The Royal College of Music Festival of Percussion takes place in London on the 6th of July. I attended last year’s event where I got to see the amazing John Riley, a clinic with Geoff Dugmore, a jazz trio, some classical percussionists, Nick Mason and a big band. It was…
I am deeply saddened to hear about the sudden loss on May the 1st of Chuck Silverman, a great drummer and drum teacher notable for his amazing knowledge and love for Afro-Caribbean music (or Latin as we lesser mortals would call it) and expertise about the drummers of James Brown.…
Legendary drum educator Chuck Silverman’s documentary is in the editing stage and they need a few more shekels to help them finish it off. This is a good cause to support if you have an interest in Cuban drumming and the traditions of drums and percussion in general. Keepers of…
As someone who lived before there was such a thing as the Internet, I still find the notion of being seen by anyone anywhere in the world somewhat creepy. I normally share videos with people via file sharing services. But as internet users are migrating away from their desktops and…
Last night I had my first Skype lesson with Todd Bishop of the Cruise Ship Drummer blog. It was an experiment for both of us and I was pleased to be a guinea pig. Although I’ve been asking Todd for a lesson for some time, I realised once we’d established…
My copy of Todd Bishop’s latest book-of-the-blog has arrived. His blog, Cruise Ship Drummer (he’s based in Portland, Oregon, despite the .co.uk thing) is a frequently updated stream of drum lessons, transcriptions, music suggestions and bits of drumming related wisdom. Todd’s previous publications include the Book of The Blog –…
So, where was I? Oh yes, John Riley. John Riley’s clinic was, for me, the highlight of the RCM’s Festivl of Percussion. It was a treat to see a talk by the guy who’s book is such an essential part of drumming education. The presentation was at core a walk…
This past Sunday I met up with my dad just behind the Albert Hall in Kensington and went to the RCM’s (Royal College of Music) Festival of Percussion. It was a brilliant day out with an amazingly broad range of percussion-related performances and activities. The styles on offer included rock…
I need to get back to writing some more stuff about my recent experiences with drumming luminaries. Meanwhile, here is another lesson from the brilliant Terry Keating AKA Bonzoleum. This is a brilliant way of explaining the triplets-around-the-kit idea and his method for breaking it down is wonderfully simple and…
I had the privilege of attending this year’s Ultimate Drum Experience, a week-long course for advanced drummers put on by the very shiny Mike Dolbear. The resident teachers this year were manic beat preacher, Billy Ward, lightning limbed Morpheus, Thomas Lang and slave to the halftime shuffle, Ash Soan. Guest…
