Playing Drums

One of my hobbies is playing the drums. Shown here are some photos, video clips and mp3 music files (some of it good, and much of it not so good!)

I am mainly a self-taught drummer who dreamed of playing of playing drums since high school days in our air-band called the “Medal Gods.” During spring 2007, I decided to pursue my dreams and signed-up for lessons with the late Clyde Lucas (1943-2010). Mr. Lucas conducted a one hour lesson every other week to teach me sticks holds and basic drumming rudiments such as paradiddles, accents, and rolls.

Mr. Lucas’s teaching studio was located in the basement of his home. Surrounded by concert posters and other music memorabilia collected from national and international tours, the studio contained several drum kits, video cameras, and lots of foam padding to deaden the loud sounds that drummers make.

Mr. Lucas loved to talk about God, music, and sports (usually in that order). An incredibility interesting man who played drums left-handed, Clyde Lucas earned a football scholarship to play at Montana State University, but decided to change career goals from football to music learning to become master jazz drummer.

During the summer of 2007 I received my very first drum kit from Drums Etc. as a birthday gift. It was Tama kit, which is terrific starter drum set. Mr. Lucas came over to my house to set it up and tune the kit. As a noted musician who toured nationally and internationally with other famous musicians, I was always impressed by Mr. Lucas down-to-earth nature and willingness to work with both young people and older adults like me learning to play. One of my favorite memories of Mr. Lucas was when the two of us were sitting in his living room watching concert footage of his band during a tour of Europe and his amazing drum solo. I can still hear him saying to me, “you gotta keep the time man, the drummer has to keep the time.” People like Mr. Lucas are always sorely missed when they pass, but his music and passion continues to live-on in his students and among those who were lucky enough to hear him play.

In early 2008, I sold my new drum kit due to a number of reasons, one being, a friend told me had “bad ju ju.” Having played it for only about 9 months, it was still like new. I realized too that drum kits can be very loud for practicing. In early 2009, I purchased a Roland electronic kit with mesh snare head, new amp, and new double pedal which made practicing much easier on the ears. Since learning to play, I’ve had some wonderful opportunities to play with several local area musicians and singers. Click the Albums below to listen to some of the tunes I have played on.

In 2011, I had the privilege of joining my very first band and linking-up with Connor Patterson, a local singer-songwriter and musician who earned his bachelor’s degree in music with a concentrations in business and technology from Millersville. Many of Connor’s songs continued an edgy sound. Connor was often accompanied by Sherry Ann Macpherson for vocals on several of his songs. Steve Albanezi and Josh Tweety played electric guitar on a couple of the Connor Patterson Band tracks recorded below. Phil Geiger played bass guitar and Mark Feiler played acoustic guitar. Ken Neumann mixed sound levels on the board.

In 2012, I had the great opportunity to join Karen Blanchard, a talented musician who sings lead and plays piano. Karen earned her bachelor’s and master’s degree in music with concentrations in vocal performance and choral conducting. She often was accompanied by Jane Geiger on vocals and by Bill Potter and Leo Petrokonis sometimes. The musicians for these sets included Ethan Feiler on electric guitar. Phil Geiger played bass guitar and Mark Feiler played acoustic guitar.

In 2013, I was able to perform with Andrew Meade who sang lead vocals and played piano on a couple of the live tracks with Jane Geiger singing background vocals.

In 2014, I auditioned and was selected to join the Calvary Church praise band/team as a drummer. This is a large church drawing approximately 2000 people each Sunday with services broadcasted live over FM radio. The band leaders for the gigs at Calvary were John Fry and John Noel, both very talented musicians. For one of ours set, I was able to play Drew Reinhard on acoustic guitar and Mitchell Hunt on bass. Cheryl Noel played piano, Jan Stauffer on keyboard 1 and John Noel was on keyboard 2. In other gigs, I joined Mark Crutcher on acoustic guitar and his wife Rebecca on lead vocals. Barry Keller played bass and Gary Hobday played electric guitar, Cheryl Noel on piano and Jan Stauffer on keys. Heather O’Connell sang backup vocals. Mark Crutcher is also an excellent bass player whom I have played along with, along with Bo Miller on acoustic guitar, Matt Bechtel on electric guitar and Brenda Balmer on keyboard.

In 2015, I played with the Calvary Church Choir and Orchestra. At the Ville, I was asked to prepare and teach two sections of the Wellness course for musicians which examined the various ways that wellness can positively influence musicians.

In 2016, I auditioned to play drums at Lititz Church of the Brethren under the direction of Ken Trovinger. Also in late 2016, I took some drum lessons with Rick Nonnemocher, a drum teacher at Drums Etc to work on some additional kick drum methods. Rick plays is in the drummer rotation at LCBC.

In 2017, my band mate Mitchell Hunt and I started a project called “Mars Hill Band: The Paradigm Shift.” The idea was to have 2 bands in 1. We practiced for about year, but never landed on a lead singer or guitar player.

In 2020, I auditioned to play drums with Marty Loose who cut a CD of worship songs. I played 1 gig at the Reading rescue mission, which was cool, but with COVID and the pandemic, it was best for me to pursue other options.

Some of mp3s on this blog are performed live, without the use of a click-track. More or less, some of the stuff is good and other stuff if not so good. A click track is a recording of audio cues played over headphones to help the musicians synchronize live music and not play too fast or too slow. Using a click track or internal metronome certainly makes a bands tighter, but in my hobbyist playing, I have found it doesn’t always allow for a natural tempo to develop. Actually, I find it more fun to find the groove. Although, it can sound off-tempo on playback All of this to say, I’m far from being a pro, but I have fun.