Category: Music

All things music related

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Drum Setups

Addams Family/ActorSingers
The Full Monty/Acting Out!
Songs For A New World/SIVA
42nd Street/Actors Inc
Mamma Mia/ActorSingers
Home Studio
Seussical/Gann Academy
Bye Bye Birdie/Nashua North
Heathers/Bentley University
DurginHall/UML
Sound of Music/ACT
Young Frankenstein/ACT
Spoiler
Godspell/ACT
Gospell/ACT
Home
Into the Woods/ACT
Oliver/ACT
Children of Eden/VoH
HS Musical/Guys and Dolls
Requiem
VoH Gala/NS Music Theater
Annie/Littleton MS
Wizard of Oz/Nashua
Recording/UML
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Required Listening for the Young Drummer

*THIS ARTICLE IS A WORK IN PROGRESS*

These songs are for inspiration and feel – not necessarily for the beginning drummer to cover (though some of them aren’t too far out of reach, and are on this list more to expose the drummer to new kind of music)

  • Dave Weckl – 7th Avenue South
    • This song speaks for itself – listen to the way Dave can seem so far from the established beat, but still be right there in it.  As you improve as a drummer, you’ll notice that you don’t need to count 1-2-3-4 anymore, it just becomes part of you.  You’ll start to intuitively know exactly where you are inside of increasingly larger musical phrases.  Dave takes this to the extreme.
  • Dave Brubeck Quartet – Take 5
    • This should be in any musicians’ vocabulary.  You’ve heard and played songs in standard 4/4 time, maybe even a few in 3/4 or 6/8.  This is one of the first tunes to hit the mainstream featuring a truly odd meter – 5/4.  Listen a few times and get a feel for it. Count 1-2-3-4-5 if it helps.  Now break that up into 1-2-3 1-2.  When you’ve got the feel, try to find other songs that incorporate odd meters and see if you can count them out and break them up into smaller feels.
  • Dave Matthews Band – Ants Marching
    • Carter Beauford is one of the best.  Here, listen to high hi-hat technique.  He uses a similar technique in almost all of his music, and it lends a beautiful chaos the the resulting drum line.
  • Dream Theater – A Change of Seasons
    • This is Mike Portnoy’s opus, in my opinion.  Odd meters, double bass proficiency, a survey of 100 different styles and time signatures, and belligerently solid drum solos.  Turn it up and enjoy.
  • Elvin Jones – Dear John C.
    • Elvin played with John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Joe Farrell, Jimmy Garrison, and a bunch of other folks.  The drum seat in Coltrane’s quartet was so heavily coveted that it’s hard to think of Elvin Jones as anything but the best in Jazz history.  As you listen to Dear John C., pay attention to how Elvin uses (and doesn’t use) his Bass drum.  It’s less a timekeeping element, and more of a melodic accent.
  • Led Zeppelin – Fool in the Rain
    • This tune has a phenominal broken triplet feel on the hihats, and the whole way through John Bonham seems to ooze ghost notes on the snare.  This is a rare departure from the norm within Classic Rock.
  • Michael Jackson – Smooth Criminal
  • Paul Simon – 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
  • Pearl Jam – Alive
  • Pink Floyd – Any Colour You Like
  • Primus – John the Fisherman
  • Rush – YYZ
  • Stevie Ray Vaughan – Crossfire
  • Stevie Wonder – Contusion
  • Toto – Rosanna
  • Tower of Power – What is Hip?
  • Van Halen – Hot for Teacher (content warning?)

Get a copy here

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Musical Resume

I play drums and percussion for local musicals in Northeast Massachusetts.  Here’s a list of shows I’ve played:

  • Andover HS Show Choir Competition Season (Drumset, 2024)
  • High School Musical (Tewksbury High School, Percussion, 2023)
  • Songs For A New World (VoH Special Concert, DrumSet/Band Leader, 2023)
  • Voices of Hope Fall Gala (Music Director, Drums/Percussion, NSMT, 2023)
  • Beehive, the 60’s Musical (Sub Drummer, Greater Boston Stage, 2023)
  • The Music Man (Voices of Hope, North Shore Music Theater, 2023)
  • In The Heights (Revere High School, 2023)
  • Mean Girls (Lawrence Academy, Groton Ma 2023)
  • Andover HS Show Choir Competition Season (Drumset, 2023)
  • Freaky Friday (Nashua North High School, 2022)
  • Rent (Sub Drums, Umbrella Center for Performing Arts, 2022)
  • Voices of Hope Fall Gala (Music Director, Drums/Percussion, NSMT, 2022)
  • Addams Family (Nashua North HS, 2022)
  • A Grand Night For Singing (Music Director, Pit Conductor, Perc, Voices of Hope, 2022)
  • Matilda (Acting Out!, 2021)
  • Lights Up on Herter Park (Reagle Theatre, 2021)
  • ——- Pandemic ——-
  • The Addams Family (ActorSingers, 2019)
  • Voices of Hope Fall Gala (NSMT, 2019)
  • The Full Monty (Acting Out!, 2019)
  • Songs For A New World (SIVA, 2019)
  • Rent (SIVA, 2019)
  • Mamma Mia (ActorSingers, 2019)
  • 42nd Street (Actor’s Inc, 2019)
  • Seussical (Gann Academy, 2019)
  • Bye, Bye, Birdie (Nashua North, 2018)
  • Heathers (Bentley College, 2018)
  • Voices of Hope Fall Gala (North Shore Music Theater, 2018)
  • Legally Blonde (Greater Boston Stage Company, 2018)
  • Big Fish (Greater Boston Stage Company, Act 3 2018)
  • Pippin (Greater Boston Stage Company, Act 3 2018)
  • Into The Woods (Marblehead Little Theater, 2018)
  • Company (Burlington Players, 2018)
  • Beauty and the Beast (Actors Inc, 2018)
  • Hello Dolly (Littleton High School, 2018)
  • Fiddler on the Roof (Gann Academy 2018)
  • Rent (Lawrence Academy, 2018)
  • Wizard of Oz (Nashua North, 2017)
  • Annie (Littleton Middle School, 2017)
  • Voices of Hope Fall Gala (North Shore Music Theater, 2017)
  • Guys and Dolls (Stoneham Theater, 2017)
  • Disney’s High School Musical (Stoneham Theater, 2017)
  • Children of Eden (Voices of Hope, North Shore Music Theater, 2017)
  • The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Gann Academy, 2017)
  • Cinderella (Nashua North, 2016)
  • Oliver (Spotlight, 2016)
  • Heathers (ACT 2016)
  • Addams Family (ACT, 2016)
  • Damn Yankees (Nashua, 2016)
  • Godspell (ACT, 2016)
  • Seussical the Musical (ACT, 2015)
  • Beauty and the Beast (Andover MS, 2015)
  • Peter Pan (Lawrence HS, 2015)
  • Avenue Q (ACT, 2015)
  • Fiddler on the Roof (ACT, 2015)
  • Young Frankenstein (ACT, 2014)
  • Sound of Music (ACT, 2014)
  • Cabaret (Governor Dummer Academy, 2002)

And you can view a gallery of some of my Drum Setups here

If you need a drummer/percussionist for a show, drop me a line.  I’d love to play with you.

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