Teaching Kids Responsibility Through Drumming

Posted on September 11, 2014 by Scott K Fish

The Music Battery teaches kids responsibility through drumming
They’ve Got the Beat
By Kirsten Schofield

At an age when kids want to make as much noise as possible and bang on whatever makes their mom craziest, drums fit the bill. Kris Manning and Braeden Kershner want to harness that urge and use it for good, not evil. They founded The Music Battery, a charity offering school tutoring and music programing for middle school students.

The goal is to keep the kids focused on self-improvement and out of trouble.

“We start with doing homework. We sit down with them and figure out what they need to do,” Manning says. “Then we do calisthenics, get everyone jumping around. Only then do we start to play music. We want to educate their mind, body, and spirit.”

Manning is quick to point out that group activities like this have another benefit: “Drumlines are unique in the way they teach kids to be disciplined and work as a team,” she says.

“I heard that being in Mr. Kershner’s drumline will help you be successful, and I want to be successful,” says 11-year-old section leader Maliyeh-Day Sanders. She points to the emphasis on discipline and focus, but also musical skills like rhythm, timing, and movement she’s picking up. “One day I want to be a professional dancer, so I’m learning a lot from him,” she adds.

What Manning and Kershner are hoping to impart on their young corp is a sense of community, fun, discipline, and above all, a love of music.

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Teaching a Mind-Bogglingly Complex Rhythm System

Posted on September 7, 2014 by Scott K Fish

Fremont professor moves to beat of ancient drum
By Chris De Benedetti The Argus
Posted:   09/06/2014 02:33:50 PM PDT0 Comments

Rohan Krishnamurthy, Ohlone College’s newest music professor, is an acclaimed performer who specializes in mridangam, an ancient and still-popular Indian percussion instrument.

His fascination with mridangam (mree-DAHNG-guhm) grew with age. The drum is usually made from a hollowed piece of wood whose two ends are covered with a goatskin. Percussionists tap both ends of the conga-like instrument with specific fingers to create several layers of sounds.

“It’s an incredibly versatile instrument where you get a drum set’s worth of sounds from one drum,” he said. “Its rhythm system is mind-bogglingly complex.”

Late last month he began teaching music theory courses at Ohlone’s Fremont campus, where he also offers a percussion ensemble class Thursday nights, giving students a chance to jam with him and classmates.

[S]aid Alex Quick, a Fremont percussionist in the ensemble class. “If I’m able play mridangam and bring it over to a regular drum set, then I can play a style that most Fremont drummers can’t, and I can make more money.”

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Shiela E: New Book, New Album

Posted on September 7, 2014 by Scott K Fish

Sheila E Marches to ‘The Beat of Her Own Drum’ in New Memoir and Dishes on Santana Romance, Prince Reunion and Biopic
By Melissa Castellanos – Sep 05, 2014 06:01 PM EDT

Grammy Award-nominated singer/songwriter Sheila E., also known as Shelia Escovedo, has lived “The Glamorous Life.” She caught the eye of Prince in the late ’70s, played her heart out on the drums and timbales, launched a solo singing career and became a fierce, world-class drummer and percussionist.

She’s worked alongside some of the best in the business, including Ringo Starr, Marvin Gaye, Prince, Beyoncé, Herbie Hancock, Diana Ross, Lionel Richie, Gloria Estefan and George Duke. An actress, mentor, and philanthropist through her Elevate Hope Foundation, Sheila E. is the daughter of the famous Latin jazz musician Pete Escovedo, the goddaughter of the legendary Latin jazz composer Tito Puente….

[S]he’s sharing her story with her fans with the release of her memoir “The Beat of My Own Drum.”

In addition.., Sheila E. released her first album in 13 years, titled “Icon” (Stilettoflats Music). Her first single is “Mona Lisa.”

“The idea to record another solo album was actually spawned while I was writing the autobiography,” recalled Sheila E. in her official bio. “I realized that some of the experiences I was writing about should be songs. That’s when I also began looking back at songs I’d written several years earlier and forgotten about, but whose themes needed to be talked about in the book. Both fed each other.”

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South Bend Drum Co. Back in Production

Posted on September 4, 2014 by Scott K Fish

South Bend drum shop doesn’t miss a beat
Posted: Thursday, September 4, 2014 6:00 am
By JEFF HARRELL South Bend Tribune

south_bend_drum_shop“The biggest thing about the drums — a lot is custom ordered,” [shop owner Michael William] Janovic says. “We’ll build whatever anybody wants.”

But it’s the custom-made drums and hardware, not to mention the friendly social atmosphere that invites musicians, students and anybody else to hang out amid the ambiance of locally-made instruments on display.

“We’re now a drum manufacturer, we just started that,” he says….

Janovic, a South Bend native who began playing drums at 7 but spent 25 years as a local television producer, also worked in a machine shop “to learn how to make my own hardware; that was the primary goal.”

But the biggest dimension South Bend Drum Company offers, “a lot of the reason I opened up the store,” Janovic says, “is, I had nowhere to sell my drums.

“Now I’m back into production,” he says, “so I’m basically working as fast as I can make them.”

He picks up his red sparkle snare drum and taps it around the rim lightly to fine-tune it.

“I don’t know,” Janovic says about its price. “It’s not like I’ve got a name yet, so I really can’t demand. Probably $400.”

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Remembering Joe Morello

Posted on September 2, 2014 by Scott K Fish

SKF NOTE: Remembering Joe Morello tonight. A bittersweet memory. Joe was a drumming giant. Levon Helm said one afternoon in a restaurant that Joe brought Jascha Heifitz’s violin sensitivity to the drumset. Great analogy.

One evening in New Jersey Joe and his wife, Jean, went to visit some friends in their home. I was with the Morello’s but don’t remember why. What I remember most is the three concrete steps down to the walkway from their friends’ home front door. Joe was legally blind and this night had a wee bit too much to drink. Not a terrible amount, but enough to make him unsteady.

As we approached that first step down he took my arm for support and held it down the steps and walkway — asking me the whole time how close was the next step, how far down would he have to step — until we reached the car.

For me, a 30-something drummer/writer that was a powerful few moments. The contrast in Joe who could find his way around a drumset with blistering speed with Joe who couldn’t find his way down three steps. The grace and utter selflessness with which he just took my arm. And the honor I felt – and still feel – that he trusted me enough to take my arm at that moment.

It still brings tears to my eyes. I don’t know why. I think an argument can be made that the entire, brief incident captures the whole of being human.

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