When the editors of Modern Drummer invited me to write a few Concepts pieces, my first reaction was, “Me? That’s Roy Burns and Billy Ward’s column, right?” I always loved reading Roy’s articles. He was the first drum clinician I ever saw and was a great inspiration to me when I was a young student. He wrote Concepts stories from 1980 to around 1992. Billy Ward took over the column for several years after that, and his insightful discussions were compiled into a great book titled Inside Out: Exploring the Mental Aspects of Drumming. After reading through a considerable number of these experts’ articles, I realized that many of the ideas they discussed are still relevant today. There have been so many changes to the music business and drumming in the past several years, however, that many of the details of what it takes to be a successful drummer have […]

September 2014 Issue