I had band on Wednesdays and Fridays and I can’t even describe my anxiousness each week to get into class! You would get a gold star for learning your lessons. You could say I was straight blinging son! My lesson folder was beaming with gold stars! The first week we had to learn a long roll (alternating single strokes) as part of the 26 Standard American Rudiments. We also learned note values such as quarter notes, 8th notes, 16th notes, 32nd notes and their relative triplet meters. Each week our lesson was to learn just one rudiment and play it slow to fast, soft to loud. Well after that initial week and quickly grasping note values I decided to keep on going down the page of our rudiment chart. I was so freaking excited to show my teacher I learned them all! So we’re in class, and there’s 5 of us total and we were to play our lesson. No one learned their one lesson or even tried practicing it. I was so disappointed in my class mates. So I go up and go through all 26 and my teacher say’s to me, “Well, it seems you have learned all of them correctly. Say, why don’t you teach the percussion section the rest of the school year? This will allow me to work closer with brass and woodwinds.”

Well then here’s what happened. In gym class the next day the other four drummers come up to me and say that they only joined band to get out of gym twice a week, they do not love drumming or even have an interest in it enough to learn the lessons. So each week those 4 sat in the back of the band room chillin’ while I worked away in one of the small practice rooms all the rest of the school year.

From then on until today I day dreamed and still daydream about being the best drummer I can be and what kind of mark can I leave in this world as a drummer. I wanted to do nothing with my life but record music,tour,repeat. Along the way there has been exuberant confidence in my abilities as well as feeling like maybe I just don’t have what it takes and perhaps should put the sticks down.

I have a lot of stories to share about what not to do, negligence in regards to a drummers role that held me back for so many years and the things I began doing to get better. It’s my hope that what I share on my site through blogs and lessons will help drummers get better at their craft and make better musical decisions when in performance. I finally began truly chasing my dream down when I was 36 and my hope is to record, gig, teach and help anyone with a desire to get better find their way.

Thank you so much for reading, there is so much on the way!