Viewing: Drum Lessons Canberra - View all posts

Verbalise…say it out loud.

 Turn your random skippy brain into a linear time keeper!

Key Take Aways

Hebbian Axiom “neurons that fire together, wire together”

Somatic Integration: Hebb  with Gust

Myelination: protective lipid sheaths, boosting signal transmission speeds up to…

8Long-Term Drummers and Percussionists have ‘suped- up’ brains!

The Body in Question

Why Modern Bodhrán Students Are Choosing Mark Campbell

Starting a new musical instrument can feel daunting, especially when navigating traditional rhythm techniques or trying to find a teacher who offers a safe, professional, and encouraging environment. For aspiring bodhrán players—particularly…

Drum Pedals are 100 years behind the times when it comes to driveshafts!

Modern pedals rely on joints which originated from gimbles for ancient oil lamps and ship compasses from the 16th century!

The scarcity of constant velocity (CV) joints…

Unless you are already holding multiple All-Ireland titles, setting your sights on the world’s elite bodhrán masters will guarantee you find someone to push your limits.

 Depending on whether you want to refine left-hand pitch bending, complex odd meters, or…

WTF is Lesson 25?

Its about those esoteric things called rudiments!

RUDIMENTS….The alphabet/ phrasebook of snare drumming

William F. Ludwig, Of the Ludwig drum company, (think Ringo Starr's DrumKit) called the drum rudiment Lesson 25 the "Ratatap" in…

When I started drumming there were 26 drumming rudiments

The 26 standard American drum rudiments officially became 40 in 1984. 

The Percussive Arts Society (PAS) compiled and adopted the 14 additional rudiments—which included hybrid, Swiss, and older traditional patterns—to create…

What's that Lenticular Spaceship Drum that You Are Playing?

Shaped like a lentil with lilting melodies and infectious grooves…The Handpan is the worlds newest musical Instrument!

The handpan, originally called the Hang, was invented in 2000 in Switzerland by Felix…

chewing gum has a mysterious effect on the brain

Scientific research has revealed that chewing gum has several measurable and beneficial effects on the brain. 

A comprehensive 2025 review of over 30 years of brain-imaging data—using MRI, EEG, and fNIRS—confirms…

Are my ears just biological microphones?

Musicians brains are highly trained in playing their instruments, however, listening and hearing objectively while playing those instruments also has to be practised!

One element that makes objective listening very difficult is Auditory Masking.…

Who is Mark Campbell of Symmetrical Drumming Australia

Mark Campbell is an experienced drummer and percussionist from Bathurst NSW, now based in Canberra, Australia, and is the founder of Symmetrical Drumming Australia. 

https://symmetricalDrummingAustralia.Org

With over 45 years of experience, he…

5000 Years

The Frame Drum

Frame drums, found globally, have diverse names and variations. 

Some examples include:

• Colgrass Drum (Roto Tom) USA
• Bodhrán (Ireland), 
• Tamborim (Brazil)
• Tambourine (Egypt Mesopotamia)
• Bendir (North Africa), 
• Daf/Daff/Def (Orient), 
• Tamburello (Italy), 
• Pandeiro (Brazil, Spain, Portugal…

Im working on a video about Shakers and how I use them.  As I was setting and practicing I had a thought…

Is a Shaker a Maraca or is a Maraca a Shaker?

Shakers and maracas are classified as idiophones…

Improvising, Ad-libing, and Soloing without a 'Chops' mentality.

Ive been working on a video demonstating the utility of a simple rhythmic figure being used as a basis for a groove, a solo, and improv.  

Ive taken a simple 2 bar…

Learning Styles...VARK is a ruse!

Type ‘learning style’ into a search engine and a million pages roll in about how unique you are and you require a segmented approach when learning…focused on your ‘type’ …

Visual, Auditory, Reading, Kineasthetic -

DrumKit is a ‘New Thing’ 

The modern drum kit, as we know it, is indeed only about 100 years old. 

While drums have existed for millennia, the concept of a single musician playing a set of interconnected drums is a…

Myelination

Myelination is the process where myelin, a fatty substance, forms a protective coating around the axons of neurons in the central and peripheral nervous systems. This insulation significantly increases the speed and efficiency of nerve impulse transmission, crucial for…

Seeing and Hearing the Pulse

I've been using clicks (audio only) in my headphones for recording for the last 40 years.

It works but its isolating and its very difficult to ‘groove’ with the other tracks….this is because the visual…

Recording yourself is the only objective way of being able to reflect on your own playing, as well as prepare yourself properly for any upcoming studio sessions. It also lets you properly hear important aspects of your…

Your brain, emotion and timing...

Your timing is subjective…turning your varying subjective internal clock into an objectively acceptable predictable and dance-able drum groove takes years.

The insular cortex, particularly the anterior part, plays a role in processing time intervals, especially…

Life-long Drumming

Leo Pearlstein is the world's oldest living jazz drummer at the age of 104. You can watch him play "All of Me" on Instagram. 
 

Viola Smith
A professional drummer who was known as "America's fastest girl drummer". She…

The fine resolution of the Perception of Musicians

Hearing pitch variations down to 3 cents is possible…thats 1/30 of a  semitone…Microtonal.

Hearing timing differences down to a 10 milliseconds is called micro-Rhythm.

It takes years of systematic listening to hear…

Perception of time is very Subjective

As a drummer…focusing on tiny increments ot time and trying to define them with short percussive sounds, loud, soft, dense, sparse…As a Drummer…Ive become very aware of time passing at different rates depending on…

Drumming isnt about ‘Grip’ alone…drumming and percussion is a body driven art form…more than any other instrument drummers have to have a clear mental map of their entire anatomy and how it works.  Stick grip is just one tiny aspect!

The best feature of drum kit and percussion is that you can practice without your instrument at hand.

Here are some ways to practice drums without a drum set:

Practice pad: 

A quiet way to practice rudiments and sticking exercises…