groove Essentials, it's a good introduction to different styles of music, haven't tried Groove Essentials 2.0 so I'm not sure about that one.

Not sure what your skill level is, but check out the books by John S. Pratt and Charlie Wilcoxen (sp?). Pratt's stuff is very military-esque. Morris Goldenberg's "Modern Approach for the Snare Drum" has some great exercises as well. In college, my prof would have me do the simple duets as a solo. Top line with the right and bottom with the left. Additionally Al Payson's "Snare Drum for the Concert Hall" is another great resource for tightening the screws on your chops. For more advanced concepts in the Marching realm, Jeff Queen's book is my go-to text.

Sorry for the lack of links though. I'm on my phone. If any more come to mind, I'll edit this comment. Interested in seeing what other books/pieces people recommend. Happy shedding.

Edit: Someone recommended the Noble Snare books. It's a great collection of "out-of-the-box" pieces from numerous notable composers. If that's your bag, check out Askell Masson's snare solo entitled "Prim". It's a bitch to learn but a blast to play.

Edit 2: Got to my computer and retrieved links for all my suggestions. Who loves ya baby?

This is pretty good.

I highly recommend Electronic Dance Music Grooves

It touches on many genres, and does a good job of teaching what works in making your own groove. Comes with MIDI and really good sounding Kits.

I used to carry Billy Martin's Riddim book with me, you can do them anywhere as the focus is on the rhythms (woth simple voice). If no one's around you can grab some stuff to get different sounds, like a little shaker for the clave, etc.

https://www.amazon.com/Riddim-Claves-African-Billy-Martin/dp/0967309840

Here's my disclaimer: if you don't have access to a drum and at least one other person to practice playing clean with, you're already at a disadvantage. No pad feels exactly like a drum and when it comes down to the wire in an audition, what determines who makes the line is usually who can play clean consistently no matter where he is in the line.

Buy this:

http://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-For-Snare-Drummer/dp/1892764040

No matter where you want to march, it will be your ultimate tool. It will lay the foundation of your playing, and it will give you amazing facility on the drum. Play through all of it. Play through it at every dynamic. Play five lines and crescendo the whole thing. Do whatever you can to essentially turn the thing inside out on itself so that you get as much experience playing things your hands have never felt. The key here is repetition. You want to shed layers so that your hands become so refined that anything you're asked to play is practically second nature.

Once you've played through the entire book ten times, buy this:

http://www.amazon.com/Accents-Rebounds-For-Snare-Drummer/dp/1892764067

Repetition, repetition, repetition. Variation, variation, variation. If something sounds disgusting, practice it until it's beautiful. You need to dedicate substantial time to practicing, and you need to always practice with a metronome. I advise against most phone metronomes, because they tend to be inconsistent. I recommend practicing for 90 minutes and then taking a 30 minute break. Practice consistently. Don't do eight hours one day and then take a week off. Two or three hours a day is ample practice time. You've got to be deliberate and take your practice time seriously if you want to make it. If you're unsure about whether or not you want to march, I'd advise against auditioning because the people who really want it are usually the ones who make the line.

Get on YouTube and check out some different lines from the past maybe three seasons. Listen to as many as you can and see which lines really pique your interest. Then get on Google and look for audition materials (either from past years or current materials). A lot of corps require you to buy their audition materials so if that's an issue for you, you could try another corps. Or you could step up your game, get back on YouTube, try to find some videos of the drumline warming up, and figure out their exercises on your own. Be wary though; that's a pretty significant undertaking.

My best advice is to take initiative, and to try harder than you want to. You'll have to do both of those things if you spend a summer with a corps anyway, so it's better to start now. Best of luck to you.

This is the best system I have seen for locking down sixteenth notes once and for all (and eighth note triplets). Wish I had had it 10 years ago!

http://www.amazon.com/Benny-Greb-Language-Drumming-Expression/dp/1458422291/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1452028548&sr=1-2&keywords=benny+greb+language+of+drumming

Modern School for Snare Drum by Morris Goldenberg

Rudiments and Motions by Frank Corniola

I am currently going through the book in the link, just started really. So far its gone through, 1/8th, 16th, 1/8T patterns and why stuff sounds how it does. I am enjoying it to be honest it has around 5 exercises per 'topic' and then encourages you to experiment giving some pointers. It's good but as anything it requieres you to put some time and work into understanding so that you can apply towards your intention.

