Drums with Dan T.

I am a graduate of the Jazz Studies program at William Paterson University where I completed a degree in Jazz Performance. During my time at William Paterson, I studied privately with drumming greats such Horace Arnold, Bill Goodwin and Kevin Norton. I was also an active member of several different large and small ensembles under the direction of current jazz icons such as Mulgrew Miller, Paul Meyers, Chico Mendoza, Cecil Bridgewater, Bill Mobley, John Mosca, Rich DeRosa and Bill Goodwin. These days I am most commonly found freelancing both nationally and internationally with a number of artists in various musical settings. In the studio, I enjoy a blossoming career as a session drummer as well as maintaining a busy teaching schedule at Wayne Hills, Ridgewood, and Morris Hills High Schools as a Drum Instructor/Arranger since 2008. I am currently the staff Drum Instructor at The Modern Music Academy in Montclair, NJ, where I teach privately. My most recent project, Deleasa & The Foundation, an up-and-coming pop-rock outfit, recently finished a Latin American Tour opening for The Jonas Brothers appearing on major television networks such as E!, E! Latino, as well as Fox's Good Day New York. *** Lesson Details *** As an ever-growing musician who enjoys an active playing career outside of teaching, I like to place a strong emphasis on being a versatile player and technical mastery of the instrument. I stress that with a solid foundation of fundamentals that there is no limit to a student'€™s musical expression. *** Studio Equipment *** My Home Lesson Studio features 2 fully equipped Drum Sets, both with professional quality gear, providing a fun, interactive student and teacher play-along environment. The studio also features a student and teacher practice pad station,sticks, an extensive instructional library of books, videos, recordings,and any other form of media that supplement students lessons. Students will enjoy full audio and visual capabilities with studio quality sound featuring a dual headphone set up that allows students to play along to their favorite recordings alone or accompanied by me. For parents, the studio provides a comfortable waiting room just outside the lesson room, WiFi, and free readily available street parking. *** Specialties *** With my wide variety of experience in many different playing scenarios including Rock,Jazz, Reggae, Funk, Latin, Afro-Cuban, R&B and everything in between, I provide students with several different angles of perspective tailored to each individual students needs. The goal being that through good practice habits and work ethic each student develops a well-rounded understanding of the drums and a great overall sense of musicality while also having fun in the process.