What Drum Corps Did For Me; Part 1 by JohnDonovan.biz

// June 13th, 2008

(2 votes, average: 3 out of 5)

As the 2008 season kicks off, it makes me not only think about the great memories from when I marched, but more importantly, how it changed my life. Drum Corps for me was formal percussion training. To this day, I am convinced that drum corps training for an aspiring professional drummer is extremely valuable.  I knew from the time I was playing with Transformers that I wanted to be a professional drummer.  What drum corps taught me went far beyond just the technical side. It taught me about intense work ethic  and constantly adjusting to new situations.

On the technical side, I choose a training path that is still to this day, uncommon. While most corps style drummers choose to stick with one section for the duration of their training, I knew early on that it would benefit me to become proficient on snare, tenor and bass. Not only did this benefit my drumline arranging skills by producing parts that sound well balanced, but each of the segments has it’s own unique educational advantage. I feel that snare drum training focuses on rudimental proficiency, tenor training focuses on movement mechanics and bass training focuses on fills and crazy timing. I touch on these subjects more in my Instructional/Performance DVD entitled: Drumline Vs. Drumset, which is still in post production.

Work ethic is very important in the music business. Often, as a professional musician, you have to work three times harder then someone who has a normal 9-5 day job, just to make ends meet.  If you don’t have an intense work ethic, you will be eaten alive in this business. I really credit my work ethic to drum corps training, as well as watching directors Roman Belenski and Bob Jacobs in action. To wake up everyday and love doing what you do to financially survive is rewarding,  but it sure can be stressful. My work ethic is what keeps me involved in professional music every day, and I will never quit. I might have been forced out of DCI because of age, but my heart never left. I still strive to become better every day.

Learning  to constantly adjust  to new situations as a professional drummer is an art. Every day, week, month and year is different. You never know what is going to happen. Control is an illusion. You can have a week where you have it figured out that you are making a grand and then all hell breaks loose. A musical director dissolves his band, and sells his contracts off to the highest bidder, half your private students miss for various reasons, checks from clients bounce, your truck breaks down, all on top of catching a cold from your wife and your toddler son. Then there are times that you know the week is going to be really tight, and then opportunity after opportunity pours in. No matter what type of week I am having, I can go to sleep at night knowing one thing: I am a professional drummer that did not quit after aging out of DCI. I will admit it is depressing knowing that probably more than 96 percent of all that performance talent coming off the field at finals just vanishes into thin air. The music business would be a better place if more drummers that aged out became full time professionals.

John Donovan has played with professional dance bands, rock bands, metal bands, jazz bands, musical theater pit orchestras, cruise ship bands and DJ’S.  In 2002, John performed with One Man Religion, which opened for internationally recognized Metal band, Breaking Benjamin.  He is also a multi-world, national and state rudimental drumming champion,  marching with Pioneer, Jersey Surf and The Reading Buccaneers Drum and Bugle Corps.  A music business graduate of McNally Smith College of Music, formerly known as MusicTech, John has served as composer, arranger, instructor, and manager for drumlines across the Northeast and Midwest. John was featured in Modern Drummer Magazine, March 2008, pg 192. John is a performing artist and clinician for Mapex Marching Percussion and can be reached through http://www.JohnDonovan.Biz