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Music presents the Van Romaine Drum Clinic | |||
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When Marshall Music put the word out that Van Romaine, currently on tour in South Africa with Enrique, was going to do a drum clinic, they never expected such a huge turnout. They expected one hundred people, more than double that arrived. From beginner to pro every level of S.A. Drummer came to watch. The likes of Neil Ettridge, David Classens, George Voros and many more big name S.A. Drummers were all there. Top S.A. Band Drummers there included Tulsa from Watershed. | ||
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Van started promptly at 6pm to a packed Marshall Music. He started with a "warm up" that excluded a backing track. For the audience who weren't quite sure what to expect from Van, they were soon silenced by the spectacle of over 30 years of drumming experience. Van gave a brief background of his career which he started at the age of 8. He studied at the University of Miami before he moved to NY to concentrate more seriously on his career. To read a full biography on Van go to www.vanromaine.com. Using backing tracks from various projects that he has worked on like The Steve Morse Band and Enrique, he demonstrated his technical ability and interpretation of the music. He also did demonstrations with some loops that he created and played along with some odd timing. Van openly admits that a lot of his technical development was thanks to The New Breed by Gary Chester. When he had the time, he would spend at least two hours a day working on the techniques. Van discussed how his two main environments, The Steve Morse Band and Enrique differ. Although he uses electronics with both he The Steve Morse Band and it's a much more "live" situation with more room for improvisation. In answers to one of the audience members questions, he said that he never really changes fills when playing songs because the fill he has created is for a purpose and unless it sounds wrong, or doesn't fit, he will stick with what he's done. He also has to use a lot more double bass with The Steve Morse Band. With Enrique it is straight pop music, and he has a lot of loops that he plays with. In answer to some audience questions Van discussed his electronic setup, which includes ddrum triggers and ddrum brain. His setup now includes triggers, electronics, samples, loops etc. He has made the natural progression, which is currently seen in the overseas drumming market. Van's In Ear system includes his click track, he said spending so much time over the years on timing has made the rest much easier, and even though he can read music as well he has found in his situation importance has fallen on timing. Van does not really get time to practice while on the road, but when home he often goes back to The New Breed by Gary Chester or he just works on a few simple routines which he demonstrated. He emphasised the importance of working on finger rolls and demonstrated on cymbals how good finger work can make a huge difference in a drummers abilities. On the bass pedal technique, Van commented after a question by Neil Ettridge that he's preference was to play heel up even though he had been taught to play heel down. He had just never felt comfortable with the heel down technique. One of his developments to his bass pedal technique was to drop the beater lower by about an inch and he commented that after a while of getting used to it, he has found it to be much faster. The entire clinic was a huge success, many spent time after the clinic asking Van questions and getting autographs. With a sense of humour and pure passion driven playing, without question Van made an impression on all there.
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