About me
I shudder to think it, but I've played the drums for over 40 years now! and have played a wide range of musical styles in a range of settings.
I'm a very experienced educator, having taught at universities and colleges in North America and Europe, and feel I have a strong ability to connect with learners, understand what's important to them, what their goals are and then guide them there.
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It's an eclectic and ever expanding range of music genres I like to listen to, but if you push me I'd have to say 70s and 80s British rock and pop are my favorites (Roxy Music, Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Police, The Who, Elvis Costello amongst many) as well as Jazz, Classical and Latin.
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I started teaching drums here in Cochrane a few years ago after the parents of my son's friend asked me to give him a few lessons; I really enjoyed sharing my knowledge and experience and from then have built a good solid client base of learners from 3 to the wrong side of 80, helping them towards all sorts of different musical goals.
I was born in Sheffield, England in 1966 (incidentally, the last time we won the World Cup!) I started playing drums around the age of 10, well actually they weren't drums, they were Quality Street tins with cellophane stretched over them, and I used my Nanan’s knitting needles for sticks. I was also lucky enough to get a few tips from my Uncle Mick , a well renowned jazz drummer locally, who even took me to see Buddy Rich a couple of times too at the Crucible theatre in town.
I took lessons from a couple of drum tutors over the years (one of whom taught Rick Allan of Def Leppard too!) played in a few bands (even playing in a good ol’ fashioned brass band for a while!) and kept on going; exploring all sorts of musical styles, and along the way studying, and copying! the styles of many of the true drumming greats like: John Bonham, Phil Collins, Joe Morello, Keith Moon, Stewart Copeland, Steve Gadd, and of course Uncle Mick’s favorite, Buddy Rich.
Hobbies and Interests
I volunteer for a Canadian charity called Catalyste+ and have travelled the world completing close to 30 assignments advising businesses on Marketing I am also an experienced and passionate photographer, often combining my overseas assignments with photographic adventures! I'm interested in Philosophy, Animal Rights, Art, Live Music and generally trying to understand this bizarre world we live in!
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I have been learning Spanish for a few years now and finally feel at least able to hold a basic conversation in it, but just like drumming, its a lifelong pursuit, and not a destination. Entiendes?!
I hold strong views on Animal Rights and Climate Change, the latter being the reason I started our ongoing tree planting program "Sticks to Branches" where 2 trees are planted for every lesson I give.
If the environment is important to you too, please consider trying ECOSIA as your search engine; It's just like Google BUT all the profits go to reforestation, with over 250 million trees planted to date.
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