You have this exercise your teacher has just given you. You understand what it’s about, the concept is clear in your head, only the body doesn’t want to do it. You hesitate, you skip, you trip, you stumble. Bad vibes all over! You can feel your shoulders tightening,Read More

We are about to deconfine. Yet, in Chicago it’s still cold and wet, the weather is welcoming 1 day, the other 10 it’s not. You look at the sky through the windows and you get a runny nose. Because we still are in the flu season.  Oh, I know. For the ones who areRead More

Our society is geared from the outside in. What I mean by that is that we are all supposed to draw our happiness from exterior stimulus. “Buy this product, you deserve it!” “Drink this to feel better!”, “Eat this and you’ll be happy!”.Read More

You are interested in learning the drums. You got yourself a pair of sticks. You have ruined a couple of furniture expressing that boiling desire to become a drummer, but there are only so much exercises you can dream up on your own. So, you go online and find some videos on theRead More

Take a rock rhythm on the drum set, a simple 4/4 beat. What do you start it with? The bass drum! That’s right. The order is almost always bass/snare-bass/snare. Millions of people have boogied with that simple and efficient combo. Are you looking for a new style, somethingRead More

I always recommend to my students to explore the instrument they’re interested in. By that, in the simplest terms, I mean this: mess around. Every time I give this advice, though, I imagine the player on his drums pouring speed from his wrists while pouring sweat out of hisRead More

If you’ve been following the news, you know that the music industry is on hold. No concerts. No studio sessions. No albums being produced. No shows on Broadway or anywhere else. And, insofar as we know, the summer has been cancelled. No festivals, no weddings, no form ofRead More

Three! The question is how many voices on the drums? Let’s count them: Bass drum 1, snare drum 2, hi hat 3. Three. In rock’n roll,  that’s it. It’s always three. Wow, that one was easy. Not quite. Let’s suppose you move your right hand (if you areRead More

This question can seem naive but it needs to be taken seriously. On the internet it is the most asked question about the piano. Or about the drums. Or about any instrument. People want to know how long it takes before they can play. The answer is not easy for two simple reasons:Read More

What is the difference between teaching in person and teaching online? A few. First and foremost, technology has to work. If your connection isn’t good, you waste time, time for which you are paid for, go get a new modem. Second is what you see. A lot of students useRead More