Broadway Drumming 101

Born in Manhattan and raised in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, Clint de Ganon was six years old when he started drum lessons. Clint studied drumset with many great teachers in high school, including the great Sonny Igo and Gary Chester. After moving to NYC, Clint met bassist Gordon Edwards at a jam session at Mikell’s. Gordon introduced Clint to Cornell Dupree. This meeting led to many opportunities to p...

Greg Germann has been touring worldwide, playing the drums for various touring productions for the past 15 years. Some of these national tours included Broadway shows like “Wicked,” “Grease” and “Finding Neverland” and even spent a year traveling with the Big Apple Circus. Thank you for reading Broadway Drumming 101. This post is public so feel free to share it. While creating a podcast, newslette...

Hello! While creating a podcast, newsletter, and the upcoming online course is incredibly fun, it’s a whole lot of work. At this time, we have no ads, sponsors, investors, lots of staff, or corporate backers. It is just a small core of us creating valuable content for everyone who is interested in what we have to offer. In order to keep this afloat and continue the high-quality content flowing int...

Broadway Drumming 101 is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Born and raised in Binghamton, Ron Tierno began studying with a local drummer named Tony Monforte for ten years before moving to New York City. An audition for Frankie Valli in 1978 led to a national tour to support his massive hit single “Grease.”  Numero...

A musical linguist. Jon Berger has performed with Aretha Franklin, Little Anthony and the Imperials, The Crystals, Shields and Yarnell, Jerry Vale, The Ocean City Pops, Garden State Philharmonic, Harrisburg Symphony, The Washington Ballet, Mark Morris Dance Company, The NY Tenors, Lee Marvin, Dan Willis, Bob Rodreguez, Arthur Lipner, Todd Urban, The Mandala Jazz Octet with John Medeski, Folk Rock...

Born and raised in Queens, NY, Michael is a graduate of the prestigious Archbishop Molloy High School and the renowned music conservatory. The Manhattan School of Music. Upon graduation from The Manhattan School in 1971, he pursued a career as a professional performing musician spanning the next 35 years. While still in Manhattan, Michael started his professional playing career by being a frequent...

Broadway Drumming 101 is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Based in NYC since 2011, Adam came to New York by way of Houston, TX where he completed his Master's Degree at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music (2008). Adam grew up in Northeast Ohio where he attended Cleveland State University (2006). Formally s...

Broadway Drumming 101 is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Mariana is an NYC-based freelance percussionist who began her music studies at the National Conservatory of Mexico in Mexico City. She received her Bachelors of Music in Percussion at Rutgers University. Mariana Ramirez broke historic ground in 2018, becom...

In this episode, we discuss: * Starting out working a day job as a computer analyst. * Coming in second place out of 7,000 drummers at a Carmine Appice National Drum Battle - losing to Sonny Emory. * Taking lessons from Gary Chester and how he pushed him into being a professional musician. * Getting the chance to sub at “Bring It On” and later, “Hamilton.” * What he learned subbing for Clint de Ga...

In this episode, we discuss: * Growing up in a small town and his path to working for major artists. * What it was like subbing his first show at Saturday Night Fever. * Playing all kinds of gigs in New York City and how that made him a versatile musician. * Landing the drum chair for Diana but eventually working for the musical Mrs. Doubtfire. * What he looks for when hiring subs. https://www.rod...

In this episode, we discuss: * How he landed the drum chair at Moulin Rouge. * What he does to avoid drumming injuries. * Advice he would give to people interested in playing drums for Broadway musicals. * Playing Giant Steps on the oboe. * His experience recording the cast recording for the revival of Pippin. * What are the things a drummer should never do in a Broadway pit. Grammy-Award winning...

Elena Bonomo Is A graduate of Berklee College of Music, where she holds a Bachelors's Degree in Performance. She’s toured across the United States as the drummer for the 1st National Tour of the hit Broadway musical, Waitress , originated the drum chairs for two Off-Broadway shows, including The Hello Girls and A Strange Loop , Elena has performed throughout the Caribbean, South America, Australia...

In this episode, we discuss: * The reasons why he feels subbing can be so stressful. * What he looks for when hiring subs. * How he prepares his subs to play his shows. * What advice he would give to anyone interested in playing Broadway musicals. * What kind of drums, cymbals, and sticks he uses on his shows. * The story of Tony William’s ride cymbal. Rich Rosenzweig  is a veteran of 11 Broadway...

