LaFrae Sci
Owning It

As a college graduate with a degree in political theory and economics, drummer LaFrae Sci decided that law school probably wasn’t in her future—once she’d been paying her rent for a year by playing drums. “I’d played drums and other instruments since I was a kid,” says LaFrae, “but I really started to focus on the kit while in college. I’d go to sessions, and I started getting gigs. Six or seven years into it I realized, ‘I think I’m a professional drummer!’”
    LaFrae’s current gig with Sandra Bernhard’s musical comedy show, The Bad And The Beautiful, gives her the distinction of being the first female drummer and musical director in Broadway or off-Broadway history. “There are so many different directions that drummers can go in, especially today,” she observes. “As I’m growing and learning, I don’t think it’s fated for me to record and tour with just one artist for ten years. I see myself being a drummer with a band and being a drummer apart from a band situation. Playing with Sandra is absolutely fantastic in terms of bolstering me in a secure gig while affording me the ability to do my own thing.
    “As a player,” LaFrae continues, “I always ask myself, Who am I and how am I going to express what I feel? I’m also aware that I need to have the courage to look in directions in which I don’t already see people moving.”

Gail Worley

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