Before that I would look at youtube videos or attack magazine tutorials, but those tend to assume you understand some basics already so, to me I was already at a loss. I like to understand fundamentals and this is what this book is giving me, that way I can go to youtube and have a more productive session understanding the why of things.

It will go quite into depth, the later chapters are examples specific to dubstep, rock, etc.


https://www.amazon.com/Drum-Programming-Handbook-Complete-Creating/dp/1480392871

Yep, looks like $10.50 CDN for you!

This is a popular beginner's book, and I like it.

As for drills, go through that book, and once you can play each beat, try it with quarter, eighth, and sixteenth notes on the hats. Get good at switching seamlessly between those, and also learn to play hats with either left hand, right hand, or alternating.

Count out loud. One and two and... Continue counting when you go to a fill. Master staying in time as you go between a beat, a fill, then back to a beat: let's say you've got a verse, then some fill, then the chorus - don't change tempos during the fill or hesitate on the way in and out.

Of course you won't master all that right away, but these are some good goals to shoot for, and I'd say they're some of the big differences between a beginner and an intermediate drummer.

Just want to echo that 30 minutes a day is more than enough. Of that time, I would spend 10 minutes on rudiments and the rest on whatever you want.

>What all will I need to get started? Practice pad, sticks, kit, metronome?

If you buy an electronic kit, I wouldn't worry about practice pads. I'd recommend picking up Stick Control, learning the rudiments, and an introductory book such as Fast Track or Tommy Igoe's beginner DVD. Once you feel more comfortable, I'd recommend picking up Groove Essentials and New Breed.

For stick, I generally recommend starting with Vic Firth 5B hickory sticks. Of all the sticks I've tried, those are the most absolutely average. Weight, balance, size, etc. From there you can move into thinner (5A, 7A) or thicker (2B) as you want, but 5B is a good starting place, hickory is the best wood to learn with (and play with forever, imo, but that's debatable), and Vic Firth is fairly consistent.

Vic Firth's stick size comparisons. The standard sizes used by the majority of drummers, from smallest to largest, are 7A, 5A, 5B, 2B. Everything else is just incredibly minor tweaking that some people like.

I'm really into independence and coordination (of which polyrhythms and polymeters often come into play) so my drumming canon is primarily composed of Gary Chester's New Breed and New Breed II.

Marco Minnemann's Extreme Interdependence is also a spectacular book. It's kind of like applying Stick Control to all of your limbs and pitting them against each other.

There is no true "clave" in Brazilian music (Samba). Clave is distinctly Afro-Cuban in origin. While the patterns may sound similar, and translate almost exactly the same on the drum set, functionally there is a significant difference (which has to do with the distinct origins of the rhythms).

"Latin" music has an incredibly rich and complex history. This is a widespread misunderstanding. The distinction between the two may be what is holding you up as far as assigning the pattern a name. There are many samba cross-stick patterns that originate from different parts of the traditional samba band.

A couple of excellent books that expand on this topic are Duduka Da Fonseca and Bob Weiner's "Brazilian Rhythms for Drumset and Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez's "Conversations In Clave".

Mastering the Tables of Time (great for most modern styles of drumming)

The Breakbeat Bible (great foundation for solid timing and dynamics)

Jazz Solos and Fill-ins (combine what you learned from syncopation with this for jazz)

A Funky Primer (practice with shuffled or swung eigths on cymbals)

Syncopation and Stick Control have already been mentioned. With syncopation try adding hats on two and four with your feet and a basic jazz pattern on the ride. There are a million ways to practice stick control (and all of these books for that matter).

"Chart Reading Workbook for Drummers" by Bobby Gabriele. This is a really good book for setting up big band ensemble figures and understanding how big band charts are written. It's got a good play-along CD and stuff. Highly recommend.

On a side note, I was playing with a big band a couple of weeks ago, and I had a long-haired stoner kid shout out, "Hey, drummer, dude, are you, like, READING all that stuff you're playing?" I said, "Yeah, dude. I'm reading it..."

