May is international drum month and the Long and Mcquade chain music stores is featuring many drummers from across Canada. I am fortunate to be representing Sonor drums, Dream Cymbals, Vic firth sticks, and Remo drum heads on a small drum clinic tour in southern Ontario during this period. We have completed three of the clinics and they have all been successful.

I decided to present these clinics with my new project “On Topic”. Kim Ratcliffe and Brad Cheeseman are happily contributing to the subject matter at hand and I am ecstatic about that!. The audiences have responded very positively. I have them singing along, counting out loud, and I make sure to invite at least two drummers to come up and play during the clinic. It has been a lot of fun.

It’s also been great having the opportunity to promote “On Topic” to the clinic audiences. Here is a little taste of the band at our clinic in Waterloo Ontario on Wednesday May 11.

I feel like I have struck a good balance between being informative and entertaining during these clinics. I just don’t want them to be the typical format where the drummer gets up on stage, plays a couple of terrific solos, plays to backing tracks and answers questions for the next hour. Instead I try to treat the clinic like a genuine workshop where hopefully people will go home and think about what they should practice in the morning.

Please refer to my events calendar on this site to find out where and when the next 3 clinics are going to be presented. I hope to see you at one or more of them!