JAZZ INSIGHTS
Modern Drummer is the world’s most widely read drum magazine, is dedicated entirely to the art of drumming and caters to the needs of amateur, semi-pro, and professional drummers.
The Big Drum-Off
The name Rodger Fox may not ring a bell for some readers outside of New Zealand or Los Angeles, but he is very well known by just about everyone in the Land of the Long White Cloud (“Aotearoa,” the Maori…
Balloons in the Sky
You know that feeling when you’re playing a piece of music and you’re somehow disconnected? What you’re playing is not wrong, but it’s not right either. Something is missing. What? Who? The answer is you! YOU’RE missing. And sometimes, you…
Let’s Face It...
Chinese New Year usually finds me seated at a large circular table in Hop Woo’s, a terrific dining establishment in West Los Angeles. This annual meal is organized by the wife of my longtime friend and drummer Peter Donald. We…
The Art & Challenge of Teaching
I am writing this on the last day of 2022, in preparation for my last semester of teaching full-time at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California. Why am I leaving such a coveted job? The…
My Cup Runneth Over…
It’s been a good month. More precisely, it’s been one heck of a week. First, my wife returned home from being nanny and granny to our grandson in Italy while our daughter is busy filming a new show there. Much…
What Drummer’s Don’t Like
There are reminders, and then there are painful reminders. I was on the receiving end of a most-unpleasant reminder recently concerning what I don’t like, and I thought it would be useful to pivot the negative experience into a teachable…
“The Little Things”
First impressions can be deceiving, but they can also be quite revealing. When it comes to music, we will often form an opinion or judgement based on just a few notes’ worth of playing. Most recently, I auditioned a drummer…
Back to School
“School days, school daysDear old golden rule daysReadin’ and drummin’ and ‘rithmeticTaught to the tune of a signature stick …” Most of you may not be old enough to remember the tune, and my apologies for changing a couple of…
The Next So-and-So!
I’m tempted to begin each of my new Modern Drummer columns by writing “With everything else that’s going on in the world…” because the unrelenting news cycles force me to question the relative importance of an artistic particular or a…
“Where Am I Going?”
More often than not, I preach precision while espousing specificity when it comes to expressing our ideas on the drumset. In simple terms, that adds up to, “saying what we mean and meaning what we say.” That approach, however, runs…
Peter Erskine-Lauren Ellis: Women in Drumming, Mentorship
This month’s Jazz Insights column focuses on my former USC student and teaching assistant Lauren Ellis. Her bio informs us that, “Lauren is a drummer, composer, and educator from Wellington, Aotearoa, New Zealand. There, she studied at the Te Kōki…
My Manne, Shelly
Shelly Manne was one of my first drum heroes, and he remains a hero to this day. A swinging drummer in any context, he personified eclecticism while remaining a singularly unique musician. Shelly could do it all. Since the term…
Going to the Movies, with Peter Erskine
Scene 1: Jam session, rehearsal, or a gig. Bandleader’s Line: Let’s play “Green Dolphin Street” … and… Drums, how about you play an intro? Spot Quiz: A.) Do you ask, “How long?”B.) Do you ask, “What tempo?”C.) Do you ask,…
Putting Ideas Into Action
My dear old friend, the late John Abercrombie, used to say when drinking his favorite breakfast beverage, “You know, there’s nothing like a good cup of coffee in the morning … and this is nothing like a good cup of…
Words Versus Nuts and Bolts
I’m literally happy to be sitting in the jazz-drumming-column chair for Modern Drummer. It’s a well-worn seat that I’ve occupied from time to time over the years. If I stand accused of being too wordy, well, then I plead “guilty…
