Last Updated on Friday, 02 December 2011 22:46

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Jeff, Drum Teacher

Jeff teaches Drumset and Snare drum lessons at Rocktown Music.  A natural teacher, he's been sharing his drum technique and secrets since the beginning.  "I learn something and as soon as I get it, I teach someone else.  I'm like an information spout, as soon as I learn something cool I want to get it out to others... My first customer was my older sister!" 

Jeff has had drumsticks in his hand since he was a kid.  He played percussion in school band since his elementary years.  Then in middle school his family moved and he transferred schools, and school bands. "At that school there were, like thirteen people in the percussion section, out of only sixty kids total! ... They let me be the fourteenth... because they didn't want to tell me I couldn't play [without switching instruments]!"  That was a slightly frustrating experience for Jeff, being the newest guy in this school's band also made him lowest on the totem pole.  By the time the instrument assingments came down to Jeff and his buddy, "We had woodblocks and cowbells.  We hit quarter notes for every song.  We'd hit them so hard because we were so angry that this is what we had to do.  We even damaged a cowbell hitting it so hard."  Things improved in school band for Jeff by his senior year.  "I was the main percussionist and also the drumkit player in the Jazz Band."

Jeff sees drums as an instrument where it's okay to hold back.  "I'm an advocate of minimalist percussion."  Holding back is how a drummer shows his or her maturity.  That's the cool thing about drums.  Knowing when to play and when to let the other musicians in the band hold it down.   "Everyone's about playing fast, playing toms..." Jeff is not so sure he agrees. "Get the beat down, fine.  How about getting the beat down with dynamics?  Without dynamics it fails.  You could get ahead of yourself trying to get as fast as possible.  I can see where people are struggling, and the thing that helps is to put your precision before showing off."  This is the kind of philosophy that becomes apparent for students taking lessons with Jeff.

One thing he really likes about lessons is that you get a coach to help you through the tough parts. "People spend so much time being discouraged, and if you get discouraged, you're not going to try."  How do you keep from getting dicouraged?  "Play it until you're frustrated, take a whole day off, let it soak in.  If you've heard it, the beat is going to keep playing in your head.  Even if you don't get it when you get back to it, it's still going to get better."  Jeff points to a transcription of a complicated rock beat.  "This beat right here... I remember spending an hour trying to get it.  2 days later I could just play it.  It lived on and it just came right out.  No struggle."  And that's where lessons come in.  It keeps you playing, and encourages you to work through the struggle.  "The journey is the reward.  I think that's a Buddhist quote.  I probably shouldn't get too philosophical, but that's what it's about. "

Jeff runs his own indie record label, Lost Cat Records.  They do mostly 7" vinyls and tapes.  "Tapes are romantic.  Tapes are cool.  I like tapes still.  They don't sound the best, but, they're tapes.  Multi-track recording on a tape... you can't do that on a cd, without a digital interface.  But with tapes...oh man."  He laughs.

Like all Rocktown Music teachers, Jeff is experienced on the stage.  He is the guitar player and vocalist in a local band called Thanks.  "[Playing Live] teaches you to appreciate what other musicians are doing."  You learn about what makes a song work in front of an audience from each musician's perspective.  Not everyone has had the same vocabulary, the same training, the same instruction, if any.    "It's nice to have a full band, even if we're not the best musicians...Anytime you can make more money than you can spend on gas and food..." that's a win!   "When our album came out, it was #16 at electric fetus... someone even shoplifted it!  It was cool that people apprecitated what we were doing."