A Percussionist's Handbook

When Steve Vai says you’re the best, well I guess that means you’re the best. #drums #music #drummer #beats #vinniecolaiuta #stevevai

Great shaker tip!
(1st comment)

Was hired to back a Christian Pop Act at Carnegie this weekend. Didn't have an opportunity to get the paper parts early enough, and the production didn't want us to use iPads on stage. Because the timpani writing always outlined repetitive chord progressions, writing in every single tuning change seem to be both cumbersome and unnecessary, given the songs structures combined with the short rehearsal we got for about 20 different Tunes.

What I ended up doing at the top of every chart was to write out the tuning scheme combined with how those notes would appear on drums. For example this song used a lot of switching on the 32 between Ab and Eb, switching between Ab and Bb on the 29, and the 26th keeping an E flat.

It was a nice and efficient way for me to summarize what my ears and feet should expect to be hearing and doing in each number.

Hot take: You can tell the quality of musicians in any group whenever it's asked to spontaneously play "Happy Birthday" 🎶

Enjoyed spending the afternoon listening to several percussion juries performed by students of the great Bill Trigg at The College of New Jersey!

I was just sitting in as a guest jury panelist and all of the hard work has already been done by teacher and student, so the challenge for me is to say something that's honest, incisive, and constructive that hopefully hits in a way that will keep them curious motivated and re-examining their playing and performing.

Playing a lot of musical theater - especially as a sub in NYC - and being a musician in supportive and accompanying roles, I'm used to not being the focus. So basically, no news is good news.

To quote Don Draper in a scene from Mad Men, I often think about a scene where an employee of his is feeling unrecognized or unappreciated, "that's what the money's for!"

When an audience member complemented my playing yesterday and then went on to say he used to produce sessions with Hal Blaine - and that my precision reminded him of Hal - that one actually felt good.

In my little part of the music business, people generally just expect you to be good and not flashy, so the compliments don't always flow like they do in other settings.

Getting a *real* positive comment can help keep the tank full, if you let it.