How many others on here are drummers??

I know there's one (with a Premier Cabria in a startling blue wrap and a nice Ajax ride!) coz I spoke to you at Woodford Green...

Any more?

I think I'm more of a percussionist, but I still play plenty of drums.

Hi Manek,

My son's a drummer and he was in the audience at Woodford Green too - the tall skinny young teenager with blonde hair cut in very distinctive style, and wearing black nail polish (I blame his parents!)

Are you the nice young man I was chatting with, who came along with his dad?!

Amber
x

Lol... I'm not sure about "nice young man" but yes, you did speak to me after concert!!



And I noticed your son too (there's a word for people like that! ) but never got a chance to speak to him about drums... How long has he been playing??

I guess about two and a half years now, as he got his first kit as a Christmas present. He was self taught originally as we couldn't find him a teacher, but now he has lessons at school. Did you have difficulty finding a teacher?

Well I thought you seemed nice!

Ambs
x

The other members of his band are coming round to practice tomorrow, as there's a concert coming up at his school. The bass player is bringing his BIG amp!!! The neighbours are so going to love us!

Hi Manek!

My son plays the drums; he's been playing now for about 3 years, mostly self taught but has occasional lessons from a really good teacher when he has the time.

Last christmas he got a new kit- Mapex m birch series in honey amber with a mixture of paiste, zildjian, meinl and wuhan cymbals. He likes the Mapex and was wondering which kit do you play?

He practices rather a lot, usually when we are trying to listen to the news

He'd love to go to drum school, but we don't know much about them and where they are held...

Hi Manek I am the owner of the Ajax ride cymbal (its still not for sale! see me in another 40 years!! ). the replies so far make me feel positively ancient (I am old enough as it is). The Cabria kit is a new acquisition after some 35-40 years with my old one and I am still adjusting the position of it all, as well as relearning all I have forgotten but it is still great fun (for me, I don't know about the neighbours?? ) I look forward to meeting you again at future forum concerts

The Light Beat

Well, I started learning at school (primary school) but after two years we moved to a private teacher... At the time, he was relatively new to teaching, but is now a lot more experienced - he has now taught me for 9 years, which makes me his longest-standing student!!


As for bass amps - in my old band, the bassist had a Peavey-115 amp which was so heavy it took two of us to lift it... On the last day of term a couple of years ago, we went to a deserted classroom in the school and removed the wheels from the bottom of the teacher's office-chair to put them on the bottom of the amp! But before we'd got them all off, the teacher walked in (we were unscrewing the fourth wheel at the time) and we had to put them all back!



If anyone's interested in a full gear list, I could post it here (but won't unless people want it, as it's rather long!) or you can find it on my website... A brief synopsis of what I use, however...

I have two kits - a brand new Premier Series, and a 50-year-old Vintage Premier kit from the late 1940's or early 1950's... I use Paiste and UFIP cymbals... Remo heads... A mixture of hardware, but mainly a Gibraltar rack system, Premier 4000-Series stands and Premier 6000-Series pedals... And ofc, the best drumsticks in the world! Pellwood Profession Drumsticks from Prague in the Czech Republic!


Like I say - if anyone wants to know more about this, please do ask! Or look it up on my website!


And as for the neighbours - you'd think it would be very awkward, as the people on one side of us have three young children (who come complete with obligatory early bed-times!) whilst the guy on the other side works night-shifts and likes to sleep during the daytime!!

But actually, it couldn't be simpler! They're all really understanding, and all like my playing (wow!) so I tend to play any time from around 0900 to 2030 during the day!

Yesterday's band practice was LOUD!!! But good though!

The bass player's grandmother dropped him off and said, "I hope he's going to be ok as he hasn't had his tablet today". This 15 year old has ADHD, so I really wasn't sure what to expect. But he was fine really - certainly made his presence felt, but it wasn't a problem. I struggle with the concept of sticking kids on Ritalin anyway, so I'm glad he got through the day without it.

