Information About Thom - Hove teacher -

(1 review)

Personal Description:

Born in High Wycombe in 1985 and coming from a musical background of pianists and violin players, beginning his musical journey on the drums at 12, Thom progressed to a professional drummer at 21. Now based in Brighton, he is a member of Skinny Lister, signed to Xtra Mile Recordings and is constantly touring all over the globe with the band. As a freelance drummer he has played on numerous released albums and recordings in a wide variety of genres.

As a drum tutor Thom runs his own private drum tuition business, with a client base of over 40 students, operating in the Sussex area. He also worked as a drum teacher at Sussex Academy of Music in Shoreham as well as teaching at Primary and Secondary schools across the county. He has also written his own drum work book “Beats, Fills & Skills” which he teaches from as a syllabus.

Over the years he has worked with numerous named artists and not limited to, Skinny Lister, Noah & The Whale, The Maccabees, Diana Vickers, Mechanical Bride, Sunless 97, Ed Prosek & Holy Vessels to name but a few. As a drum technician & percussionist Thom has worked with Foals across Europe.

Record labels Thom has worked with include, Transgressive, XL Recordings, Xtra Mile Recordings, Fiction, Sony BMG, Warner Bros, Vertigo, RCA, INgrooves & Uncle Owen Records. He also has publishing through Sony BMG publishing & Indie Sonics.

Producers Thom has worked with include, Iain Harvey (The Maccabees), Nick Abbott (Mechanical Bride), Simon Barnicott (Kasabian, The Enemy) Tristan Ivemy (Frank Turner), & Russ Keffert (The Rakes, Larrikin Love).

Thom is endorsed by Sabian cymbals, Vater drumsticks, Remo drumheads & C&C drums.

Thom also runs a wedding, corporate & function band through Alive Network.

Tutoring Experience:

Music Teaching Module - BA HONS in Professional Musicianship (Drums) 2:1

Head of drums at Sussex Academy of Music.

Drum tutoring in 3 Primary and Secondary schools (Ashington CE Primary School, Littlehampton Academy Secondary School & Shoreham Beach Primary School).

Private drum tuition school.

Tutoring Approach:

Every lesson I teach is tailored around the individual student’s musical taste, needs and ability. This way the student is motivated and focused throughout the lesson. My experience enables me to break drum teaching into 4 key areas:

Technical Development – To achieve a perfect technique, study of Moeller, posture, breathing and all aspects of drumming technique.
Sight Reading / Aural Perception – From basic notation and values to advanced chart reading, and listening to music, drum grooves, pieces and playing back. (Grades 1-8 also taught, if required)
Session Drummers – Studying a vast selection of drummers and genres.
Live Performance – Learning key performance techniques and songs to be performed live and along to tracks.

My lessons are taught from my own written syllabus with aspects of other workbooks and exercises, techniques to achieve the ultimate drumming experience and information.

I teach predominately in the Sussex area, but can travel further afield if needed. I have premises based in Brighton where I can teach from, but prefer to teach on each students own drum kit so that they feel as relaxed and comfortable as possible.