Lesson Philosophy

 

 

"The secret of change

is to focus all your energy

not on fighting the old,

but on building the new."

- Socrates

 

When it comes to drumming, the amount of different approaches and method books available can sometimes feel infinite. While potentially overwhelming, I believe each has it's own value, worth, and finesse, and when broken down to their simplest forms, all styles have unifying aspects. Someone playing snare in a drum line will have a completely different feel, touch, dynamic range, and technique than someone playing jazz drum set, but both are equally valid and respectable styles with similar core elements.

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With my students, before really digging into anything specific, I try my best to just listen: to their hopes and desires as a drummer, to their personal voice on the drum set, and to what they wish to gain from our lessons together. I believe the best learning experience occurs when there is a floor for open dialogue between the student and teacher, and in this way, both benefit greatly from the experience.

 

I try and teach what the student wants to learn, be that his/her favorite funk grooves from a Tower of Power record, two-limb independence jazz patterns, complex snare rudiment warm-ups, or whatever else, all the while remembering:

• relaxation, posture, and the breath

• technique

• dynamics

• the rudiments involved in the material being covered

• to make the groove feel good

• most important of all... have fun doing it.