About Us

What is DrumChattr.com?
DrumChattr.com is your internet percussion hub! Discover thought provoking videos, important percussion news, and more! Engage in daily blog post related discussion, and share your thoughts with the community! Subscribe to the DrumChattr podcast to stay up to date and hear interviews from leading figures in the percussion world. Drumchattr.com: discover. engage. share.

Our Story
The idea of DrumChattr started in early 2010 when Tom, Dave, and Shane connected via the web. Each wanted a better way for percussionists all over the globe to connect, discuss, and experience quality web generated percussion content online. All in one place! The result was DrumChattr.com. After months of planning, meeting, and building, DrumChattr was launched on August 23rd, 2010.

Thomas Burritt received degrees from Ithaca College School of Music (BM – Education and Performance), Kent State University (MM), and Northwestern University (DMA). Active in the creation and performance of new music for percussion Burritt has built a reputation in chamber music, as a percussion soloist and a concert marimbist. He has performed regularly at the Leigh Howard Stevens International Marimba Seminar and was a featured faculty performer at the 2007 and 2009 Zeltsman Marimba Festival. In April 2004 Burritt performed in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall as member of the Hammers and Sticks Ensemble. Later the same year the Hammers and Sticks Ensemble released a CD on the Innova label featuring works by Steven Mackey, Zhou Long, Alvin Singleton, Alex Shapiro, Joseph Harchanko and Belinda Reynolds. As Percussion Soloist Burritt has been active performing percussion concertos by Steve Mackey, Joseph Schwantner, Michael Dougherty, David Maslanka and James MacMillan. Burritt has recorded for guitarist Eric Johnson and recording artist David Byrne. Burritt’s first solo CD recording: “All Times Identical – New American Music for Marimba” was released in November 2006 and is available at GoFishmusic.com.  In 2009, Burritt was nominated for a Grammy for his performances on “Conspirare in Concert” distributed world wide on the harmonia mundi label. He is currently Associate Professor of Percussion and Director of Percussion Studies at the University of Texas at Austin and is a clinician for LLC/Malletech Instruments, Malletech Mallets and Zildjian Cymbals. For regular updates and other related information visit/subscribe to his video blog at www.thomasburritt.com.

Jake Cummings keeps busy as an in-demand percussion performer, educator and composer in the southern California area. He currently works as an arranger and instructor for numerous schools including Baldwin Park High School, Warren High School and West Middle School. He holds degrees from West Virginia University and California State University Long Beach. While at WVU he performed with many ensembles including serving as section leader for the Sudler Trophy winning marching band The Pride of West Virginia. After graduating from WVU, he was offered the graduate/teaching assistantship at CSULB. A Bob Cole Scholar, his teaching responsibilities included instructing the Freshman Percussion Ensemble, Freshman Steel Band and Percussion Methods class. In March of 2011 he travelled with the nationally renowned CSULB Wind Symphony to Seattle as Principal Timpanist to participate in the conference of the College Band Directors National Association. He has performed with multiple professional orchestras including the Beaver Valley Philharmonic and the Pittsburgh Civic Orchestra. His steel drum performance resume includes shows with the Island Hoppin’ Steel Drum Band and the Dave Longfellow Ensemble. Jake’s most influential instructors include Michael Carney and George Willis.

Jake is a proud endorser of Innovative Percussion. For more information and blog updates you can visit JakeCummingsMusic.com, or follow him here on Twitter.

