San Diego Drum Lessons
Firstly, my apologies for not updating this blog recently. Drum lessons in San Diego seem to be in high demand right now (thankfully), and I have been super busy, and very grateful to be so!
There have been a lot of great things happening recently; but I have been meaning to write about a very cool project that I was involved with back in January 2010. I was contacted by Melissa Mattingly, who was competing in the Miss San Diego 2010 Pageant. As part of her talent repertoire, she was hoping to put together a short drum solo.
Having not met Melissa before, my first concern was that we had less then two weeks to put together a solo, and I did not know if this was possible because I had no idea what level of playing she had already reached. These concerns were immediately set aside when I met her for the first time at my drum studio in Rancho Penasquitos. Melissa was already a good drummer. More then anything, she needed direction on how to construct a drum solo that would have a good impact on the audience and the judges. With this in mind, the key was to identify her strengths, and work with these, while adding some new, manageable sections that were attainable in the time frame we had. My personal aim was to push Melissa to add elements to her performance that were new, and maybe a little outside her initial comfort zone, but with an emphasis on using her existing skills and technique. She rose to the challenge magnificently.
The Miss San Diego 2010 Pageant was held at the the Lyceum Theater in downtown San Diego on 10th January. My DW drum kit was chosen for the performance (which actually complimented Melissa's dress very well!). I was on hand on the day to provide assistance - The last thing I wanted was for Melissa to be worried about stage helpers setting up a drum kit in a 30 second turnaround. The volunteer helpers are awesome, but there would have been no way they could have accurately positioned a drum kit in that time.
When the time came for the performance, I think I was probably more nervous then Melissa. Having known how much hard work she had put into every aspect of her repertoire, I wanted her to do well - And that she did. The audience clapped along as Melissa totally rocked her drum solo. At the very end, it was very satisfying for me to hear the cheers and applause from the sell-out Lyceum audience in appreciation of the solo. It was strong, confident, and delivered with complete grace and composure - I was very proud of her!
