Our Sibling, The Rhythmist

This studio and its mission constitute a huge part of my work life. The studio’s mission is the advancement of the students’ skills as musicians, drummers, and also as people. All the traits that we work on in developing drumming skills - patience, discipline, focus, creativity - directly carry over to other phases of life. grooveKSq’s blog space and social media channels are about the students, not about me or anyone else that teaches here. It’s about the students.

NOW A Word About Our Sibling, The Rhythmist

There is a newsletter/magazine that I have been developing for several years on Substack, entitled The Rhythmist. You could consider it grooveKSq’s sibling publication.  The model is direct to your email in box, without any bots or pixels following you around on the web to sell you things.  No ads, no nonsense, just quality right to your inbox. The website interface is also fantastic, providing a clean user experience with no ads, banners or distractions.  

The purpose of The Rhythmist is below:

Quality, thought provoking writing about music creation, recording, album and concert reviews, travel essays, and fiction from Bryan Tuk and others.

There are some good, independent writers out there, but they are few and far between. The legacy publishing industry has imploded. The Rhythmist is a magazine that I would want to read, attempting to combine what Rolling Stone once was combined with some other favorite publications of yesteryear. There is a free tier, and a paid tier for $7 per month that gives you access to everything in The Rhythmist.

I like to keep my personal writing/messaging separate from the studio, because again - the studio is not about me, it is about the students. If you get the weekly groove notes, I have added you to The Rhythmist - it is free and you can opt out at any time. I truly hope you stay and support the magazine project because that will support other independent writers as The Rhythmist grows into what I hope it can be.

Sign up for The Rhythmist below.

Thanks for your support,

-BT

Djembe Class Recap - February 27, 2025

This week we started up our monthly djembe group class, led by Paco Samb. Every month, we have new people coming in for this experience and we did have a good turnout, so thank you to all who attended! This class will continue on the third Thursday of each month going forward until the summer. Our next session will be March 20th at 7pm. Below are some picture and a quick video from class. Enjoy!

grooveLIVE Returns in 2025!

Beginning in January, our video series grooveLIVE will return to our YouTube channel. This is a live performance short program that will provide an opportunity for local artists to reach a new audience, and also the production of this show will provide a few students with audio engineering and editing experience.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to be notified when new episodes are released!

Groove Performance Lab with Erik Hetzel Recap

We were lucky to have Erik Hetzel from the Sin Brothers in the studio recently to work with our students not only on performance related matters but also to answer their questions about working at a professional level: specifically auditioning and networking were big topics of conversation.

The students got an opportunity to get their questions answered and also record audio with Erik as well. 

Introducing the Groove Performance Lab

The Groove Performance Lab is a concept that provides our students with a way to hone their performance skills, and increase their understanding of what working professionals look for when hiring a drummer or percussionist. This is the educational series that I wish I had when I was just starting out!

The GPL is going to accomplish these objectives in a few different ways:

1. Small ensemble workshops such as the Jazz Trio Workshop and others like it;

2. Workshops led by working professional singer-songwriters; and

3. Student led bands coached by studio faculty or other working professional musicians.

The GPL will follow the academic year, with a Fall Session, a winter break over the holidays, a Spring Session, followed by a summer break.

Our next GPL experience will be Sunday, October 13th from 5pm - 7pm. There will be a separate announcement as to the guest instructor coming tomorrow!

Staff Announcement: Welcome to Dan Ciccone!

Very glad to announce that Dan Ciccone has joined the studio’s staff as a drumset instructor. Dan is one of our own: he studied drumset with Bryan Tuk here from 2020 to 2023.

Dan performs with his own band, Cicco, which gigs in the region and has recorded and released several singles that are streaming on all major platforms.

Dan also performs locally with The Sermon! and the Eight Hands Quartet as well as his own jazz/funk trio. Dan will work with the studio’s beginner drumset students. Dan is attending Temple University School of Music and is majoring in Jazz Performance.