We are really lucky with our neighbours. They say nice comments like how much Nils has come on with his playing, and that they enjoy listening to it. We do have to be aware of next door's five year old's bedtimes though, which means no drums from 7.30 onwards. It was a nuisance at first because we used to have the rule of no-drumming-before-the-rest-of-your-homework-is-done, but now it just means drums before homework!

I'm not too sure about Nils' drum teacher. He told Nils that he plays to Grade 5 level, but he's put him in to Grade 3 exam this term. It seems a bit strange. I'm tempted to ring him to discuss it, but I don't want to come across as a pushy mum, and I'd much rather Nils did well at Grade 3 rather than struggle at Grade 5 because I don't want anything to knock his confidence.



Amber
x

What exam board is that?? Have you considered discussing the possibility of Gr4 with the teacher??

Do try and talk to the teacher - it will (imho!) make you seem an interested and supportive mum, rather than a pushy mum! After all - teachers and school and at college give feedback to the parents of the students (parents' evening, school reports, letters home - oh the joys etc...!) so why shouldn't a music teacher?



And, surely you know... Drums should ALWAYS come before homework!!

It's "Rockschool". The application form's gone off now, so I don't know if we could change it. But I think I will give him a phone call anyway.

Be careful with Rockschool grades...

Although there's nothing wrong with them in themselves, and can be very good experience as well, some people don't view them as proper grades...

If Nils is hoping to take music to a higher level (GCSE or A-Level Music/Music Tech) then it's probably advisable to do Gr5 (at least) with a more "conventional" board as well... LCM/Trinity-Guildhall/ABRSM etc... (Although, tbph, I would go for LCM or Trinity-Guildhall when it comes to drumkit exams - not that I said that or anything!)

My son says- "nice drums!, do you have a video of you playing them?"

No videos as yet...


I can send you a recording of my old band though, if you want... PM me if you're interested!

From our experience with Rockschool it might be as well to go for Grade 3 and then perhaps Grade 5 to get a feel for the exam.

My daughter did Grade 3 in the summer, she's not been having lessons for a while because of going into Yr10 and the difficulty of missing lessons. She is going to start again fairly soon, back to back with Percussion. She's only got this opportunity because people tend not to want ot play in Orchestra and she usually gets drafted in.

How did your daughter find the Grade 3 exam?



Amber
x

I have the Rockschool books for Grades 3, 5 and 8...


If anyone wants scans or something... And I have all the tracks (with and without drums) available...

She did ok really considering that her lessons were only 10 mins long and the teacher had quite alot of time off. She achieved a solid pass (2 marks off Merit) she did do Grade 1 and 2 and scored good merits on each one. the biggest problem with the Grade 3 seemed to be that she was not playing to the music according to the mark sheet. She has been playing about 2 1/2 years.

I find the Rockschool exams a little hard to predict this might be because my knowledge of drumming is even less than that of the woodwind instruments and I've not had the same chances to learn about it. Anyway my daughter can't be that bad as she plays in the Youth Orchestra and they are always quite pleased with her.

I play drums for a brass band- originally tuned percussion but the other two percussion people have left in the last six months. I would not consider myself a drummer apart from the concerts and tuesday noght rehearsals!!
Got involved to help new kids to be able to follow music and learn the new notes, and then was asked very kindly- with fluttering eyes- by the conductor to join the percussion section- that was 3yrs ago.

Sounds familiar to how my daughter ended up playing in Orchestra. Although she was sitting around waiting for her sisters lesson to finish so it saved her being bored!

I'm a drummer...

Only cause I have access to one wherever i go...

They follow me and haunt me in my dreams.

Aye, I could be called a drummer I suppose Took a year of lessons on the kit - got grade 6 done. Cant afford them at the moment though, as I'm saving up to upgrade my flute - actually contemplating selling my kit (which by the way is a Sonor model) to finance this, but, drums were always a dream of mine to be able to play!

Cool...

Don't give up Symphony - don't sell the kit! You WILL regret it!

I'm a drummer!
not a particularly good one though...

I can play Billie Jean on drums!

I am cool.

Count me in.