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Nate Smith Drum Clinic Recap

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There is nothing more gratifying than when a plan comes together and things run smoothly. This afternoon, a very enthusiastic group of drummers got a front row seat to a true professional operating at the highest level of the percussion activity - Nate Smith.

Nate was gracious with his time and answered as many questions as time would allow. He performed several solo pieces he wrote for drumset, all of which had clearly defined song structures and conceptual progressions. He played with expert dynamic control and precision. He imparted some very practical, actionable advice about being a professional. It was a GREAT day.

Nate Smith takes the audience on a rhythmic journey….

Special thanks to Zildjian Cymbals, Evans drumheads, Vic Firth drumsticks for their awesome promotional support. Also special thanks to James Boruch for lending the drums from his personal collection for today’s event, and Dan Ciccone and Logan Ritterbeck for helping on the set up and sound engineering.

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Nate Smith Drum Clinic Sunday, May 21st!

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Nate Smith is a drummer, composer, & producer from Chesapeake, Virginia. His visceral, instinctive, and deep-rooted style of drumming has led to three GRAMMY® nominations and work with esteemed artists, including: Pat Metheny, Dave Holland, Brittany Howard, Van Hunt, The Fearless Flyers, Norah Jones, and Somi. Smith fuses his original compositions with an eclectic mix of music, including everything from jazz to R&B to hip-hop to pop.

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GrooveFEST Recap

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Yesterday was one of the best events the studio has ever had. All of the performers were terrific and the turnout and support from the students’ families and friends was incredible as well.

We heard many different musical genres, from classic rock to country, from jazz to funk and an original composition on drumset to cap off the afternoon.

Video content will follow this week, and below is a gallery of photos from the event. Congratulations to all of our student performers!

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Announcing the grooveKSQ 3 Day Practice Challenge!

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Announcing the groove 3 Day Practice Challenge! This is a livestream series on the studio’s YouTube channel that will broadcast Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (June 28, 29 & 30) at 2:00pm eastern. These videos are going to be short (less than 15 minutes), designed for intermediate students to help reinforce the idea of daily and intentional practice. You can join live or you can watch them after the livestream.

I strongly encourage you all to go to the YouTube channel and subscribe, as we are going to use that heavily over the summer.

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GrooveFEST Spring 2022 Recap

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Well, what a fabulous day this was! The students all played with confidence and conviction. These student performance days are truly my favorite thing, as we can get out of the practice room and show friends and family what progress has been made. The students really do make the most interesting choices for the songs they want to learn. Many musical styles were well represented: punk rock, jazz and funk classics, some hard rock in there as well, and also a rudimental classic from the 1940s.

Thank you to the students’ families who attended, and especially to the three families who were in attendance even though their son or daughter was not performing that day. That really says a lot about the community that is surrounding the studio and these awesome young musicians.

We also have to thank Mark and Jossy Osborne for allowing our students to come in and perform at Kennett Brewing Company, that was a treat to have a professional venue for the students to experience.

There will be video pieces for each student coming out this week on our social media platforms. Stay tuned!

Please consider making a tax-deductible donation for the general support of the studio to enable us to produce more programming like this. Click here to donate.

You can also stay in the loop by joining our email list. Text GROOVEKSQ to 66866 on your smartphone.

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Creativity, Rhythm & Words

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One of the most important concepts for all our students here is creativity. How can you apply what you have learned in new and unexpected ways?

Spoken word and poetry is a prime example of another mode of performance (with words, rather than instruments) that has rhythmic complexity that might not seem immediately apparent. This is readily evident in metered poetry forms (i.e. a haiku is three lines comprised of 5 syllables, then 7 syllables, then 5 syllables. 5-7-5.)

It is my belief that each person has a natural cadence to their speech, regardless of how quickly or slowly they are talking. Cadence is defined as:

the rhythmic flow of a sequence of sounds or words. See Dictionary.com

In developing a few performance pieces in this style I have become more attuned to the cadence of people’s speaking. Last week, I was invited to the Kennett Library to demonstrate this at their monthly poetry reading. It was a fun experience applying percussion and creativity to a completely different mode of performance.

Rhythm truly is all around us, you just have to listen closely.