In this episode, we discuss: * What it was like working on the revival of Follies and why he thought it was so special. * His experience playing “Dames At Sea.” * Why he wrote screenplays. * The way he approaches playing so many Broadway revivals. Rich Rosenzweig  is a veteran of 11 Broadway shows and played on many cast recordings.  Rich has been the orchestra's drummer for the Kennedy Center Hon...

Rich Rosenzweig  is a veteran of 11 Broadway shows and played on many cast recordings.  Rich has been the orchestra's drummer for the Kennedy Center Honors for over a decade. He's also played in numerous national and international tours and has been the regular drummer for the  Encores!  series at New York's City Center. Over the years has also recorded and performed in several progressive jazz en...

In this episode, we discuss: * What he looks for when hiring subs for his shows. * What a lock-in period is and what itis expected when starting a new broadway show. * How he landed the drum chair at Come From Away . * What NOT to do in a Broadway pit. * Why he only uses Yamaha drums. * His thoughts on Sabian cymbals. * Why he’s focusing on producing and music directing in the future. Larry Lelli...

Larry Lelli is a veteran Broadway musician. He’s played drums and/or conductor in over 40 Broadway shows.   Some of his  Broadway drumming credits include The Producers .  Assassins ,  How To Succeed In Business,   Million Dollar Quartet .  He’s recorded and performed with  Melissa Etheridge, Josh Groban, Anne Hathaway, Nick Jonas, Vanessa Williams, Heather Headley, The Mamas & The Papas, Anika No...

As a studied musician of several decades, Dena'sversatility has afforded her opportunities to play in various settings - from arenas to rock clubs and Broadway theaters to recording studios.   She has been highlighted in several drum publications, including the  September 2018 issue of Modern Drummer Magazine . ​ Dena has held the drum chair for the following Broadway and Off-Broadway productions:...

Paul Pizutti has over fifty years of experience playing shows. He is a person everyone should listen to when it comes to understanding what it takes to have a successful career playing broadway musicals. In this episode, we discuss: * Sight reading the TONY Awards show. * Leaving the business altogether for a shot period of time. * Being the China club house drummer on Wednesday nights. * Recordin...

Paul Pizutti has over fifty years of experience playing shows. He is a person everyone should listen to when it comes to understanding what it takes to have a successful career playing broadway musicals. In this episode, we discuss: * Working on the musical ‘Candide.’ * How he wound up playing the original ‘Godspell.’ * How he handled playing a show during the New York City blackout of 1977. * Wha...

In this episode, we discuss: * What he learned at Manhattan School Of Music in New York City * His experience being mentored by Bernard Purdie * What’s meant by the saying, “If you're not early, you’re late.” * His time learning Dear Evan Hansen and taking over the drum chair. * Why playing exactly like the chairholder matters when you are subbing a show. * Who are his favorite five drummers of al...

Jesse-Ray Leich is a versatile percussionist and drum set player who received his Bachelor's degree in Music Education and Percussion from the University of Rhode Island in 2017. Raised in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, Jesse-Ray started playing the drums at four years old.  He has played drums throughout the years, achieving multiple All-State, and All-Eastern Division musician rankings.  Growing...

In this episode, we discuss: * His experience subbing at ‘Jagged Little Pill’ on Broadway. * What approval vs. designation means. * Why being confident without being arrogant is important. * The musicals he’s working on next. Today, I’m interviewing educator/Audio Engineer/Synth & Drum Programmer/Composer, fantastic drummer Dennis Arcano. I’ve known Dennis for over 20 years. He was one of my regul...

Today, I’m interviewing educator/Audio Engineer/Synth & Drum Programmer/Composer, fantastic drummer Dennis Arcano. I’ve known Dennis for over 20 years. He was one of my regular subs at tick, tick… BOOM! and Altar Boys, and he later subbed for Follies (the 2001 Revival), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and is now subbing on Jagged Little Pill on Broadway. Dennis is also the resident mus...

Joshua Samuels and I go way back. We met shortly before I left the off-Broadway show Altar Boyz and went to play the Broadway musical Memphis. He was eager to get into the scene and did everything the right way to network his way into playing shows. He eventually subbed for me at Altar Boys and moves on to play several shows afterward. Josh is classically trained, and his experience as a percussio...