EDIT: Linky: http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Workbook-Drummers-Leonard-Corporation/dp/079357126X

Friend of mine has these, they're pretty interesting and in-depth:

https://www.amazon.com/Drum-Machine-Patterns-Leonard-Corp/dp/0881888877

https://www.amazon.com/Drum-Machine-Patterns-Rene-Pierre-Bardet/dp/0881886327

I picked this one up recently. I has hundreds of beats from all genres even some outside electronic/dance.

It's geared towards ableton but obviously you could apply the beats to anything. Each beat is literally just a linear representation of how you would see the beat in a DAW or midi file and a short description.

Josh Bess beats

Also the makers of vst Microtonic have a great random beat generator on their site. I believe it's free

Grab Benny Greb's language of drumming. Out of all the practice books I can say this one is simple, straight forward and you really learn quickly. It helps you learn the different components (Monemes/morphemes if you know what those are from linguistics) and piece them together.

http://www.amazon.com/Benny-Greb-Language-Drumming-Book/dp/1458422291/ref=pd_bxgy_mov_img_y

Also includes an audio CD which is handy but I just use a metronome.

Try it out! It's also an extremely high quality book. Unlike the glossy crap cover with 30 pages like other lesson / practice books. It has about 100 pages

I practice out of these books and they are fun as sh!t. The Wilcoxon solos, Bass Drum Control, Accents And Rebounds, Stick Control. The Wilcoxon solos will help you to learn to read music if you don't already know how, they are so much fun like drum sudoku or something. I like to mix it up by listening to the metronome on different beats and vastly different speeds. Also it can be very fun to play both stick control and bass drum control at the same time...whoa.

I recommend this book to learn chart reading. Talks all about setting up shots and has play-alongs to practice with

I would recommend the book A Funky Primer https://www.amazon.com/Funky-Primer-Rock-Drummer-Charles-ebook/dp/B004L9MEZK/

It covers all the rudiments and some basic concepts for rock drumming.

Also, find a good teacher in your area to help you develop proper hand technique. Without it you will be severely limited in what you will be able to do.

Add a slight ping-pong delay to a few hh or snare hits - real low feedback so they just play off themselves a bit. For transitions the best way to learn is to take a favorite trakc of yours, and try to match the transitions in a similar fashion. They never will sound exactly the same and you will learn a bit each time.

If you are new to beat making a book like this can teach you a TON:
http://www.amazon.com/Drum-Machine-Patterns-Rene-Pierre-Bardet/dp/0881886327

The Drummer’s Bible by Mick Berry and Jason Gianni is an excellent resource. I’ve turned to it many time for different gigs. It appears to be on sale right now too!

This is pretty much the idea behind Groove Essentials. You should check it out!

I haven't been in the game long enough to give you "tips," per se, but I suppose I could tell you what works for me. I played piano for many years, which gave me a solid foundation in theory, intonation, and song structure that I think really helps with the drums. I've always listened to a lot of music from a lot of styles, so I can pick up on musical patterns fairly easily when I play--I don't think I've memorized a single song. In terms of day-to-day routine, The New Breed II has challenged me and improved my skills more than any other exercise I've encountered. Lastly, I love playing the drums, and I have a genuine personal interest in playing them as well as I can.

https://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-George-Lawrence-Stone-ebook/dp/B019EC3ES4/

https://www.drumworkout.com/12-gateway-rudiments/

https://www.amazon.com/Bachman-Technique-Essential-Modern-Drummer/dp/1458418200

Rehashing what others said, incorporate their musical interests into what you're trying to teach them. Ask them to bring in some music that they enjoy and then help them work through the songs. If they have that down, play rudiments over them, let them improvise over the tracks, etc. I've found that the more I tried to "instruct" younger students, the less interested they are, so instead I think of myself as more of a guide through their natural creative process.

Edit: If I had to recommend a book, I'd probably use this guy. It's very accessible and immersive, as well as being a great foundation for a budding musician.

The bible - http://www.amazon.com/Stick-Control-George-Lawrence-Stone/dp/1892764040/

Work them up to - http://www.amazon.com/Accents-Rebounds-For-Snare-Drummer/dp/0984329315/

For your more advanced students, this will also help you with your reading. - http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Breed-Development-Creativity/dp/1423418123/

Of course you don't have to keep them doing everything on the snare, get them to move the exercises around the kit.