Based in Atlanta, Zack is currently on the national tour of the hit Broadway musical Ain’t Too Proud: The Life & Times of the Temptations and is also the co-host of Working Drummer Podcast. Over his 20-year career, Zack has played many musical roles and built a reputation as a tasteful craftsman behind the drums. His professional path began on the rich and vibrant jazz scene in Kansas City where he attended graduate school. He then spent five years freelancing in Los Angeles, playing frequen...
Mar 29, 2023•1 hr 1 min
Peter Saleh is a multi-faceted percussionist, drummer, and teacher. Other notable performances include Hudson Valley Philharmonic, Brooklyn Metro Orchestra, Bay Atlantic Symphony, “Distant Worlds: Final Fantasy”, and a solo recital tour of Taiwan and Korea. He was drummer/percussionist for the world premiere Productions of "Mystic Pizza", "The Nutty Professor", and "Mr Holland's Opus" as well as the regional premiere of "The Cher Show" at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine and he can also be heard ...
Mar 12, 2023•1 hr 5 min
Broadway Drumming 101 is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Damon DueWhite (drums, percussion) a native of Twin Oaks, Pennsylvania, a Philadelphia suburb, learned to play the drums at the age of six from his father. At fourteen, he played in local bands in the Philadelphia and the New York Tri-State area. Prior to embarking on his first tour with the vocalist Roberta Flack in 1982, DueWhite, attended the Berklee ...
Feb 25, 2023•1 hr 4 min
Broadway Drumming 101 is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Internationally renowned Percussionist Roger Squitero was born in Washington, DC. He began playing congas in the sixties and was influenced by the unique mixture of music from that decade. Rock, Pop, R&B, Jazz, and Latin music were all influential in his musical growth. He moved to San Francisco in 1973, playing in the bay area with Salsa, Brazilian,...
Feb 11, 2023•1 hr 23 min
Broadway Drumming 101 is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Sam is a Brooklyn-based drummer currently holding the drum set chair at & Juliet on Broadway at the Sondheim Theater in New York City. Previously, he spent nearly five years and played over 1200 performances with the national tour of Hamilton: An American Musical. Sam has also had the distinct pleasure of recording and/or performing with: * Sharon Jo...
Jan 28, 2023•1 hr 4 min
Broadway Drumming 101 is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Eric Brown has subbed on Memphis The Musical, Lady Day At Emerson’s Bar And Grill, and Ain’t Too Proud. He also held the drum chair on the recent revival of Smokey Joe’s Cafe. His album “U MATTER” comprises 11 R&B/soul tracks featuring Eric on vocals and drums alongside a stellar group of musicians and singers whose fine performances augment his comp...
Jan 15, 2023•1 hr 10 min
Broadway Drumming 101 is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Javier Diaz is a percussionist, educator, and composer active in New York City. Javier regularly plays with the American Symphony Orchestra, chamber music groups, and Latin Jazz/Afro-Cuban folkloric groups in the New York area. He has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, New York Chamber Symphony, New Jersey Symp...
Dec 17, 2022•1 hr 7 min
Thank you for reading Broadway Drumming 101. This post is public so feel free to share it. Joshua Priest is the drummer for Broadway’s hit musical Beetlejuice. Joshua has also subbed on several Broadway and off-Broadway musicals since moving to New York City, including: * Ain’t Too Proud * Matilda * Mamma Mia * A Night with Janis Joplin * Groundhog Day * King Kong * Wicked * Moulin Rouge * Company * Mrs. Doubtfire * Off-Broadway: * Kimberly Akimbo * Smokey Joes Cafe * Little Shop of Horrors Clay...
Dec 03, 2022•1 hr 20 min
Emma Ford’s passion for drumming began in her high school years and was later accepted as one of only two drummers into the prestigious Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Australia’s leading music University, where she gained her qualifications as a Bachelor of Music (Jazz Performance). She has a breadth of experience across a number of musical genres, including Jazz, Classical, Latin, Pop, Rock and RnB. She has been a member of the all female drumming group ‘Drummer Queens’ and has performed at th...
Nov 12, 2022•1 hr 21 min
Broadway Drumming 101 is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Steve Bartosik has had the good fortune to have held the drum chair on 16 Broadway shows, 14 Off-Broadway productions and an additional 7 National Tours. Unfortunately, none of them lasted very long; but a nice collection none-the-less for someone whose professional drumming life began with playing polkas in rural Pennsylvania. https://lehighgoblet.com/w...
Oct 29, 2022•1 hr 35 min
Broadway Drumming 101 is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Michael is the owner of Yellow Sound Lab, a recording facility that serves as the musical home of Sesame Street on PBS, on which Michael plays drums and percussion and is the music mixing engineer. He owns the record company, Yellow Sound Label, for which he has produced albums for such artists as Chita Rivera, Alan Cumming , Jose Llana , Telly Leung and...
