Performer / Composer
I play drums/percussion and compose music for my own projects, but a large part of my livelihood is contributing those things to other people’s projects, recordings and concerts. I also teach workshops and lessons in the things that I specialize in.
Education: Workshops
Group hand-drumming and percussion workshops are an excellent activity for developing listening skills, team work, basic rhythm skills, coordination, team-building, etc. I have designed various programs for different age groups and types of events drawing on traditional music from around the globe as well as original creative content.
Check out this workshop at Boomtown Drums in
Regina, SK from a few years back
DRUMHAND in the Schools
Made-up of experienced educators, DRUMHAND offers interactive performances and hands-on percussion/drumming workshops at schools, festivals and community events.
Instruments and music from around the world will be experienced: participants of all ages will explore rhythm and melody and movement through original music, drumming compositions, traditional folkloric songs and call-response activities.
Check out the group’s school show here
Children’s hands-on drumming workshops here
RHYTHM-A-DING
Interactive Percussion Installation
Designed for a Harbourfront Centre project in Toronto, this is an installation that I put together for children to experience (hands-on) a variety of percussion in a creative yet highly interactive forum.
Watch the video here
Drum Set Lessons
Explore various musical styles, techniques and approaches while having fun learning how to play the drums in a relaxed environment. From rock to jazz to world music to learning how to read music: custom lessons to fit your interests from beginner onwards.
Hand Drumming Lessons
Drawing on traditional/folkloric repertoire from Ghana, West Africa, learn to play hand and/or stick drumming repertoire. The material will be taught orally (listening, watching, doing). Instruments are
provided.
Dance Accompanist
For almost two decades I have had the pleasure of working with contemporary dancers and dance companies across Canada as a composer and live accompanist. My percussion-based work has been hired by Propeller Dance (Ottawa), The Toronto Dance Theatre ( http://schooloftdt.org/larry-graves ), York University’s Dance Department, Kenny Pearl’s GMD, Adelheid, The National Ballet, Toronto’sDance Tech, Cobequid Dance Academy (Nova Scotia), Halifax School of Dance, Swansea School of Dance and Ottawa’s School of Dance to name a few.