Percussion
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Joe Galeota, Associate Professor
DEPARTMENT : Percussion Department"I focus on oral tradition, mostly call-and-response type learning. It's a bit like ear training. The majority of my classes are African music. I'll introduce the rhythms or the songs, and they have to learn them by ear. After we do that for a while we work on how it gets translated into Western notation. It's very informal, something like an apprenticeship."
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Terri Lyne Carrington, Professor
DEPARTMENT : Percussion Department"I've been performing with great jazz musicians since I was a kid. And I always revered them. It's been great to be part of a line of such amazing players. Teaching allows me to pass it on. Most of the masters of the music are gone now. So it's really important for me to be able to say, 'Dizzy Gillespie taught me this.'"
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Ralph Peterson Jr., Professor
DEPARTMENT : Percussion Department"My teaching style is energetic, intense, and no-nonsense. I try to encourage interaction and to inspire my students to push their own limits. Beyond the obvious areas of technique and reading, one of the most important things I teach is total musicianship. This involves hearing and playing beyond the drum set. Understanding form, melody, harmony, and phrasing all have a profound effect on what a drummer plays."
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Neal Smith, Associate Professor
DEPARTMENT : Percussion Department"I try not to create patterns in my lessons, so that the material seems really fresh, so that it catches students off guard. When you get called for a recording session, a lot of times you basically have one shot at this. You get called based on your reputation, you come in, and a lot of times you get the music at the session. You have to be able to sight read extremely well, you have to be able to interpret music extremely well, and you have to be able to adapt to your environment."
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Skip Hadden, Professor
DEPARTMENT : Percussion Department"I like to be able to see the students from when they enter—like in the audition process—to when they're in the classes, to when they graduate, and then, years later, they'll come back and knock on the door, and I'll see what they're doing or I'll read about them in magazines. Because I've been doing it for so long now, I've seen a couple generations of students go out and do well."
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Larry Finn, Professor
DEPARTMENT : Percussion Department"Being a drummer is like being a professional athlete in that you have to be in shape both physically and mentally. A lot of people, when they see a drummer playing a repetitive groove for three minutes, might not realize how hard that is to do. It's difficult to put the whole package—good technique and a musical approach—together."
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Kenwood Dennard, Professor
DEPARTMENT : Percussion Department"People say it's not what you know, it's who you know. But I say, don't you think it's how they feel when you're around that's most important? It was Charlie Mingus who showed me the importance of influencing the other members of the band. When I played with Mingus, he made me sound better just by being onstage."
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Ed Saindon, Professor
DEPARTMENT : Percussion Department"There are always new things to learn about improvisation, and whatever I learn, I pass on to my students. Improvisation to me is like living. We all improvise every day, and it's an art; it's being open to all the possibilities, to be able to make quick decisions and do something on the spur of the moment. We do that in choices we make every day."
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"My teaching approach is very practical; I'm not much into intellectualizing the music. I like to put my hands on the instrument with them and act like a sort of a coach on the field. I also believe our best teacher is our own body. Repetition will actually empower your body and teach you the most effective way to do what's best for you. And the drums are very physical, so when we sweat for half an hour, the body is sending messages about what to do and what not to do. It's like learning how to whistle. I wouldn't be able to teach you how to whistle. You have to try to imitate me till you get it."
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Casey Scheuerell, Professor
DEPARTMENT : Percussion Department"I think that it's better to have a singular voice rather than be totally slick at everything. To me, that means do everything pretty well, but make sure you do one or two things really well, so that you have an identity."
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