I first picked up my sticks in year 8 at school and haven’t looked back since. I found that having a teacher from the start was extremely beneficial; his advice and knowledge gave me an inspirational start to my musical journey, and helped shape me into the drummer I am today.
My Teaching Philosophy...
I believe that learning drums should be fun. Practise should be something you
really want to do, and very much enjoy, so I view it as a large part of my job as
a teacher to make sure that this is the case, and that you are suitably inspired
to want to improve and learn at a rate that is comfortable for you.
Learning the drums is all about striking the right balance between various elements:
- Learning important techniques and fundamental playing skills
- Learning the "vocabulary" of drumming, like beats and fills
- Learning songs and playing to music
I try to do a bit of everything in every lesson. I start with some technique exercises, then move on to some different drum beats and fill ideas and then to some actual songs so that you can apply what you have learnt in a musical context.
As a tutor I am very keen for students to play along to as much music as they possibly can. The ideal scenario would be to have other musicians to play with, but in absence of that I have a large library of pre-recorded backing tracks that can be used to great effect. In this way, practise of even technically demanding excercises does not seem arduous, and makes the whole process thoroughly enjoyable.
I find students enjoy lessons a lot more when they have some input to what they are learning. I try to find suitable tracks to match a student’s musical tastes that should challenge and deepen their stylistic knowledge, whilst also suggesting other bands and artists that the student might enjoy.
I want students to enjoy playing the drums and feel motivated to practice and improve their skills.
Stuart is an experienced, friendly and inspiring drum tutor based in Petersfield Hampshire.
He has BA and Higher Diploma in Contemporary Music Performance from Guildford’s ACM Institute.
He has also passed Trinity Guildhall Grade 8 Drums, and Royal Associated Board of Music Grade 5 Theory.
He has been teaching students of all ages privately for over 3 years. Stuart has been CRB checked and is a member of the Hudson Music Teacher Integration Pogram and the Musican’s Union. Stuart has a 100% student pass rate for all Rockschool graded exams.
He has BA and Higher Diploma in Contemporary Music Performance from Guildford’s ACM Institute.
He has also passed Trinity Guildhall Grade 8 Drums, and Royal Associated Board of Music Grade 5 Theory.
He has been teaching students of all ages privately for over 3 years. Stuart has been CRB checked and is a member of the Hudson Music Teacher Integration Pogram and the Musican’s Union. Stuart has a 100% student pass rate for all Rockschool graded exams.