drumming secrets

Before I will drain my tale concerning the video camera on this beautiful Internet site, I will gladly tell you about my meeting with Juan and the continuation on this.

In august of 2008 I was, just like the man who never leaves his house without a camera, with Jan Kloosterboer and 70 other devotees present on the three-day Drum Experience (Drum Drie Daagse) at the school of drums of Cesar Zuiderwijk. For this session 17 passionate drum fanatics and profession freaks were planned, with among them Juan van Emmerloot. Except of a beautiful article from the “Slagwerkkrant” newspaper by Stef Broks, I had never seen or heard from Juan. During the clinic performance and at the group sessions my senses and soul were stimulated in a special way. As a drummer and person he was forever burned on my retina and eardrum.

Half year I started to think seriously about starting a drum school. I thought if someone could help me with this, it would be Juan. After having gathered some courage, I sent my questions by email. His answer was: “Invite me for a cup of coffee and a lunch and I tell you anything you want to know!” Now my expectations of musicians is not very high, so his reply really amazed me. Meanwhile I read a lot about his record as a drummer, coach, producer etc. As you can guess, I went on a bus to the city of Den Bosch with sweaty armpits.

“If you are smart you tape everything” he said. I thought: “shit! taping everything?” With the help of a friend of singer I arranged an ancient tape recorder. What I remember most from the kind of blind date with Juan is that the atmosphere was very relaxed, like we knew each other for years. Everyone who knows Juan would agree I think.

As from that moment Juan has helped me to start up my own drum school, he did this in a pleasant way and with much enthusiasm by sending e-mails and later on by means of personal coaching sessions at my house. At this moment I can give part-time drum lessons with much joy and devotion. Because I would like to develop, I asked Juan if I could accompany him during his days teaching at Codarts academy in Rotterdam. “No Problemo”!, he said and asked if I wanted to attend a number of master classes at Studio 106 in Breda. And now I come to the topic I started with, what was it....? Oh yes the video camera. Sometimes my short time memory is leak like, uhh what’s the name of that thing with holes again?. Anyway, I made an appointment, and again Juan said: “If you are smart you tape everything”. When did I hear this before? With my lack of memory sometimes, taping not really a luxury. However in these modern days I cannot show up with a tape recorder. My colleague drummer/student Sjors Ooteman had a tip about buying an affordable video camera that can handle many decibels. This comes in handy when you start making noise on two drum sets. On advise of Sjors I opted for Samsung FX 140, cost about €140,- Excluding stand (but that’s pretty standard?).

During the beginning of the Master classes at studio 106 we have been busy with rudiments and for this reason we have chosen for a camera elaboration where both Juan and I are clearly on the screen. This makes the movements on both snare drums clearly visible. So we could say that unlike regular classes, with Juan “cheating” is allowed! Later on we placed the camera behind me so that all movements where clearly visible. We both believe that the recording, looking back, listening and analysis is of great value to my development as a drummer. The large advantage is that during the sessions you can entirely focus on the playing itself. You do not unnecessarily interrupt for taking notes. This gives me a peaceful feeling and I do not have to miss anything so I can get in the right flow and the grooves will sound better. With my memory it’s good to know that you don’t have to remember everything because everything is on tape, uhh a card. At home I first save everything on my computer so I can analyze it later quietly. But not on the bench with a bag of chips and a can of beer, because that works better with theatre movies.

The first time I watch and listen to the recordings neutral. By this I mean that I watch and listen as if I am studying someone else. Because of this I remain objective and am I less prejudiced. You can also reverse, as if you look at yourself with different eyes. During the first analysis, I make notes what I may write and note the passages with the timestamp. I listen to the sound and dynamics and watch the movements which are played. And I listen carefully to what the teacher says (I hope my mother reads this, than she would be a little bit proud). I often use the recordings in my studio as a play-along, so you repeat the lesson by playing along with it. For me this works well, especially if the grooves are difficult to unsubscribe in the notation. Once I got the grooves under control, issuing is a logical consequence. Recording gives you the most from the lessons which improves the value for money, that’s my opinion!

I sincerely hope that this story inspires you, because believe me: when you’re clever, you tape everything.

I wish everybody a lot of joy, peace and love

SO BE A DRUMMER AND WATCH YOURSELF!! GRTZ, HUGZ,

Alexander Loeffen drummer/coach/lover/etc.etc.