INNOVATIVE DRUM INSTRUCTOR TEACHES CHILDREN THROUGH PHONICS.

Scottsdale, AZ ( Blogger ) February 16, 2009 –For the last 21 years internationally recognized drummer/improviser Stephen Flinn has been teaching children and adults how to drum using the sounds of fruit. The methodology, drumphonics, allows the student to relax and free-up because there’s little or no counting involved. As a result students learn much more easily and have a ton of fun in the process.

Stephen Flinn put it this way, “ after years of studying with many of the world’s greatest jazz drummers, while living in New York City and Los Angeles, I began to see a pattern between them. One trait they all had in common was an innate ability to sing the rhythms they were playing.”

Drumphonics utilizes the names of specific fruit to illustrate the different common subdivisions: quarter notes become pears and eighth notes become cherries. Singing enables the student to relax, which in turn promotes the limbs to move more fluidly. In addition, singing the sounds of fruit with the drums allows for the rhythms to become internalized. “With this methodology, I can take a student who has never played the drums and have them playing syncopated beats in 10 minutes.” Stephen said. “And, when they walk out the door the beat is in their body; not just on a sheet of paper.”

Stephen Flinn has performed and recorded with numerous notable modern jazz artists throughout Europe, Japan, and the United States. Currently, he resides in Scottsdale, Arizona, but performs and records on a quarterly basis in Europe. For more information, please see the attached resume or visit Stephen’s websites: www.beyonddrumlessons.com and www.stephenflinn.net.


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