Saturday 26th September 2009, 10am to 5pm

Places are limited to 6 students. Level: intermediate to advanced.

Fee: Full price ticket: £60 / Planet Drum students £45

Alain Maurel is a co-founder of the Planet Drum school of drums and percussion in London. He has worked in the studio and ‘live’ with a variety of artists including Sarah Mc Lachlan, Natalie Merchant, Paula Cole, and Michael Ball.

"Bimini" (featured video with Alain playing) from Russ Miller's "Transitions" CD, is one of the tracks students will be working on during this intensive drumming day as part of the "recording with a click-track" and "soloing over a vamp" modules.

Morning session, 10am to 1pm

Rudimental and orchestral snare drum music.

All drummers can benefit enormously from working on both rudimental and orchestral snare drum music. The purpose of this session is to provide the percussion student with a foundation of skills and musicianship that is required to play the snare drum and most of the common percussion instruments.

Techniques and topics reviewed:

1. Moeller strokes
2. Applied rudiments
3. Roll interpretation
4. Dynamics
5. Snares on and snares off
6. Orchestral bass drum and hand cymbals

Students target:
Playing one of the following pieces comfortably by the end of the session.

1. “The lost City” by Paul Lavender
2. “ Parade of the wooden soldiers” by Leon Jessel

Afternoon session, 2pm to 5pm

The purpose of this session is to help drumset students improve their sound, their reading ability, timing, and awareness of the form.

• Chart reading and interpretation

Recording and live sessions involving reading require two main skills: feeling at ease with the chart (reading, navigation, interpretation), as well as a thorough understanding of the musical style on offer.

• Recording in the "pocket" with a click-track

Playing in the "pocket" is about playing the snare back beat where it feels just right for the song.

• Soloing over a vamp

A vamp is an ostinato, a repetitive rhythm, generally played in unison by several musicians. Developing short solos over a vamp is a good way to built up phrasing skills and licks.

Students target:
Playing one of the following songs comfortably by the end of the workshop:

1. “Latin” by Dave Weckl
2. “The chicken” by Pee Wee Ellis
3. “Bimini” (includes solo)