On Thursday 29th November Drumtech were treated to a master class with the Sebastian De Krom trio (Drums, Sax and Double Bass). This wonderful jazz drummer played 4 songs, demonstrating that the drums can be a melodic instrument which seems to be the main subject of the night.

Sebastian gave the packed audience a lot of tips for practicing, the first one is to play a jazz theme and try to sing the melody when you play which gives you a lot of coordination and also helps you to know the song well.  The second one is to play to them with your left hand and keep the swing with your right hand which is a very good exercise to win independence and control.  Sebastian then went on to explain that the best thing you can do is to practice with musicians and insist on the fact that is more important to know how to play the music rather than have a great technique without being musical. He then went on to explain that one of the best exercises you can do when playing with a band is to try different rhythms and time signatures in the same song. The band highlighted this during the master class by playing different rhythms on simple quarter notes triplets with his bass player.

If you want to improve your skills, you have to practice something new every time and something that you can't do; it's the only way to progress! The key is that it's not necessary to spend 8 hours behind the kit because your brain can't take that much information, that's why it's better to practice 3 hours, but really concentrate!

Sebastian told the audience that it’s really important to listen to lots of music and listen to the band as a whole and not just the drums (something that drummers can often be guilty of).

To finish, he advised the Drumtech crowd to work on sight reading because it's the only way to get the job and be more comfortable with other musicians!