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Drum Education

Stanton Moore Clinic at Bell Percussion

I had a great time last Sunday attending a clinic with top-notch New Orleans drummer, Stanton Moore, at Bell Percussion in Acton. The event was organised by fellow Edgwareian and hub of the drum community, Mike Dolbear of www.mikedolbear.com. I admit I was feeling a little apprehensive about seeing Stanton since I became a bit “Stantoned out” with his Street Beats DVD and Groove Alchemy Book and DVD. It started to feel like he was popping up everywhere I looked,… Read More »Stanton Moore Clinic at Bell Percussion

The Art & Science of Groove, Benny Greb’s Indigogo Project

Here’s a cool idea: www.indiegogo.com/projects/bennygreb Benny Greb is producing a high quality DVD via the crowdfunding site Indigogo. I think it’s a positive thing to produce this stuff independently. The video pitching the idea sounds encouraging, there’s a few seconds of tap dancing which is an artform closely associated with the drum kit, according to Freddy Gruber talking on one of the videos I watched on Drum Channel recently. Then Benny talks about the myth of groove or musical feel… Read More »The Art & Science of Groove, Benny Greb’s Indigogo Project

Royal College Of Music Festival Of Percussion – With Gavin Harrison

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 a brilliant day out which I wrote about here and here. This year’s festival features the super-competent Gavin Harrison who has many notes to play, I imagine. It also features… Read More »Royal College Of Music Festival Of Percussion – With Gavin Harrison

Great Drum Educator, Chuck Silverman, Sadly Died

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. I didn’t know Chuck, although I had been trying to arrange a Skype lesson with him (West Coast USA and London are temporally mismatched for this sort of thing) but… Read More »Great Drum Educator, Chuck Silverman, Sadly Died

Chuck Silverman’s Keepers of the Flame – Cuban Rumba Traditions

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 the Flame ? Cuban Rumba Traditions is a documentary project about the elder statesmen of the Cuban musical genre called Rumba. The history and culture of these men and women,… Read More »Chuck Silverman’s Keepers of the Flame – Cuban Rumba Traditions

I Have Joined The Ranks Of YouTube Drum Coverers

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 laptops towards tablets, I keep getting complaints about not being able to view the videos I send. So I end up using YouTube because it seems to work on any… Read More »I Have Joined The Ranks Of YouTube Drum Coverers

Skype Lesson With Todd Bishop Of The Cruise Ship Drummer Blog

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 a Skype connection that I hadn’t thought about exactly what areas I wanted to work on with him. Nonetheless, I had a great lesson in which we discussed his approach… Read More »Skype Lesson With Todd Bishop Of The Cruise Ship Drummer Blog

Cruise Ship Drummer’s Book of The Blog – 2013 is Here

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 – ?2011 and the fantastic, almost pocket-sized, 100 Grooves. The 2013 Book of The Blog has 122 pages and contains all of the downloadable drum exercises and transcriptions that appeared on… Read More »Cruise Ship Drummer’s Book of The Blog – 2013 is Here

John Riley

The Royal College of Music Festival of Percussion Part 2

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 through the history of the drumkit which was told very engagingly with the accompaniment of samples of the drumming of each era. We were introduced to the topic with the… Read More »The Royal College of Music Festival of Percussion Part 2

Geoff Dugmore

The Royal College of Music Festival of Percussion

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 and jazz drum kit, Western classical percussion, “World” music, “Latin” music, military snare drumming and that very important part of music, selling stuff. The packed schedule had enough in it… Read More »The Royal College of Music Festival of Percussion

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