Avenue C is dedicated to the time that I spent living on the corner of 9th St and Avenue C in New York City. If you've lived in NYC or spent time there, you know that just about anything can happen on a given day! One morning, I just woke up to the sounds of latin percussion like congas and cowbells coming through my window and I was truly wondering whether they were real or a recording. When I got down my walkup and stepped outside, I saw that a full blown latin street fair

Music teachers are so personal and important for the student's development that you can't just go by whoever is closest to your house, a friend's recommendation, or even Google reviews. That teacher may spend several months to several years with the student and can shape how they practice, play with proper technique, produce a good sound, make musical decisions, and even view life! When I was studying in my younger years, I always chose teachers who had a very specific set o

Here's a take of There Will Never Be Another You from my book, Jazz Drum Solos Vol 1. The book contains 16 beautifully crafted solos that are written in various styles within the jazz idiom. You can purchase the book and watch demonstration videos at the links below.

Patterns, rudiments, and scales are meant to develop facility on the instrument. They generally don't have a melodic quality and are supposed to be played as evenly as possible. Licks are short melodic phrases that are either transcribed or invented and are guaranteed to sound good. Fills are similar to licks and are short phrases used by drummers to transition from one section to the next.

Here's one way to interpret the melody to Au Privave for snare drum. I just copied the rhythms onto the snare drum line and then added sticking and accents that matched the shape of the melody. Then, I wrote a snare drum solo over some of those themes. Enjoy!