Drumtech students experienced some fantastic music from outstanding musicians
when busy session drummer Troy Miller came to give a master class. He went straight
in to play a couple of tracks alongside bassist Rick James and guitarist Femi Temowo.

Miller took us back a few years sitting high above the kit like a 2007 Buddy Rich as he
demonstrated his unusual style. With an incredibly light touch he moved across the kit
and, amongst the mastered chops, Miller created short burst buzzes with one stick on
his hi-hats, toms and crash cymbals. This had a colourful effect that structured his solos
and kept you guessing what would come next.

Miller had printed out an accompanying sheet that he read through with the students in between his performances. He based the class on practice and how we can make the work a lot easier. Miller went on to explain how you should choose a drummer that you look up to and live and breath their work for several months. This adds a new direction to your playing and creates new ideas you may not have discovered otherwise.

He then demonstrated how a rudiment may be used in several styles of music and also how
you can change the instrumentation for the same rudiment. As his example he chose the Swiss Army Triplet and began by playing it on the snare. He would then play different parts of the rudiment on either the toms or cymbals. Only skimming the surface with simply one rudiment, Miller immediately made it more interesting. He then moved on to his feet with the rudiment and added a whole other level and another few years of practice for us all.

A part of the industry that we tend to forget about was also discussed by Miller and reminded
everyone that you must get your name out there in the business. Networking is crucial if you
are to be offered work. He talked about how a gig that was a miserable experience turned out
to be extremely important as the keyboardist mentioned Miller’s name for future work.

He left us with some more great music and again we walked away realising how much practice we must do.