Drumming Mad 2
Xanten
April 21/22, 2007
Some drummers arrived to the modern youth hostel on Friday night and after a bight to eat in the mediaeval town we took out our sticks and pads and had an improvisational free for all session with Steven. Steven also played through some of his new scores and salute material which was received with great enthusiasm.
The first morning we kicked off into the program and after all the introductions the tenors split into their class and Steven and Dean took all the snare drummers through a warmup pad session. Dance time was the theme and we learnt new rudiments and phrases in jig time. The great thing about jig time phrases is that they really help us to play simple time marches better.
As with all Drumming Mad courses, we focus more on rudiments and phrases than actual scores. This gives the player better "tools" and opportunity to work on their own scores after the workshop has concluded and everyone returns to their own material. We finished the first day's session with a round on the drums playing all the standards and the Beginner Drum Salute with great enthusiasm.
After lunch it was more pad work combined with a tuning session. The intermediate group went out into the sunshine ont the drums for expression work, the 1st advanced group worked on with their rudimental development and the tenors worked on flourishing. The masterclass advanced group worked on their MSR and hornpipe material which was a great opportunity for the class to receive important tips and rudiments from the solo champion to support their MSR playing.
"No mistakes boys" ;-)
"Coffee Break"
A message to all the students that came is to remember that the workshop only gives you your new direction, you have to continue the work yourself at home, that is when the real long lasting improvement happens. This means to practice hard, take notes and try to apply all the tips and knowledge that you received at Drumming Mad.
So to any drummer who wasn't there, you have really missed a great workshop but don't dispair! Plans are underway for another workshop in the NRW area with Steven!! Keep tuned to Drumming Mad news for all the latest developments. We also have a "workshop email notification service", if you are interested please click here for the email address and request to be included.
A big thank you goes to the sponsors of Drumming Mad 2 Xanten 2007
Well done to all participants who competed the course and we look forward to seeing you at another Drumming Mad Workshop in 2007!!
Dean J Hall, Drumming Mad Workshops 2007
The Drumming Mad Xanten Instructor Team 2007
