Michael A  
Instruments: Drums, Mallet Percussion, Orchestral Percussion, Conga, Latin Percussion, Djembe
Styles: Classical, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Blues, Country, R&B, Musical Theater, Latin, Funk, Hip Hop, Reggae, Latin Jazz, Swing, Samba, Bossa Nova, Soul, Marching Band

I actually started teaching in my senior year of high school. It was an introduction to see if I would like it and I have been teaching ever since . Along with all my students, I worked with area high schools and middle schools helping out in their percussion section or jazz band. I had a small percussion ensemble that performed a summer concert. It was a blast and I hope to do it again! In high school I was fortunate to work with some local jazz musicians. One was a famous jazz guitarist named Lenny Breau. We had an artist in residence program with composer/ drummer Steve Grover and he was a big influence on me along with Dick Demers. I have performed in symphonies. I have done many Broadway musicals playing in the pit. I have played in many bands. Before I moved to Virginia I was living in Maine and playing in 5 bands. I have recorded in several studios making commercials, playing drum tracks for personal artists. I am currently working on a rock opera with an originals band I play with. One band I was in got the chance to open up for The Commodores. I also played in a band that backed up an actor named Chuck Mitchell. He would go around to different military bases and perform a comedy routine. He played Porky in a movie called Porky's. He was also on Winds of War, General Hospital and other shows.

I like to start simple. Learning how to hold the sticks and working with different sticking exercises followed by a simple and fun approach to learning rudiments I have a couple of snare drum method books I like to use. I like to play it out and see which one I think will work for the student. Podemski Snare Drum Method or Haskel Harr method. Once we have progressed to a certain point, I like to introduce some fun learning tools. One is listening analysis. I like to play music of different styles and have students listen to different parts of a song. I also like doing rhythmic dictation. This is where a student listens to a line I play and tried to write it out note for note. It enables them to learn how to physically write the notes and fully understand the value of each note. Another option is drum set. Whn a student gets to a certain point, we can begin exploring the set. Larning how to read charts, play beats, play along with tracks, etc.