What I Do
Why hello there! Glad to have you here…Especially if you are interested in learning about drumset and percussion.
I’m a Drum Instructor by day, and a gigging drummer and percussionist by night. My passion has always been drumming and percussion. This is how I make a living and I can’t complain one bit.
I teach drum set, snare drum, marimba, latin percussion and other auxiliary percussion. I am extremely picky when it comes to hand technique as this is vital to playing effortlessly and preventing injuries from improper technique.
How It All Started
I was born in Chicago Illinois where I first got interested in the drum set. My uncle Dave had a band and they where rehearsing in the basement. Don’t remember all the details as I was only 4 years old, but the one thing I do remember was when they asked my grandfather to sit in on drums and play a few tunes. You see, my grandfather was a professional percussionist and that’s what he did for a living.
So, when he sat in on drums and I heard him play, I new I wanted to play drums after hearing him. Something about the way he played just got me so interested in the instrument.
A year later we all moved to San Antonio Texas…including my grandparents. Once again, I don’t quite remember all the details, but my grandfather started teaching me how to play drums at the ripe age of 5 years old. I took everything he showed me and absorbed it like a sponge.
By the time I went to middle school, I knew how to read music quite well so they started teaching me other percussion instruments in the school band. Needless to say, I did well then moved on to High school.
I tried out for chair placement and I ended up getting the first chair in the top band in the percussion section In my freshman years.
My earliest experience teaching was my freshman year when my former middle school band director Pete Salinas made a deal with me. He asked me if I would teach his percussion students in exchange for drum set lessons by Jim Hall over at Southwest Texas State University, in San Marcos Texas. That was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I learned so much with Jim Hall. To this day, some of the things I work on and teach come from Jim Hall.