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Beginner, Intermediate, AdvancedAbout Peter M.
I am a student of various great drum teachers from many backgrounds. Experienced players enjoy jamming with me, but I have been told that I am especially gifted at helping beginners feel comfortable finding rhythms and sounds out of any instrument, including the human body. Rhythmic breathing is made simple and encouraged from the start. Tones and drum patterns can be explained verbally or written mathematically. Students remember the patterns forever, as well as gaining comfort in playing with other drummers or instruments. Odd time signatures or complicated songs can be tackled and easily learned. Use any drum or percussion instrument you have! Recordings are encouraged if you like!
Peter grew up in Chicago, raised to love soulful music. A graduate of Northwestern University's Performance Studies program with a focus on Theatre and Media Arts, Public Speaking, and Ethnology. Designing percussion for stage and dance lead to studies and teaching of North and West African, Middle Eastern drum, Caribbean/South American and Asian drum and percussion rhythms. First hand experience has been gained by living in Morocco and South Korea for nearly a year each, studying and documenting folk music.
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Co-Director / Instructor
May 1998 - PresentPrivate Studio
Community-minded rhythm instruction with a focus on hand drums. Stick drumming with a focus on New Orleans-style marching bass drum and percussion (bell/block/tamborine) also a specialty. Elements of conscious breathing and comfortable movement are adapted to whichever level of experience and instrument you are working with. A world of influences allows for a variety of methods for learning and memorizing patterns which may be written, spoken, sung, or improvised. Groups large or small will benefit from our ability to customize the experience to the participants and location.
Percussion/Stage Director
Mar 1998 - PresentEnvironmental Encroachment
Chicago performance art group Environmental Encroachment (EE) uses an artist marching band and theatrics to create unique entertainment environments. Performances can include costumes, live music, parades, fire spinning, hula hoops, antics, and audience interaction. EE Marching Band’s music uses Latin, North African, and traditional American rhythms, fused with a full brass section and on-call electric bass. Songs are folkloric fusions, classics and our creations inspired from New Orleans Second Line, Jazz and Rock. EE’s magic circus marching band has evolved as part of a new genre of music: HONK! bands! "Across the country and around the world, a new type of street band is emerging. Acoustic and mobile, borrowing repertoire and inspiration from a diverse set of folk music traditions – New Orleans second line brass bands, European Klezmer, Balkan and Romani music, Brazilian Afro Bloc and Frevo traditions, as well as the passion and spirit of Mardi Gras and Carnival– these “honkers” all share a commitment to several core principles. Metaphorically speaking, they honk their horns for the same reasons motorists honk theirs: to arouse fellow travelers, to warn of danger, to celebrate milestones, and to just plain have fun.” EE has done and can do parades, weddings, funerals, historical re-enactments, children’s shows, Halloween shows, street busking, second-line, festivals, performance workshops, rituals, marching band flags, circusesque sideshows, music for burlesque, vaudevillian skits, straight out music jams and synchronized swimming with tubas. Environmental Encroachment started in 1996, with playground installations and live music interactions for people to play, be childlike, curious, free and happy. Select Festivals: Electric Forest Sourth By Southwest Lollapalooza RIOT Fest Chicago World Music Festival HONK! Street Band Festivals (Seattle, Boston, Providence, Austin) Burning Man Houston Art Car Parade Puppetropolis Lotus World Music Festival Chicago Children’s Music Festival Chicago Folk and Roots Festival Chicago Bluegrass and Blues Festival WZRD College Radio Spring Festival Cleveland Performance Art Festival Black Sheep Puppet Festival Rotary Club’s Centennial Celebration Chiditarod Shopping Cart Race Michigan Peace and Music Festival Chicago Peace Festival Renegade Craft Fair SummerCamp Taste of Randolph Street Land of NOD Experiment Select Venues: Queens Museum of Art, NY Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago Krannert Museum of Art, Champaign, IL Harley Davidson Museum, Milwaukee, WI Oriental Institute, Chicago Millenium Park, Pritzker Pavillion Chicago Cultural Center Sky Church, Seattle Center, WA Old Town School of Folk Music Gallery 37 Storefront Theater The Chicago Theater The Congress Theater City of Chicago Halloween Parade Unity Temple by Frank Lloyd Wright Chicago’s Navy Pier Chicago Motor Speedway, NASCAR Vassar College, NY Staten Island Ferry NY Northeastern University Stone Scholastic Academy Chicago Waldorf School The Orange Show, Houston TX Ravenswood Buddhist Temple Harvard Square Octoberfest Celebration, MA The Glessner House The Rookery Buidling Cabaret Metro
Merchandise Specialist / Customer Service
Apr 2010 - Dec 2014Andy's Music Chicago
All aspects of music store operation, with a focus on hand percussion and drumkit accessories. Daily knowledge gained about other instruments from around the world: strings, winds, reeds and more. Experience with a variety of percussion from around the world, as well as modern cutting-edge improvements on folk instruments, has allowed me to offer great advice to both prospective and current drum owners.
Education
B.S. Speech - Performance Studies
Sep 1990 - Jun 1994Northwestern University
Graduate / Print Shop/Theatre/English
Sep 1986 - Jun 1990Lane Technical High School
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