lessons.drum.com

Steve Stockmal, professional drummer and music instructor, began performing music at the age of 5. He is an honor graduate of the Percussion Institute of Technology (PIT), an author and publisher (president of SMG Inc), and maintains a full schedule of performing and teaching music.

He has appeared as drummer, singer, and guitarist with groups like Mercenary, Crystal-Reign, & Pelikanesis (featuring Paul Rubin). He has also performed internationally including tours in Japan, Australia, a “freeze-out tour” in Greenland, and 7 years in Greece working with top artists like Anna Vissi, Stelios Rokos, Kostas Tournas and Sakis Rouvas.

Fronting his own band he plays concerts showcasing original compositions and appears as a solo act singing and playing blues, ballads, rock, and jazz standards.

Throughout his career Steve has played a diverse variety of musical styles and venues ranging from intimate Jazz clubs and society gigs, television and radio spots, international tours, and theater performances, to 10,000 seat rock concerts. He performed as percussionist with SIERRA WINDS (a 35 piece classical woodwind orchestra), and played the role of drummer Jerry Allison in the Garvin Theatre’s production of The Buddy Holly Story.
Combining his extensive training with years of touring & teaching, Mr. Stockmal has recently begun the process of synthesizing his knowledge into a series of educational books and videos on a wide variety of subjects.

My musical story:

My parents started my two brothers and me on the piano at 3 or 4 years old (that is how I have been performing since the age of 5). Although they were just “kid recitals”, I still remember the feeling of being in front of the audience, and of course how it felt when they applauded! I was never nervous playing in front of an audience… just excited.

I started playing the trombone when I was in the 6th grade, which led to joining the 7th grade jazz band. That is when the drum set first hit me. I was sitting there in the trombone section (watching the drummer go crazy…whap, bam, ka-boom) and thought “now that is for me!” I went home that same day and called every music store in town asking about drums, how much they were, if they rented them, etc. One guy said he had a used kit for $150 and I must have screamed in the phone “don’t sell them, I’ll be there in 15 minutes”. I jumped on my bicycle and flew down to the store. Although it was your typical kids drum set, it did come with a 21″ Zildjan Ride cymbal that I actually used for the first 7 or 8 years of my career.
The very next day I went for my first drum lesson. I remember the teacher asking me to play so he could get an idea of what level I was. I sat down and hit this and that, whapped away for a while, and then looked up (quite proud of how good I had done) and he said matter of factly “Nothing eh? OK, we’ll start you at the beginning.”

I stayed with him for about three years, and then added my 2nd drum teacher (a Berklee music school graduate). That is where I really started to read, listen, and play a great variety of styles of music. After about 4 years ‘teacher number two’ had to leave town for a road gig and relocation…and he left me all of his students! Suddenly I had 17 living breathing PAYING students. The book I wrote “THE MUSIC TEACHERS’ MANUAL” tells more detail about that experience. I have been teaching music (drums-guitar-voice-piano-trombone ever since).
I kept playing the trombone all the way through high school and was in EVERY music class my school offered. Somewhere around that time I started playing the guitar, and found that by putting chords together I could write songs. I had been copying lyrics from cover songs by the hundreds, and found that writing my own lyrics came pretty easy.
I wrote my first official song when I was 17 (love struck for the first time) and by the time I was 20 years old I had written my 10th album. I still compose and find great joy in working on creating music of all kinds.
One day our band director asked me if I would like to play the string bass in the orchestra. Since I already read bass clef, and since I knew enough about the notes on the guitar, I said I would give it a try. For the next two years I developed a great love for that instrument. Playing the string bass is an incredible feeling. After you get over the initial physical shock (it takes a while to develop your fingers and technique to push the strings down) it really produces such a beautiful sound.

When I was in my senior year in high school I had 7 music related classes, as well as every after school program, college jazz band, and community orchestra. The community orchestra was great because I played trombone, percussion, and the string bass. I would walk behind the orchestra between each piece to my next ’station’.

I was also in the school choir where I learned about vocal technique, breathing, and performing vocal pieces. Our director put together an extra curricular nine member vocal group that did traditional barber shop arrangements. We were actually pretty good, and won a “command performance” in a Northern California competition at Chico State.

My first live gig as a drummer was at when I was 15 years old at an 8th grade dance. The poor kids and teachers at that dance!!! We came out playing Black Sabbath, Ozzy, Van Halen and other such “danceable” music. The band I was in were all my buddies from music classes and we also sang together in the barber shop “9-tet” . I’ll never forget when a lady came up to us and said “You boys play really well together, but if you sing another note…YOU’RE FIRED”. We had great laughs with that one for years. We played a bunch of parties in high school, and I started getting more and more calls from the local players

My first “professional” gig (I guess that means I actually got paid for it) was with a country western band call “Cross-country-limited”. I was 17 years old and playing every Friday and Saturday night for $100 a gig. I WAS RICH!!! We played all the typical country hits as well as a lot of “chicken-pickin” music (really fast polka-like songs). Years later I auditioned for a “speed punk” band and they were amazed that I could play so fast and not get tired (I never told them that their music was just chicken-pickin with a Mohawk!)

There were a lot of musical opportunities for me back then, I played at the Reno jazz festival, performed with the Northern California Honor Orchestra, played with the local city-college big band, and jammed with anyone and everyone from jazz trio’s to rock bands to orchestras. Anywhere I could be…I played.

I went to college as a music major, then got an offer to tour in Las Vegas. I was there for about 3 months, when I met a band that was looking for a singing drummer to tour the southern United States. I went out on my first official tour and started to get a feel for what road life was all about. I used to sit back stage warming up (going over and over my 26 snare drum rudiments, while singing “DO-RE-MI…”) for about an hour before each performance. We went around and around 14 southern states for exactly one year, and then in true rock and roll fashion our guitar player got a girl pregnant and quit the band. I picked up the phone and called anyone and everyone I had met during that year, and the next thing you know I was in Baton Rouge Louisiana in a band called Kricket. That lasted about 6 months, but provided some of my happiest memories of living and playing music. Southern hospitality is no myth!

I took a break from touring to attend P.I.T. (Musicians Institute) in Hollywood California. For one year I did nothing but eat, drink, and breathe music. I saw many of the worlds greatest players, and soaked up every note I could find. After graduating (with honors) I went back to playing live music for a living, and played everywhere I could in and around the Los Angeles area. I also led a band of fellow graduates on a 4 month tour to Japan. That was a great experience in culture and learning that will stay with me forever.
Not long after, I was fortunate to get a call to go to Thule Air Force Base in Greenland for a month, where we played rock and roll for our military’s finest.
Then came that fateful day that I got a call to go to Greece for a six month gig as a singer. I went, I sang, it was great. When that gig finished, I scored another job in a rock club there, and then another and another. Each gig was a bit “bigger and better” than the last one. I was very fortunate to work with some of the top artists in the big night clubs as well as TV and radio. I was the personal drummer for Sakis Rouvas (teen idol/pop star) for about 4 years, and each summer we would go out for 30 or 40 concerts and see all of the countryside and islands. I lived there for about 7 years.

In 1998 my wife and I moved back to the states. I am performing music at the hotels, clubs, and private parties/ weddings, teach music, and continue my musical dream by writing and publishing various books and DVD’s.

And the story continues… … …