DaveGerhart

 

 

 

 

Dr. Dave Gerhart, Lecturer of Percussion at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at CSU, Long Beach, is a nationally recognized performer, composer, and educator. Dr. Gerhart, originally from Fairfield, California, holds a D.M.A. from the University of Southern California in Percussion Performance with a secondary emphasis in Music Education, Ethnomusicology, and Music Industry & Technology. He received a M.M. in Percussion Performance and Instrumental Conducting and a B.M. in Music Education from California State University, Long Beach. Dr. Gerhart has been featured on CDs with the Robin Cox Ensemble and Steven Hartke on Sonic Scenery for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

As a freelance musician, Dave has performed under Zubin Mehta, Carl St. Clair, Enrique Diemecke, Mehli Mehta, and has performed with Yo-Yo Ma, Bobby McFerrin, Michael Kamen, Liam Teague, Yefim Bronfman, Ray Holman, Robert Greenidge and the Blue Man Group. His principle teachers include Dr. Michael Carney, Erik Forrester, Brad Dutz, and Raynor Carroll, principal percussionist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

An advocate of using technology in the classroom, Dr. Gerhart was part of the case study Using Technology to Enhance Performance Pedagogy in the Postsecondary Brass Studio by Adam Snider and Technology and Its Use by Percussion Educators in the 21st Century (Published in Percussive Notes – January 2012) by Tracy Wiggins. In 2010, Dave co-founded DrumChattr.com (with Tom Burritt and Shane Griffin) as a better way for percussionists all over the globe to connect, discuss, and experience quality web generated percussion content online. Recently, Dave has created PercussionEducation.com, a collection of videos, articles and anything related to percussion.

Dave’s compositions and arrangements for percussion ensemble and steel drum orchestra are published by Bachovich Music PublicationsBoxfish Music Publishing and Living Sounds Publications. He is a founding member of the Island Hoppin’ Steel Drum Band and the IronWorks Percussion Duo and proudly endorses Yamaha Percussion InstrumentsZildjian CymbalsInnovative Percussionbdl Percussion and Remo Drum Heads.

Adam Groh, a native of St. Louis, Missouri, is a percussionist with a diverse performing and teaching background. He is currently on the percussion faculty at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, TX, and is a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Percussion Performance at the University of Texas at Austin. Adam also received a Master’s Degree in Percussion Performance from The Florida State University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Music from Truman State University. Adam’s primary teachers include: Dr. Thomas Burritt, Dr. John W. Parks IV, Dr. Michael Bump, and Will James of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.

Adam is an ardent supporter of new solo and chamber music for percussion, and has commissioned and premiered works by composers such as Ian Dicke, Ethan Frederick Greene, Steven Snowden, Eli Fieldsteel, Christopher Cerrone, Brian Nozny, Martin Bresnick, John Serry, and Halim El-Dabh. He recently appeared at the 2012 Bang on a Can Summer Festival at MASS MoCA, Fast Forward Austin, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the Texas Music Educators Association Convention, and at the 2011 Electric LaTex Festival of new electroacoustic music. As an active chamber musician, Adam has performed alongside So Percussion, members of the Bang on a Can All-Stars, and with the Austin Chamber Music Center. He was also a featured performer with the Denkyem Percussion Group in the “Promising Artists of the 21st Century” festival hosted by the North American Cultural Center, Costa Rica in the Spring of 2010.

Adam currently serves as the Principal Percussionist of the Round Rock Symphony Orchestra in Round Rock, TX, and is a regular performer with the Victoria Symphony Orchestra in Victoria, TX. Past appearances include performances with the Tallahassee, Chautauqua, and Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestras, and in the fall of 2009 Adam performed in the Ringling International Arts Festival under the baton of Maestro Robert Spano.

Adam has had articles published in Percussive Notes, the official research journal of the Percussive Arts Society and he is the author of the popular percussion blog “The State of Our Art.” He also serves as a Contributing Editor to DrumChattr, an online resource for percussionists, where he contributes a weekly column.

Adam is a proud endorser of Vic Firth sticks and mallets.

Shane Griffin is active as both a performer and an educator. He is currently pursuing his M.M. in Percussion Performance at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he studies with Kevin Bobo. He earned his B.M. in Percussion Performance from Truman State University in 2010 under the instruction of Dr. Michael Bump. While at Truman State, Griffin was awarded the Presser Foundation Scholarship.

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