Creative Music

How One Man Influenced My Drumming For Life

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Growing up in my hometown in the heart of Connecticut there was a very hip music store in a neighboring town. It was called simply enough, Creative Music. It has long since been closed, but back in its day during the glorious 80’s, it was a bustling musical instrument store. It was a full service establishment, offering a variety of lessons for every instrument imaginable, well almost. Thanks to its proprietor Bob Gatzen, they offered drum clinics with major artists from around the world. I got up close and personal with the likes of drummer Steve Smith of Journey among others. But that was ages ago.

The store was situated along a mildly busy Main Street and seemed to always be open. As one approached the door, eagerly swinging it open, the sounds of musical things penetrated the eardrums. Guitars, horned instruments, pianos, and of course the most prominent sound of all emanated from every size drum and cymbal one could dream up. And I dreamt! As I rummaged through my pocket change and anemically populated wallet, I could only just dream.

It was at that time when I had begun working in the real world for real pocket change. Alas, I would have to think small or earn big. Over time I was able to add a drum here and a cymbal there, slowly building up a reasonably sized drum kit.

Back inside Creative Music I promptly met Bob Gatzen. (See that’s the thing about me, I don’t mess with the middle men, I find greater success going right to the top.) I would not say Bob and I became friends per se, I was more of a very familiar customer. He did remember my name which was just like him. One day I asked Bob how to tune my drums. Cymbals come pre-tuned, you see. His eyes lit up. He spent the next hour or so of his personal time explaining and demonstrating just how he did it. Of course any drum he tuned sounded fantastic and exploded with volume and crisp, clear tone. To this day, I still use his tuning technique. I would argue that certain things need to be passed down to the next generation lest they become lost forever. Just the other day I was pleased to see that several years ago he was finally featured in Modern Drummer, the premiere magazine for drummers around the world to this day. He studied with Joe Porcaro, father of the Porcaro brothers of the rock group Toto. It seems most everything in my life is somehow linked to Toto, lol.

I did take a few drum lessons at Creative Music but unfortunately life got in the way which to this day, I regret enormously. I think I got in the way to be honest. If you are a young musician, I urge you to find a good teacher and stick with your chosen instrument. The knowledge and skill of how to play it will bring joy to yourself and others within ear shot for the rest of your life. Besides, music is liberating in of itself, isn’t it. Don’t wait too long though, for it truly is hard to teach an old dog new tricks…but not impossible.

If you care to dig through the weeds of the afore mentioned, the video below is Bob himself showing his technique of exactly how he taught me to tune my drums, beginning with a clever, rudiment filled drum solo. Oh, the pleasant memories of conversations with him flood back in my minds eye.

I must say that I really enjoyed writing this memory filled entry. Thank you for reading it.

Jim