Tag: piano drum teacher

We are all too familiar with the demons of our modern life. There is the phone. That’s a huge distraction. Instead of enjoying the solo of this amazing piano player, we are busy trying to get the performance inside the screen of our phones. Instead of listening to the wind going through the leaves of…

I just made a piece of furniture. I do some woodwork. I am not an expert, by any means, but it doesn’t matter because, sometimes, I am proud of what I accomplish. For example, I was beaming yesterday when I outfitted my daughter’s room with a window seat. I call it a “Lady-reader” because I…

My son has been drumming all his life. He picked up a pair of sticks, he was three years old. Has never let go since. He’s now fifteen years old. I give him some drum lessons (severely discounted, of course, I can’t afford my own services at full price. Hahaha!). He loves to play. So…

When I started teaching I was crazy. No, not crazy as in insane, crazy as uninformed. I thought I was there just to pass on some data. Now, I know I already covered that topic, but bare with me for another sentence or two. I was crazy because, for example, I crammed everything I knew…

It is sometimes difficult to make a student (especially a young one) understand the concept of growth. If we start an exercise like one strike per hand, it will take probably a good six month before one is able to reach such speed that it will sound like a continuous buzz, or, to use the…

My business is one that accepts all people. I teach students that are 5 years to 70 years old. In that wide range, there are some categories. The young ones are from 5 to 10 or 11 years old. Then comes the teenagers. These are pupils that are between 11 or 12 years old to…

As the people who follow this blog know, I have a family band. It’s called “The little G Band”. If I can, I’ll attach a link to our promo video. We usually play concert inside. And usually we invite as many people as possible and we try to deliver as energetic of a show as…

When I first started to teach, I was doing technique a certain way, the way I was taught. At the conservatory or at Berklee, I learnt how to hold a pair of sticks, get some speed, do some combination of stroke, etc. And all of that is fine and great. So, when I got my…

The job of a musician is not a job. I mean that being a musician could be so many thing that there is no such thing as being a musician per say. One can be a producer. One can be a player. A teacher. A promoter (Simon Cowell). A composer. A DJ. A performer (Stomp!).…

If you ever watched “Kitchen Nightmare” with Gordon Ramsay, it becomes quickly apparent that although a prompt service is really important in the restaurant business, it is nothing compared to what is in the plate. What about the decor, the music, the atmosphere? Those are a maybe. But the sauce with the twang, the tenderness…