Comfort Zone

I am in my comfort zone when playing the drum set. Not so much, when playing hand percussion. Yet, I play more and more Early Music gigs where I need to play tambourine, frame drums, and other percussion. Listening to the masters gives me an idea...

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Inspiration

Inspiration can come from so many different things — beautiful places, sounds, images, feelings, hearing great music. More and more, I am trying to be open to it all. Yes, I still get stoked when I hear a wonderful band or an amazing drummer, but...

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Rediscovering

I am in the process of rediscovering what moves me as a musician, and more specifically, as a drummer. Ever since the beginning of this pandemic, I have had time to explore my creativity more and more. I know that I am not alone in this. Although...

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Happy 2019

Happy New Year to everyone! 2019 is here! I just received a nice email from a good friend who talked about working on some pretty hard stuff — Joe Morello’s Master Studies and Ted Reed’s Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern...

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Teaching Drums

I have been teaching drums for quite a while at this point, yet in never ceases to amaze me when a student starts to get it. This may be something as basic as their first drum beat, fill, or even their first snare drum etude. It just always gets...

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And Repeat

Just when I think I have some things together on the drum set, something else comes along that trips me up. While this obviously frustrates me, I strive to embrace the process. I find that it helps if I allow myself to feel whatever amount of...

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Comfort Zone

The bass player in one of my jazz workshops was having some problems not too long ago. As I was coaching him on some ideas to help deal with some of these issues, he came up with a brilliant phrase: There is no growth in the comfort zone and no...

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