Sep 24, 2022•1 hr 2 min
Buddy Williams is one of the best drummers in the music world. Buddy started playing professionally at the age of eight years old and attended the prestigious High School of Music and Art (along with Noel Pointer, Tom Browne, Dave Valentine, Marcus Miller, and Bernard Wright) and, later, the Manhattan School of Music.Buddy William's credentials list as 'Who's Who of the music industry: Tom Browne, Luther Vandross, Stevie Wonder, Regina Bell, The Manhattan Transfer, Al Jerreau, Bob James, Peabo B...
Sep 10, 2022•1 hr 11 min
John Redsecker is one of New York City’s finest musicians. He has decades yof experience playing on broadway musicals and is one of the inspirations for this podcast. He was one of four drummers featured in the Broadway Drummer’s Roundtable in the June 1981 of Modern drummer and I’m honored to have as guest on my podcast. Shows he’s done include Barnum, Anything Goes, Meet Me In St. Lous, My Favorite Year, Kiss Of The Spider Woman, Beauty And The Beast, The Little Mermaid, Anything Goes, and now...
Jul 09, 2022•57 min
Dan Berkery is a New York City-based Freelance Drummer/Percussionist with a Master's Degree in Jazz Studies from Philadelphia's University of the Arts. Dan currently subs on multiple Broadway Drum/Percussion chairs including Hamilton, Moulin Rouge, The Book of Mormon, Wicked, and Dear Evan Hansen. In the past he has worked on show like Frozen, Mean girls, Bandstand, Tootsie, and The Cher show. Dan can be seen playing drums on Amazon Prime's "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," Comedy Central's "Full F...
Jun 11, 2022•1 hr 20 min
Steve Singer grew up in a suburb of St. Louis. He started playing drums at eight years old and later became the drummer in the U. City High School Jazz band. While studying photography and media in college, Steve began working at Street Side Records, a venerable store in the Loop area. He started taking private drum lessons from Michael Epstein and Sonny Igoe and started touring for many Broadway musicals. Musicians like Buddy Rich, Max Roach, Grady Tate, Mel Lewis, Elvin Jones, and Tony William...
May 28, 2022
Thank you for reading Broadway Drumming 101. This post is public, so feel free to share it. Born in Manhattan and raised in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, Clint de Ganon was six years old when he started drum lessons. Clint studied drumset with many great teachers in high school, including the great Sonny Igo and Gary Chester. After moving to NYC, Clint met bassist Gordon Edwards at a jam session at Mikell’s. Gordon introduced Clint to Cornell Dupree. This meeting led to many opportunities to perform a...
May 21, 2022•1 hr 14 min
Born in Manhattan and raised in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, Clint de Ganon was six years old when he started drum lessons. Clint studied drumset with many great teachers in high school, including the great Sonny Igo and Gary Chester. After moving to NYC, Clint met bassist Gordon Edwards at a jam session at Mikell’s. Gordon introduced Clint to Cornell Dupree. This meeting led to many opportunities to perform and record with an incredible list of artists; Cissy Houston, Brooke Benton, Jon Tropea, The ...
May 14, 2022•1 hr 2 min
Greg Germann has been touring worldwide, playing the drums for various touring productions for the past 15 years. Some of these national tours included Broadway shows like “Wicked,” “Grease” and “Finding Neverland” and even spent a year traveling with the Big Apple Circus. Thank you for reading Broadway Drumming 101. This post is public so feel free to share it. While creating a podcast, newsletter, and the upcoming online course is incredibly fun, it’s a whole lot of work. At this time, we have...
May 07, 2022•1 hr 12 min
Hello! While creating a podcast, newsletter, and the upcoming online course is incredibly fun, it’s a whole lot of work. At this time, we have no ads, sponsors, investors, lots of staff, or corporate backers. It is just a small core of us creating valuable content for everyone who is interested in what we have to offer. In order to keep this afloat and continue the high-quality content flowing into your email inbox, we would appreciate any financial contributions you can make. If you’d like to b...
Apr 29, 2022
Broadway Drumming 101 is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Born and raised in Binghamton, Ron Tierno began studying with a local drummer named Tony Monforte for ten years before moving to New York City. An audition for Frankie Valli in 1978 led to a national tour to support his massive hit single “Grease.” Numerous recordings and jingles followed, and he later began subbing on Broadway in 1980. Ron later worked ...
