Drum Lessons in Ridley Park, PA

Instruments: Drums Recorder Mallet Percussion Orchestral Percussion Conga Latin Percussion

My teaching style is fully interactive. As a teacher of both music and computers, I was never a dictatorial teacher. Other teachers, even young ones, that everyone was up and around. Talking to each other. Some listening to music. Whatever style fits the learner. You cannot "cheat" in music performance. Either you can do it or you cannot. Everyone does not learn the same way, so everyone should not be taught the same way. Read More

Instruments: Piano Drums Mallet Percussion Conga Djembe

Playing the Drum Set requires strength in a few key areas. Hand to Hand Coordination, 4 limb interdependence , rhythm vocabulary and Timing. No matter what your skill level is we'll always need to maintain it. The saying is, "if you don't use it you lose it". No matter your skill level I believe it's important to understand what it takes to maintain the physical performance on your instrument. That's why I encourage students to memorize songs and exercises. Read More

Instruments: Drums Mallet Percussion Orchestral Percussion

I have 3 years of teaching experience, beginning when I was in college. I highly encourage regular practice because it gets the student comfortable with the fundamentals of their instrument. Eventually, this will allow creative freedom for them as they progress with their studies. I want my students to feel confident about their progress and abilities, so I encourage them to play with other musicians. Being a part of rhythm section can be a fun but pressuring aspect of being in an ensemble. Read More

Instruments: Drums

I try to cater my methods to the individual students goals and personality, however ultimately utilizing the same materials. Stick Control by George Lawrence Stone is a great tool for drummers. It offers simple, effective patterns for developing technique, skill, and vocabulary. It can be used intensively or casually as we borrow concepts and patterns to work with. Rudiments are the foundation of quality drumming and they can be developed using this book as well. Read More

Instruments: Guitar Trumpet Drums Bass Guitar Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

Fundamentals! For those who are just beginning, we'll cover the basics of the instrument, posture, form, and start to dig into bits of music notation and theory. For those who have spent some time on their instrument already, we'll work together to come up with a direction and some musical goals to work towards. It's important that we're focusing on learning technique and building capacity on our instrument, and it's also equally as important to make sure we're applying those techniques to music that the student wants to learn and play. Read More

Instruments: Drums Synthesizer Djembe

Students are encouraged to say the play of each voice independently to foster coordination independence as conscious control. My Seven Shapes system provides foundation for the commonalities and distinctions across whatever course of songs they study. For more intermediate students, we take on more challenging songs, exercise greater stick control w/ compound rudiments, and chart entire drum parts of whole songs. Intermediate and Advanced students focus on the specific motifs and skills of more distinct and challenging drumming; speed/endurance for punk/metal, groove and phrasing for hip-hop and pop 4-way independence for latin and afro-cuban, shuffle feel open/improvisational song-form for blues and jazz, Advanced students also learn odd-meter, poly-meter, polyrhythms and ostinato from both traditional African/Indian musics and contemporary progressive examples. Read More