Brad (About The Virgil Master Class)

[peter c]

I'm scheduled for the 2pm, this next
Monday. What about you? Then, what
about Tom?

[img]cool.gif[/img]

[Vdrummer]

Hi Peter,

I think I'm at noon and Tom dropped out - he's got a session.

It should be cool! I'm looking forward to PX too. New version of the band, TJ Hemmerich and a different bass player too.

Brad

[Vdrummer]

Hi Peter,

I hope you were notified of the timing changes. I think your class is around 3:45 AT DURTY NELLIES. Virgil and crew decided to save a couple dollars and are flying into Midway rather than O'Hare (&*%$%!!!) forcing us to find someone to pick them up at a inconvenient time as well as reschedule all the masterclasses to later in the day. As a result, I'm out - I've got students. You'll have to let us know how it was.

Brad

[Terry B]

Hey guys! I was at the last one he did at cutting hall. Three words: Intense, Humbling, and Painful!! All kidding aside, I got a ton out if it. We all had stations (5 of us) with a double pedal and a pad. Virgil showed us the "locked grip" (all wrist, holding on with the back fingers) and took us through some exercises like one handed triplet accents, rolls, double stroke inversions, etc. all slow to fast. Let me tell ya, he didn't hold back! he wanted to find our limits and stress the importance of taking things beyond the comfort zone. We also worked through some linear patterns between the left hand and the feet. Very cool stuff. Virgil was very good in this setting and I would recommend it to any advanced player. Warning: kids don't try this at home!! Have fun guys!

[Vdrummer]

Sorry I'll miss it. But I find it interesting that Virgil and many other highly skilled DCI-style players are completely opposite of the Gruber approach.

[peter c]

Brad,

I have not heard about the changes, though I
better listen to the messages, this morning.

Tony (was) and Virgil are definitely anti-Gruber.

This really sucks (schedule change). I am going
to have to really do some things.

[img]cool.gif[/img]

[peter c]

Post follows..

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ July 12, 2004 11:00 PM: Message edited by: peter c ]</font>

[peter c]

I blew off work today because Virgil was back to Chicago and this time, for a series of Master Classes (today) and a performance, with Planet X (tomorrow). The setting was Dirty Nellie's (where the show will also be held).
There were 15 students, including me, some quite young (refreshing) and some old (like me) ).

I saw a friendly face from HOD, though could not identify anyone else. It was going to be a kind of reunion for some HOD buddies, including Tom Hipskind but due to last minute schedule changes in the class, they had to miss it.

Still, we had blue-cammed Eliminators and a pad set-up for each of the drummers. I was right on time but that meant that I was in the second and last row, to Virgil's right. It seemed like I was the only matched player in the house. Of course, what would you expect in a Virgil Donati Master Class?!

I sat down at the pads, getting my sticks out and then getting loose. There was a lot of ambient pad noise - let me tell you, everyone excited about what was to come. When Virgil came, we were ready.

He let us know right away that he wanted to focus on single-strokes and because they were the most basic and practical means to approach the kicks. It could have been that some were surprised at this. I wasn't. We had a variety of abilities there and Virgil's purpose was to open the door for us. There was basic, intermediate and advanced routines that were written down for each of us. He would point out the example, play it (in tempo) and then count it off for us, allowing us to see him as he played along with us.

After the first few examples, it became clear that some of the players had issues with the double-kick in general and this was especially related to tempo and the development of the left-foot and here is where the class really took focus, I think - as far as mechanics went.

I have always known that Virgil stressed his left-handed lead in his exercises for the hands and it's no different with his feet. When he had to take the routines, with our left feet leading, the rubber hit the pavement for many of us and with that, gave us a new foundation for development into the future.

Each of the routines had layered over it, different patterns and stickings for the hands, including singles doubles, triplets and paradiddles. They got successively more complex and harder to execute but his goal was, again, to open the door for us and with a solid emphasis on the kick's patterns, which included 16th's and Qtr. note triplets.

I won't get into the examples specifically but just say that it was great to have at these exercises, seeing him execute them and knowing, as he suggested, that if we were having difficulty with them, we could slow them down on our own, getting the basic kick pattern started and then layering what he wanted for us on the hands later.

The routines are great for developing on. I am very happy I took the class.

His pads actually came undone, due to the vibrations and he kept going on anyway!

I really enjoyed seeing him again, chatting with him briefly and just being is his space. He's the nicest guy. That he remembers me, of course, is a thrill. What can I say about him that I haven't already?

I took a couple of photos of him. I'll post them soon, into the future.

Thanks so much, Virgil!

[img]cool.gif[/img]

[Vdrummer]

Hey Peter,

Thanks for the review. I got a copy of the masterclass sheets so I'll be able to work on the stuff even though I missed it. There's some hairy stuff on them.

You'd have loved the PX show - sorry you had to miss it but you've got good priorities. Virgil was quite impressive - as always. The rest of the band was quite impressive too. TJ and Rufus were up to the job. I think you'd have enjoyed the opening band, Big Electric also.

[Terry B]

Hey Vdrummer, do ya think there's any way you could hook me up with those masterclass handouts? I would really appreciate it! I had to choose (financially) between the show or the class. I opted for the show. Was NOT disappointed though! [img]smile.gif[/img]