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Sep 23, 2007 Drummer , Movie Maker and , Educator We would like to thank John for sharing his unique insights and spirited attitude towards music and the music industry.1. Who or what inspired you to learn music and more specifically drums? When I was four, my mom gave me the choice of drum lessons or Castle Grey Skull for a Christmas present. I choose drum lessons with the late Butch Tucker and got both. After 8 years or so of just going through the motions of taking lessons and just being a kid, I became inspired by my new step-brother Paul, who was also a drummer and a few grades ahead of me. Paul not only pulled me into an obsessive percussive lifestyle, but also introduced me to marching band. The moment he mentioned to me that a set of quads was like a four piece drumset, life was never the same for me. From seventh grade on, drumming has had a very high priority in my life. 2. Can you give us an idea of some of your favorite musicians, drummers you have listen to in the past, future or present? Right now, Jo Jo Mayer is absolutely my favorite drummer right now. His concept of reverse engineering is going to hopefully bring intelligence and passion for raw skill back into the drum industry, like it was present in the jazz era. Jeff Queen is a huge influence on me also right now because he is the first rudimental drummer to get mainstream commercial exposure with his DVD and Book package. His success is starting to open up really big doors for me, because of my dual market concentration. As far as drummers in the future that I will listen to, they will be the ones that are breaking all the rules, and breaking business models to create their own new markets, which will have a positive influence on inspiring drummers. 3. How is your approach unique and what sets it apart from the conventional school of drumming? I guess we have to define what the conventional school of drumming is. What school of drumming has been around the longest and has educated the most people over time? That would without a doubt be what’s referred to as classical or concert percussion. That’s the type of percussion instrumentation you would see supporting a concert band or wind ensemble. While study in this type of percussion setting is paramount to understanding basic musicianship and ensemble awareness, by performing easy music with typically only one person per instrument, the next step up the food chain is really where advanced education happens. This next step up is called Drumline, which is just one section of the marching band. The marching band is the biggest marketing and public relations tool any music department has. Drumline Instrumentation with advanced musical arrangements, forces more then one person per section, making ensemble cohesiveness, the highest priority for a successful ensemble. The Drumline segments of snare; tenor and bass all have unique educational characteristics, which can all be applied to drumset. My approach is unique from the conventional school of drumming because I focus heavily on rudimental strength and academic knowledge as the basis of drumset performance. 4. In your estimation why is Long Island lacking in the area of advanced drumline training? Long Island is lacking in advanced drumline training because there is virtually no marching band market. To my knowledge, there are no BOA bands on Long Island. This is Bad. BOA is Bands of America, and represents the national championships for American High School Marching Bands. I believe there is no marching band activity out here because of several factors. The main reason is there is no DCI, “Drum Corps International” {aka, World championships} representation out here. DCI is to competitive music what NFL is to football, minus the pay. If there was a DCI organization out here, because of the funding potential, due to Long Island having so much money, this organization could be one of the best in the World. If there were a DCI organization out here, most of the bands would follow suit in increasing the quality of their programs. Monkey see, Monkey do. After ten years of this market enhancement, you would have a whole new level of band directors that not only understand how important marching band is as the flagship of your entire music department, but they will take action to make sure their music department is properly represented in public at all costs. The only way you could pull off a DCI corps out here is to have it managed by full time professional music performers and teachers with roots in drum corps training. Children and young adults can see right through the heart of a hobbyist, so an organization this serious could not be effectively ran by part time music fans that do things like banking and carpentry during the day. 5. What do you consider to be the best way to change this and how would it benefit Long Island? The first thing is that we need to start an All Star Long Island Drumline. The drumline is the backbone to any marching organization, so it needs to be planted, nurtured and properly managed through all of its growing pains. Their needs to be maybe even two different drumlines, perhaps a Varsity and Junior Varsity Program. The Varsity program is where the best drummers in long island go to study military rudimental drumming at it’s best, while the JV program would work with perhaps non drummers that wish to learn how to properly strike a drum and improve their internal timing, blending skills, team working skills, leadership skills and more! How would this benefit Long Island? Wow, Just about every high school and college band director, out here on the island would have a fast wake up call. One by one, these music education professionals would see what happens when you obsessively plan and sweat really hard from working like you’ve never worked before. What happens is called success, and from that, people lives are changed forever in a very positive way. 6. Do you feel the schools (K-12) and universities can and will eventually integrate these methods and what would be the best way for them to make this come to life? Actually, the majority of Schools and Universities in the south, west and the great mid-west have been doing it right for decades. It’s a way of life for them. With a few exceptions, most of the entire northeastern section of this country is in some sort of a black hole. Look at the reverse; this same black hole represents the majority of the market base for DCA, Drum Corps Associates, which are the national championships for drum corps. DCA has such a following because the students, of all ages don’t get a solid music education in the schools, so they marching in an independent drum corps. There was at one time, a DCA corps on Long Island called the Long Island Sunrisers, but because of administrative mismanagement, it left the island. 7. The demo of your movie Drumline vs. Drumset was very good, when can we expect the finished product? Thank you. We are looking at spring of 2008. 8. Any advice you have for all the young and seasoned drummers out there? Yes. Learn your rudiments until they engulf your very way of thinking. Buddy Rich Did. 9. In conclusion would you like to add anything else to this interview? Yes. If I could use this time for a shameless plug, in efforts to help me make more money out here to help support my wife and our son, besides lessons, I am available to arrange for high school and college drumlines and conduct inspirational clinics. I am still also “as per time of this interview,” looking for a serious professional bandleader to work for. Please go to the Links below for an Mp3 and score of some musical examples of johns playing. Click here for Score Click here for MP3 View more Artist Spotlights |
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