Tomorrow is rock band rehearsal day. I'm on drum kit. Here is the process I follow to prepare, which you may find helpful.

1. I have a set list of the 10 tunes sent to me earlier.
2. I've made a play list of the tunes. I've listened enough times to have internalized the music in a general sense. 
3. I've written out the drum charts by ear and scored them.
4. I practice with to the tracks.
5. I've made a list of the tempos so that I can call them out tomorrow for the band. 
6. I studiously do my pad work with a metronome daily.
7. I will to bed early this evening. 
8. I've tuned the drums, they are ready to Rock! I'm packing a 4 piece Yamaha Club Custom set with 22'' bass drum and a set of Zildjian Custom A cymbals. 
9. I will stretch carefully today and tomorrow. Sixty-two year drummers need to warm-up carefully. 

​If I can help you get ready for your rock band practice, call me. 

​David

Boom wacka boom! After this damn pandemic is done, I'm looking forward to playing again in concert band. In anticipation, I'm getting ready. 

​David

Sign me up!

"I lit our kit with little lasers mounted underneath each drum with mic clamps. Looks amazing. And the lights bounce around when you play."
 
Awesome Dave!

A decade of playing the drums I've learned a thing or two about finding other musicians to play with. 

1st some prerequisites

1. Lose your shyness. The faint of heart never won the fair maiden.
   
2. Know your worth. If you're not quite sure where you sit in the drum pantheon, ask your teacher. They'll give you some honest assessment and a few ideas.
3. My ability to read music and follow a conductor from my activities as a pianist really helped me out.

Now let's go hunting.

1. I played for a year in private, in the practice studio before I ventured out into the world. 
   
2. First stop was the Burlington community concert band. This was a band that didn't require auditions, wink wink. I heard they needed another percussionist. I was prepared to play triangle. The night I arrived there was no drummer behind the drum set. So they ask me, "you play drums?" I said yes,  I sat in and sight read for the next two hours, they said you got the spot. Next week I was playing an outdoor concert bashing my way through Hawaii 50 TV theme.  I was terrified. But I made it through with my dignity more or less intact. I stayed for the next couple years. It was really really fun. I miss that bunch.
   
3. Up next I started a jazz band that met a few times a month in a community center in Oakville.  One of my adult jazz students played piano. The conductor of the Hamilton concert band played upright bass. My student, the pianist, was a guitar teacher, he invited one of his adults students to play guitar. We were a band. 
   
4. Along the way I joined the Hamilton concert band, which was another community band They did want to hear me before I joined. That was fun too. Then I moved to Toronto and started all over.

up next: Off to the big smoke

​David

Drummer in a blender. Now that's an image. That is a big part of the attraction for many kids. 

Kinetic energy. Loud noise. Excitement.

The second part?

The word "Play". Kids don't want another chore in their lives. The natural state for many kids is running in circles screaming in joy. They just want to have fun. 

Drums supply that to kids of all ages. I know from personal experience. I've marched in two parades in through the French Quarter of New Orleans. It was insane fun. Loud and very silly. Thousands of happy people watching in amazement. Check that off my bucket list.

Call me. 

David