Audition Season!

It is audition season, and today we had a guest teacher in to work with some of our students on cymbal technique - Bethany DeLaurentis.

Bethany marched three years in the DCI World class division, with Jersey Surf (2019) and the Colts (2022-23). Additionally, Bethany marched WGI Open Class with Cap City 2 later with George Mason University Indoor Drumline for two seasons. Bethany marched WGI in all three skill levels of (A, Open, and World class) as well as competed in WGI Finals in all three divisions.

Currently Bethany is a cymbal instructor for WGI ensemble Imperial Dynasty and all-age drum corps at the Bushwackers Drum & Bugle Corps.

Student Performance News - Carolina S.

This year on 3rd Thursdays in Kennett, the studio is producing a series of performances which we are calling Rock the Ramp! While there is a community building aspect to this, the Ramp Concerts are also a vehicle to provide our students with a performance opportunities.

This month, our guest performers were The Sin Brothers, our friends Erik and Mark Hetzel. They perform extensively throughout the region - the definition of what I would call local professionals. Where grooveKSq differs from other studios is that grooveKSq pairs students up with working professionals in front of a live audience. This is what musicians do, they play live. It is the best way to hone your skills.

Below is an excerpt from Carolina’s performance. She totally poised and under control, and the moment is absolutely not too big for her. Awesome performance by Carolina here.

The remaining schedule for Rock the Ramp! 2025:

August 21st: Resting Funk Face - BT, James McLaughlin (organ), Robert Mastroppolitto (guitar) play some 1960s and 1970s soul and jazz.

September 18: The Dukes of Bavaria: BT leads a German-style brass band which meets British and American hard rock and metal.

October 16: the grooveKSq All Stars - a showcase for some of our intermediate and advanced students

A Great Talent Show Performance

A quick note here to congratulate E.L. on a great school talent show performance! In the history of the studio, this has happened quite a few times and it is still awesome to see every single time. E. put a lot of thought and energy into this composition and the audience certainly appreciated it! Experiences like this are hugely beneficial for the students and the students should seize any chance to perform for a live audience.

grooveFEST Spring 2025 Recap

There is no better test for a musician than performance in front of a live audience. The stars of yesterday’s performance were the students. They all prepared thoroughly, and let their playing do the talking! Thank you to all of the parents and families who provide a support system for these young performers.

Thank you to Jim Coarse at Moonloop Photography for some outstanding work capturing the event and the performers yesterday. Also special thanks to Guenevere and Calabrese Arts, it was a perfect venue for us.

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!