Drums with John L.

Education: Private Lessons. 1950 J.Burns Moore(Snare Drum) 1953 Sam Ulano, New York, NY, (Drum Set) 1954 Cozy Cole, New York, NY, (Drum Set) 1960 Al Gardella, New Haven, CT, (Drum Set) 1969 Saul Goodman, (Principle Percussionist New York Philharmonic), (Tympani) Teaching experience: 1960 1963 Percussion instructor Milford CT. Shoreliners Drum & Bugle Corps 1967-1975 Private instruction New Haven CT. 1991-present Private instruction. Playing experience: I have been playing professionally since 1960. Beginning with innumerable casual gigs around NYC, NJ, and CT. I then "graduated" to a brief tour (3 months) with Victor Zembrusky and his Polish Eagle Orchestra (a major polka band, polka is an early form of Punk Music). As a member of the "house rhythm section" at Dangerfields Club in New York I was privileged to play dates for many headliners including Peggy Lee, Al DeMeola, Mel Torme, and others. I was also fortunate to have been selected to play for Peggy Lee during a brief 6 week tour throughout New England. (Peg's regular drummer had to leave her tour in NYC. Regrettably he returned in great health despite my having consulted a voodoo priestess to insure otherwise.) I was a member of the Connecticut Hurricanes Senior Drum and Bugle Corps durring their 1966-1967 National championship seasons. Since moving to Washington in 1984 I have played and recorded jazz, pop and classical sessions all over the Northwest. Notable local Artists I have accompanied include: Anne Pell, Denny Gore, Peter Toyne, Ken Olenforf, Johnny Z, Lee Brumley, Hans Bremmer, Chris Smellow, Richard Thompson and Bonnie Murphy pianists. Bud Hellner, Alan Simcoe, Joe Euro, and Peter Toyne guitarists. Peter Manning, Niel Conaty, Ted Enderly, Paul Lewis, and the late Leroy Vinnegar on Bass. Local vocalists whom I have had the privilege of supporting include: Bonnie Bridges, Trish Hately, Jenny Davis and Toby Schnider. I have also played for many community performing arts organizations including The BPA, The Bainbridge Chorale, Bainbridge Orchestra, Orchestra Northwest and various musical productions. My pedagogic method is to build my students' technical and intellectual vocabularies. Thus I teach "from first principles". I believe that in order to make musical sense of an instrument that can play no definite pitches the musician must be fully equipped to express herself in terms of all of the possibilities for expression the instrument possess. Philosophically, it is my objective to fully prepare my students to enjoy the music making process. We study musical styles, history, song construction, criticism, and ensemble playing. Adjudication experience: Drum Corps International, Drum Corps Associates, State level solo and Ensemble competitions. Professional Organizations: Percussive Arts Society, National Association of Music Educators,United States Association of Rudimental Drummers