I tremendously enjoy playing hand percussion
instruments. Creating sonic textures and enhancing rhythm is
unlimited in approaches, and is always a very creative experience
for me. When playing percussion, standing or seated, I feel that
the hand cuffs of "keeping time" as with playing drumkit
are removed. Percussion lets me explore time signatures and counter
rhythms that drumkit usually doesn't offer for me. This does
help strengthen my drumkit playing and visa-versa too.
My basic percussion approach is to fatten
the groove and enhance the song with deliberate and emotional
music dynamics the listener can feel. Tying together lyrics and
life experiences with percussive sounds to create music drives
the passion I have for playing percussion instruments.
The percussion set-ups I use continually
change for the gig. My basic set-up centers around conga and
bongo instruments of North & South American design orgin.
I also play with some every day ordinary items too. One of my
personal favorites is a small frying pan I found in a trash can
on the streets of New York City! I also enjoy playing bells,
whistles, tambourines, hand cymbals and chimes. Sometimes just
a tasty shaker in the right place can really add that needed
spice to a song which is what I love to do!