Apr 15, 2022•1 hr 23 min
A musical linguist. Jon Berger has performed with Aretha Franklin, Little Anthony and the Imperials, The Crystals, Shields and Yarnell, Jerry Vale, The Ocean City Pops, Garden State Philharmonic, Harrisburg Symphony, The Washington Ballet, Mark Morris Dance Company, The NY Tenors, Lee Marvin, Dan Willis, Bob Rodreguez, Arthur Lipner, Todd Urban, The Mandala Jazz Octet with John Medeski, Folk Rock with Michelle Shocked, The Washington Squares, World Music Fusion with The Peter Lewis Band featurin...
Apr 09, 2022•1 hr 26 min
Born and raised in Queens, NY, Michael is a graduate of the prestigious Archbishop Molloy High School and the renowned music conservatory. The Manhattan School of Music. Upon graduation from The Manhattan School in 1971, he pursued a career as a professional performing musician spanning the next 35 years. While still in Manhattan, Michael started his professional playing career by being a frequent substitute drummer/percussionist at the long-running off-Broadway production of Jacques Brel Is Ali...
Apr 01, 2022
Broadway Drumming 101 is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Based in NYC since 2011, Adam came to New York by way of Houston, TX where he completed his Master's Degree at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music (2008). Adam grew up in Northeast Ohio where he attended Cleveland State University (2006). Formally studying classical percussion throughout his education, Adam also actively performed as a freelancer ...
Mar 25, 2022•1 hr 26 min
Broadway Drumming 101 is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Mariana is an NYC-based freelance percussionist who began her music studies at the National Conservatory of Mexico in Mexico City. She received her Bachelors of Music in Percussion at Rutgers University. Mariana Ramirez broke historic ground in 2018, becoming the first female Mexican percussionist to perform on a Broadway show while subbing on Once On Th...
Mar 18, 2022•1 hr 10 min
In this episode, we discuss: * Starting out working a day job as a computer analyst. * Coming in second place out of 7,000 drummers at a Carmine Appice National Drum Battle - losing to Sonny Emory. * Taking lessons from Gary Chester and how he pushed him into being a professional musician. * Getting the chance to sub at “Bring It On” and later, “Hamilton.” * What he learned subbing for Clint de Ganon at Beautiful: The Carol King Musical. * Preparing for Ain’t Too Proud - The Life And Times Of Th...
Feb 28, 2022•1 hr 32 min
In this episode, we discuss: * Growing up in a small town and his path to working for major artists. * What it was like subbing his first show at Saturday Night Fever. * Playing all kinds of gigs in New York City and how that made him a versatile musician. * Landing the drum chair for Diana but eventually working for the musical Mrs. Doubtfire. * What he looks for when hiring subs. https://www.rodney-howard.com Rodney Howard has many years of experience on Broadway. He has been a sub drummer on ...
Feb 04, 2022•1 hr 17 min
In this episode, we discuss: * How he landed the drum chair at Moulin Rouge. * What he does to avoid drumming injuries. * Advice he would give to people interested in playing drums for Broadway musicals. * Playing Giant Steps on the oboe. * His experience recording the cast recording for the revival of Pippin. * What are the things a drummer should never do in a Broadway pit. Grammy-Award winning drummer, composer & bandleader Jared Schonig has toured and/or recorded internationally with Nic...
Jan 21, 2022•1 hr 22 min
Elena Bonomo Is A graduate of Berklee College of Music, where she holds a Bachelors's Degree in Performance. She’s toured across the United States as the drummer for the 1st National Tour of the hit Broadway musical, Waitress , originated the drum chairs for two Off-Broadway shows, including The Hello Girls and A Strange Loop , Elena has performed throughout the Caribbean, South America, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe while working as a bandleader for Holland America Cruise Lines. She has to...
Jan 14, 2022•1 hr 38 min
In this episode, we discuss: * The reasons why he feels subbing can be so stressful. * What he looks for when hiring subs. * How he prepares his subs to play his shows. * What advice he would give to anyone interested in playing Broadway musicals. * What kind of drums, cymbals, and sticks he uses on his shows. * The story of Tony William’s ride cymbal. Rich Rosenzweig is a veteran of 11 Broadway shows and played on many cast recordings. Rich has been the orchestra's drummer for the Kennedy Cente...
Jan 07, 2022•1 hr 13 min
In this episode, we discuss: * What it was like working on the revival of Follies and why he thought it was so special. * His experience playing “Dames At Sea.” * Why he wrote screenplays. * The way he approaches playing so many Broadway revivals. Rich Rosenzweig is a veteran of 11 Broadway shows and played on many cast recordings. Rich has been the orchestra's drummer for the Kennedy Center Honors for over a decade. He's also played in numerous national and international tours and has been the ...
Jan 05, 2022•1 hr 3 min
