Joe Gillotti

About me:

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Most of my professional life has been in the area of electronics technology: technician, circuit designer, finally service engineer. Drumming has been my passionate avocation. In rudimental drumming I've put most of my effort. But I love to occasionally get behind my set and wail! At this point in my life I really enjoy watching and/or hearing the greats, whether they be drum corps individualist and ensembles or the great set-drummers out there. Until possibly a decade ago, I had a fairly narrow view of what drumming is and should be: No set-drummers mattered since Krupa, Rich, Belson or Roach. All rock and pop drummers were fakes: playing simplistic 16th note cymbal rides with the simple backbeat. The quality of rudimental drumming, in most cases, was inversely proportional to distance from the State of Connecticut. As with all closed-minded thought, my ideas were based on ignorance. The world of drumming had changed considerably since my 15-year hiatus from this milieu. I returned to drumming with more fervor than ever. In the rudimental sphere I looked to the young drummers who are usually at the cutting-edge. I was immediately impressed seeing a teen-age Dominick Cuccia. I liked his smooth effortless style. I quickly attempted to change my high-sticking Burns Moore/ Earl Sturtze style to the just-off-the- head style that Dominick presented. In later years percussion teacher Dominick Cuccia was to help me with other musical problems. Another important influence was Rick Beckham and Ken Mazur with the Drummers for Rudimental Mastery and www.rudimentaldrumming.com. Besides making me feel welcome to their community, these superior drummers’ technical advice helped me immensely. I have to thank for his support and confidence in me, my old friend, Al Merritt. Al, with drum instructor, John Moynihan and the members of the fabulous Connecticut Alumni Drum Bugle Corps drum line helped me in attempting to play whole bunches of rudiments really fast! In the area of set-drumming and general percussion I was again fortunate to have a local college be the venue for a first-class percussion clinic. This was Aldo Mazza’s Kosa. Here, at free evening performances, I able to see some of the greatest drummers and percussionists from around the world. These included set drummers in rock, jazz, big band, rock and funk. There was Indian, Middle-Eastern, African and concert percussion. It was great! My attendance at two Percussive Art Society International Conventions brought me more of that diverse percussion knowledge. It was late in life, but I have grown a lot in my thinking about drumming and percussion in general. I would encourage my students to eventually think beyond the immediate discipline that we might be covering. Make the maximum effort to learn the building blocks of all percussion called rudiments. Then use those basics in the musical areas of the art and develop expertise there. Never stop learning! href="http://www.pimp-my-profile.com/">......

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