Author: mydrumlessons

  • What kind of career can an education in music lead to?

    Ah! This is a good question. This is where the common man gets clueless, because, he thinks, if one studies an instrument, it is either to become a player or a teacher of that instrument and there are not necessarily any other avenues. Well, it remains to be seen. So, although I would concede that…

  • So young

    The challenge with very young pupil is to teach them anything. Or so the saying goes. But, I found out that, actually, they are quite receptive to knowledge. Young mind want to know, they want to grow, they want to learn. But, you have to find the key to unlock their brain. That is why…

  • How to train your left hand.

    In piano or drums, people are asked to become as ambidextrous as possible, meaning using the right hand and left hand with equal amount of skill. If you happen to have a dominant hand, the task can seem daunting. I remember spending many hours feeling frustrated by the clumsiness of my left hand. I would…

  • Here is what happened, part 2 (The revenge!)

    So, Bob was not doing good. And we talked. One of the difficult part of being a professional musician is to keep your confidence. By confidence, I mean self love, the drive, the energy to know you can do the job. Bob had to retain a little love and appreciation for his own talent in…

  • Here is what happened, part 1.

    The life of a musician is seen as chaotic, unpredictable, maybe even dangerous. And, although my life is fairly mundane and uneventful, it is common to experience dramatic upheaval as a working musician. A colleague was telling me about his band. They had a lot of gigs, the crowds seemed pleased with their performances, he…

  • Choosing a music teacher

    And here we are in September now, summer almost over, back to school time, the children thinking the fun is in the past, the parents looking to sign up their youngster for different activities. And if one wants to include music in their education, the question comes: how do you chose a piano teacher? How…

  • Drummers enter the academy

    The drum set is a very young instrument. Although there were some forms of dum set at the beginning of the 20th century, the instrument, as we know it, took its modern shape around the mid 1930’s with drummers like Gene Krupa. Little by little, after that, a drum set was more or less composed…

  • Technique 2. The fun part.

    Here is an exercise. You don’t necessarily need an instrument, you can use your voice. First, let’s think about summer. Make a sound, any sound with your voice. The summer gets hotter and more humid. Transform the sound you are making to match the description (don’t forget to breathe). If you want you can make…

  • Technique 1

    Learning music is a strange proposition. Many musicians get lost in it. If someone wants to learn music, surely it is with the intent of extending the vocabulary, the tools in the box, so to speak. And, I suppose, that much is true: if someone studies music thoroughly, they will be able to comprehend more…

  • Cold

    Human beings are always forced to cope with inertia. I’m talking about the object’s inertia. Which, by the way, I interpret as chaos. Take this harmless spoon, grab it firmly in your hand. Oh but, the fingers slip, the spoon lift up four inches from the table, come back down forcefully against the porcelain of…