Virgil Donati site

[mcraeh]

Just wondering if anyone here is a member to his site and how it is? I'm thinking of joining, can you download the lessons as well?

[Vdrummer]

Yes, you can download the lessons. Unfortunately, Virgil makes a bunch at a time (same clothes, location, etc) but they only upload about 1 new lesson per month. Maintaining a membership is therefore expensive for what you get. You can join for a month though, download everything and then quit, rejoin a year later and do it again. They are slowly removing lessons, so you have to pay attention. The lessons are on the advanced side, are sometimes fairly brief or of limited application.

If you're typical player and not just a VD freak, you might be better off investing in building a drum DVD and book library with a subscription to Drum! and MD, rather than spend $30 a month for one pretty short lesson.

[mja61]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ December 06, 2005 08:36 PM: Message edited by: mja61 ]</font>

[mja61]

Originally posted by Vdrummer:
...you might be better off investing in...a subscription to Drum! and MD...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">"Boo hoo. You had me and then you lost me." [img]wink.gif[/img]

All joking aside, well said, Brad. About a year-and-a-half ago, I joined for a month and downloaded everything. It was about one year's worth of material, but even for a one-month price, it didn't seem worth it. I'm a "Virgil Freak" in the sense that I really enjoy his drumming and want to learn and incorporate some of his "schtick", but the membership is really not a good value, IMO. I could provide quite a bit of "constructive criticism," but the main points would be:

- The lessons themselves are nothing you couldn't get out of a book or magazine article. (Although, you wouldn't have the advantage of having Virgil demo them for you.)

- The overall production quality is poor (video is rather low resolution, the lessons and performance clips are relatively short, the playalong tunes aren't really good for "general consumption," etc.)

- The overall value is not that good. They don't really add very much content each month.

[peter c]

I have been a member for two years, now.
The reason for being a member is two-fold.

1. I want to learn from Virgil's perspective.
2. I want to pay tribute to Virgil.

Despite everything said, much of what is true,
I feel that I have gotten from the site, what
I had hoped, under the conditions.

Virgil has brought a lot to the table and I
am very, very, very thankful for his inspir-
ation. I need/needed him and he was/is there.

[img]cool.gif[/img]

[Vdrummer]

I think a good first step, to both pay tribute to Virgil and get the benefit of his ideas, would be to get all of his DVD's or Vids first (or his upcoming book). I have them all, and can remember transcribing stuff off Power Drumming back in 1994! He's a mind blowing drummer, with some truly unique and inspiring skills.

I still think a subscription or two is a good idea! ;-)

Brad

[PocketPlayer]

UGH...this thread frustrates me...for another reason...

I have tried to talk sense to the Virgil people, Virgil, the boys in Planet X. Evidently, superior talent and attention to even the most microscopic details musically does NOT transfer to a business sense.

I just can?t understand why this site isn?t managed better. Virgil is responsible for this and really needs to get serious about his site?I know, Virgil seems so serious right! But really, the man has so much to offer and goes about it half assed. This site could be so much better and exciting. It is noble that Peter supports a great talent, but most want to pay for a service of some sort, and that service should be good & exciting. Virg has a vault of videos he has recorded over the past 15 years. I wanted to edit them into solo videos but he wanted to do it. Maybe he could load a new video weekly for members...they deserve this if they are paying.

Will Kennedy tried to do something like Vigil and it bombed?again, no business sense at all. He charged $24.94 per month for a CD. The first few where no more than some little sols (nice stuff, but?) and some minimal instruction?he did have a phone conversation with Steve Smith on bass drum technique, but still?$24.95?

Oh well? my rant for the month?lol

[no_bells]

I've been meaning to join as a premium member for awhile now but to tell you the truth I'm still working on the stuff I've already got of him not to mention all the non-Virgil stuff that seems to keep piling up. That Power Drumming video is a must have. He makes those first exercises w/ the left hand look like cake. To have that much power and dexterity with his left hand traditional grip and arm at that stick height for that span of time at that last tempo while doing a crescendo and have it clean is almost in-human. And the solos are just amazing, rhythmic poetry. When I first saw that video, a drummer buddy of mine looked at me and said: "that's as good as it gets."

Nowadays, Virgil is on to some other shit that makes that video look like nothing.

[Morgenthaler]

I can say ditto to Peters and no bells posts.

I too am a member, and enjoying it!
I totally get what pocketplayer is saying, and he too has a point BUT...
Virgil IS listening to critique!
The site is constantly undergoing changes to meet the wishes of the fans (5000 members over there now) and generally he and webmaster Chris are working their butt off to make it a better place.
It is -second to HOD- the best online drumdiscussion. Soon there will surface a new membership deal to meet the aforementioned critique.

Oh, and Virgil just uploaded some footage from the Donati/MacAlpine/Bynoe tour, and MAN they rock! The Quantum Factor (awesom track, Virgil wrote) clip is downright scary.

Look out for some serious changes over there.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ December 07, 2005 04:20 AM: Message edited by: Jeppe Morgenthaler ]</font>

[Morgenthaler]

Sorry.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ December 07, 2005 04:17 AM: Message edited by: Jeppe Morgenthaler ]</font>