playdrumsforlife.com

No, it’s not a set up for a joke. As a drum teacher in Raleigh, NC, I get that question quite often. I recently heard an interview on NPR with Emil Richards, a Hollywood studio percussionist. Mr. Richards has been on the scene for many decades, and has played on sound tracks for a number of hit movies, and even provided the finger snaps for “The Addams Family” theme song! Opportunities to do what Emil Richards does are in somewhat shorter supply today, thanks to digital sampling and music software that can do most anything, it seems.

Still, I have a number of students who become “multiple percussionists” in church groups, school ensembles and other community groups. Those performances are live, and in the case of churches require a player that can cover a number of instruments, often two or more at one time, since most churches don’t have that many resident percussionists. It’s not Hollywood, but I suspect that the people appreciate the percussive sounds every bit as much as Emil Richards’ listeners. Enjoy every chance that you get to play!

Teaching drum lessons in Raleigh is no different than teaching anywhere else. Students have varying levels of motivation and innate talent. They all have different interests, and will all go different ways. When students starts lessons, I have no idea what they will be doing with drums and percussion instruments for the rest of their lives, but here are a few examples of what my students are doing now; college pep band, steel pan band, Christian rock bands, university and regional orchestras, musical theater, jazz, rock and pop groups. I always try to keep an open mind, and work to give each and every student a path to the things that they need to start the journey. The fun is watching them travel.

I heard of Joe Morello’s passing, and like many, noted it with some sadness. I saw Joe in the mid 1960’s in concert with Dave Brubeck. Seeing the Dave Brubeck Quartet was a big moment in my life as a drummer. But what was most amazing was the fact that Paul Desmond, sax player for the quartet, was unable to make the gig. What I heard was a perfectly seamless performance by a piano trio. I was knocked out by the fact that rhythm section players could so comfortably fill in for such a distinctive missing voice. Had I never heard the group as a quartet, I wouldn’t have imagined that it was anything but a trio.

What I got from that experience was the idea that the drummer could do things, however subtly, that could be woven into the musical fabric to make up for the loss of a melodic instrument. Joe did it without effort (so it seemed!), and with consummate taste. In later years, I saw Joe at a Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) where he talked about his approach. I later bought both of his Master Studies books, and realized that the comments that accompany the exercises are probably as valuable as the exercises themselves.

I hope that Joe realized that the length and breadth of his legacy as both a drummer and an instructor were and still are inestimable…