Welcome aboard, Paul...
I realize some people are better learning visually and auditory, but if you are going to make any serious progress in your drumming growth, you will have to learn to read music. While you may not necessarily have--or need--a drum score for a rock band, the kind of big band charts Frank (fiacovaz) is talking about
DEMAND that you read music. I, too, have virtually all my old music books from nearly 25 years ago and they, too, help me keep my reading skills--and my set chops--sharp, even though I play more hand drums than drum kit.
Each teacher will go through his course differently, but you've already found that they're emphasizing reading. Until you learn to read music, they could teach you everything else till the cows come home and it won't make as much sense as it will when you learn to read.
In my experience, there were several books we used that began at beginner and moved on to intermediate levels, but I also learned about symphonic drum duets, rock 'n' roll drumming and Latin rhythms on both set and hand drums...again, man, each teacher will go through his course differently. Go back to the teacher you had (and realize any teacher will be working with school drummers at one time or another), and give it a try again. Good luck, Paul...
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