Reminders: Make sure to use your wrists to play the drum, not your arms.  Do not make buzz noises on your pad unless the note is supposed to be a buzz roll.  Do not have incredibly high stick height (you only need to be about 6 inches above the pad with your sticks).  When playing the flams, make sure your grace note (the smaller, quieter one that hits the pad first) is very low while your accent hand is very high.  Remember to count those eighth and two sixteenth note rhythms by saying “1 and uh” because the “e” is contained inside the eighth note.  When it’s flipped backwards and there’s two sixteenths and then an eighth, count it as “1 e and”, because the “uh” is contained in the eighth note.

Secret Question: What is the more official name of the orchestral percussion instruments sometimes called kettle drums?