Some may be aware that I shoot concerts, and my primary client is various locations of the School of Rock. Recently, I shot a tribute to The Who, and one of the drummers was just astonishing. He totally channeled Moon. I put up the full video, but for my own amusement, uploaded the isolated camera I had on the drummer. I used one of those tiny GoPro HD Hero 2 cameras clamped to the crash cymbal stand.
Note: The vocalist is a bit off-key at points, but there is going to be a lot of variation in skill levels in any School of Rock show. The singer is primarily a drummer, and a very impressive one as well.
He’s easily better than I was until 17 or 18. Very talented kid.
If he’s as good as Tony Royster was when he hits 12, I could never catch up in a million years. I hope his environment is able to foster him developing that talent to it’s fullest extent.
He’s part of the School of Rock, which means that he gets a 45 minute private lesson every week, plus a professionally guided three hour band rehearsal geared towards playing a show, in a real music venue before an audience.
The School did three different shows this season, and he was in two of them, the Who one and a Punk one. Here he is playing the Television song See No Evil. So he’s getting exposed to and playing a wide range of music, he has supportive parents and dedicated teachers who are all proud of him. And from everything I’ve seen, the kids support each other, with the older and more skilled ones mentoring the younger.
So it’s a very different world from when I was a teen. Back the you had a choice of music lessons from someone who didn’t like rock, the school band or trying to find a group of peers who were motivated to actually play music. These kids are playing in a group from the first day.
He also plays keys, although he was so short at the last show that his nose was about the height of the keyboard.
I am Sooo jealous of the tools that this kid is being provided with at such a formative age. Please, please tell his instructor to remind him that the piano is a percussion instrument , and that if he learns keyboard based scales and even the physical layout of notes that a keyboard provides, he can build a base to learn almost any instrument.
Drummers are primarily the time keepers, but they are also the heart of the rhythm section. Time keeping always comes first, but waaay before technical skill comes FEEL.
For his Reggae gig, he will need to know about, or at least hear the “one drop”.
If he ever needs inspiration about what can be done on a relatively small kit, show him this. There is no way his instructors have the chops to play that, I know I never will. There are no lyrics, so it’s totally safe for anyone. It has a heavy metal sound at the beginning, but progresses from there.
It demonstrates dynamics, unusual meters, feel changes within a song, thematic codas, and how to fully leverage a small kit to produce a truly incredible drum track.
The few things that really made me sit down at my kit and practice with enthusiasm, were things that initially blew my mind. Peart, Bruford, Wakeman, Bonham, Portnoy, Rich, and countless others inspired me to do what I loved.
Time, feel, then technical ability. Every drummer on the planet needs to abide by those basic rules and in that order.
[sub]That’s right you crazy fast metal drummers, the first two are more important than how fast you can kick.[/sub]
The School of Rock concept has proven very successful. If you get the chance, check out the movie Rock School. Not School of Rock, although that is cute, but Rock School. It’s a documentary about the very firstPaul Green School of Rock Music in Philadelphia. Green winds up taking the very best students to Bad Doberon Germany to play the Zappa festival, getting a standing ovation from a crowd of Zappa fanatics. Two of the kids in the movie became two thirds of the Adrian Belew Power Trio.
I’m shooting two shows this weekend for the Chicago School of Rock, Grunge (oh joy) and Classic Prog. I’ll let you know if I see anything amazing.
I checked what I had on-line, and back in December, the Evanston School did a Grateful Dead show, and Avi played both keys and drums in the song Fire on the Mountain. I wasn’t kidding about him not being able to see over the keyboard. My favorite kid in this video was actually the girl playing guitar. I don’t know how technically proficient she is, but there was a real musicality to her playing in that show.
Such a shame to see young drummers patterning their style after the likes of the grossly overrated mess than is Keith Moon. These kids should be studying the likes of Tony Williams, Idris Muhammad, Max Roach or even a Bill Bruford.
Each School location has three seasons, and each season consists of from two to five different musical programs. Just tonight, I shot the Chicago locations tribute to Grunge, tomorrow I shoot their Progressive Rock one, so they will probably do some King Crimson. This season also includes a Reggae show, Women Who Rock and Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Two weeks ago, the Chicago School hosted a Master Class with Clyde Stubblefield.
It’s possible that there is reason to object to covering anyone, but this gives them the opportunity to learn a variety of styles.
Wow, this has less than 9,000 views and is something truly worth watching.
My one and only youtube upload is a shitty camera phone video about how to bypass a glitch with Panasonic plasma TVs, and it has over 22k views. Proof that the number of views a video has, has nothing to do with it’s worth.
As proven by other video provided, the girl can play the song quite well.
After listening to the video provided, and the original track, I have to say that it has clearly been doctored by the sponsor “Soultone” cymbals. Or at least someone connected with the audio for that video. They’re selling cymbals, and using a classic Rush tune would be perfect to do so.
Compare the original to her recording. She is playing the part for sure (excepting a few fills, like the double china hits or the full tom cascade), but what you hear is clearly a rendition of the studio track. You can get drums to sound really similar to recorded tracks, but getting them identical is nearly impossible.
I knew I wasn’t being crazy. Other musicians and audiophiles here will corroborate my assessment I’m sure.
If we’re going to talk amazing young drummers, we have to include Senri Kawaguchi. Here are two of my favorites, but there are a lot more. If you are a drummer (or a guitarist, the guy in her band is awesome), her YouTube channel should be your next destination.
Missed the edit window, but wanted to clarify my previous post. Actually, I don’t know that Senri Kawaguchi has one band she plays with as she is seen with different musicians in the YT clips, but here is the guitarist that impressed me. Another version of “Spanish Pirates” - SPANISH PIRATES - Kyoji Yamamoto / CROSSOVER NIGHT 2012 - YouTube