Tag: musical theatre

Gear, Performance

How I use electronic drums: Paul Hannah

Electronics saved the day for musical theatre drummer Paul Hannah. I’ve Been Playing electronic drums since 1984. At NEC, Pat Hollenbeck brought in NYC drummer Ron Tierno to demonstrate the then-new LinnDrum. I was so impressed by the demonstration that for my senior recital in 1987, I used a Sequential Circuits drum machine connected via MIDI to a Yamaha Drum Machine to perform the drum set parts of Vic Firth’s Sonata for Timpani, Roto-Toms and Drumset. I used the SC machine as it had dynamics! I could step-program the rhythms AND dynamics and trigger the better-quality Yamaha sounds. It was a huge pain, but it worked a treat! On my first tour after college, I had a Yamaha DX-7 and […]

Performance

Perry Gragas: How I Use E-drums

Increasingly, we see e-drums deployed in orchestra pits for stage musicals. Perry Gragas explains why he went the electronics route. My first experience with electronic drums was in the mid-80s when I purchased an original Simmons kit. Intrigued by the eye-catching hexagonal shape and futuristic sounds, I gigged with this kit for a couple of years until the novelty wore off and musical tastes changed. Fast forward to 2001. I got a call from my old band teacher asking me to play for a big production of West Side Story at the new state-of-the-art theatre. This was my introduction to musical theatre, and the start of a 20-plus-year career playing for shows. For the first five years, I used an […]

Performance

Douglas Lippi: How I use e-drums

Douglas Lippi recently augmented his acoustic rig with electronics for a musical theatre production. I play in tribute bands, cover bands, a church and in musical theatre productions, using both electronic and acoustic drums. The set-up here was for the musical Beauty and the Beast. When I’m hired to do a musical, the first thing I ask the music director is whether they prefer acoustic or electronic. Since this was a more traditionally orchestrated musical, he requested all acoustic. The list of percussion instruments required was extensive and I did not have a set of four timpani, chimes, a bell tree, castanets, sleigh bells and a gong in my acoustic collection. The original plan was to borrow them, but that […]