2009 July | Custom Drum Hardware Blog

brianfahl Over 10,000 drummers have joined Brian Wilson Fahl’s Facebook group. The “All Drummers of the World Unite” Facebook group is a little corner on the web where drummers can post videos of themselves playing, share pictures and their passion for drumming.

By the 6th grade, Brian knew he wanted to start his music career. In high school, he was introduced to field percussion and Winter Drumline. Brian’s Winter Drumline was lead by world champion Snare Drum Solosist Patrick Fitz-Gibbons. During his sophomore year (the first year of winter competition), they competed in the Minnesota Percussion Association and won the state championship.

Brian says the group was started out of necessity. He initially searched for a drummer group but none of the groups he found were exclusively for drummers. Now, his group has become a place where drummers can find out about music festivals in their town, share pictures of their kits, get opinions on products, or even a deal on gear. Brian also says many bands have come to the group in search of drummers.

The group is open to anyone interested in drumming: from beginners to pros, or even people who are just considering drumming as a hobby- no one is turned away. Laurence Smith, a member of Brian’s Drummers of the World Unite group says he joined the group because he loves the drums and wanted to find other people who shared that passion. Josh May, first joined the group to sell his bass pedals. Now he’s found a group of like-minded, down-to-earth individuals. Marc Steele, a drummer of 5 years enjoys the fact that everyone in the group can relate to each other and aren’t subjected to “drummer jokes.” Thomas Moore, who has been playing the drums for 36 years has made friends through the group and makes it a point to check the group whenever he logs onto Facebook for new pictures of gear other drummers are using. “I get a kick out of photos from the beginners to the pros. At heart, I’m a real gear head and I like to see what others are using… especially the vintage stuff.”

Brian used to monitor the posts, pictures and links to make sure “they were all safe” but after the group grew to 2,000 members, Brian decided he’d let the group take control. Now, the group thrives on its own because the members participate, engage and talk to each other. He trusts the members will keep the group alive and vibrant. Currently the group has members from 70 different known countries: from the US to Bangladesh to Kazakhstan to Singapore. Brian encourages his members to never let music leave their lives and be passionate about their music.

Afterall, Brian’s favorite phrase is, “Life is short. Play Drums.”

To join Brian’s Facebook group, click here.

Motocross racing has grown exponentially over the past decade as a sport. So much so that it has split into different sects. What some might have referred to as “dirtbike riding” now has competitive and largely attended racing events for Motocross, Supermoto, Freestyle, Trials, among others. Inarguably, the king of the off-road motorcycle race series is Supercross. Why are you reading about motorcycle racing in a music publication?” For Heath Voss, 2004 World Supercross Champion, drumming and racing have a symbiotic relationship.

If you’ve ever watched a Supercross race, you know how intense the tracks are. Take some of the tightest turns add to them, “rhythm sections” where small jumps need to be negotiated exactly right to avoid crashing, throw in some seriously big air, and you have probably the hardest and most injury-prone motorsport racing event to date. Training for such an event requires more than just riding a bike everyday. Improving reflexes, quickening thought processes, and strengthening peripheral vision are just some of the skills it takes to become competitive in this sport. Heath and some of his coaches have devised some methods for him that infused his love for drumming and music with his race training.

Whole-Brain Development

Much of Heath’s success can be attributed to his focus on Whole-Brain Development. His “crossover” training basically consists of hand to foot exercises on his double-bass drumkit while reading sight charts aloud from 8 feet away on either side in his peripheral vision. As if simply working on four-limb independence weren’t enough, it seems loading your brain up with simultaneous jobs can help you get out of your own head.

Heath’s coaches, Jack Pryor and Dr. Bill Harrison have firm roots in baseball coaching. In baseball, when a near 100mph pitch is coming your way, there isn’t very much time to think before you swing. Sight exercises aid in shortening the time it takes for you to think before you react. It’s this same type of quick thinking that leads to fluency in drumming. There’s no time for delay when you hear something in your head and it needs to come out in a song.

Another desirable skill for any athlete is ambidextrousness. Being able to perform equally with both sides of your body means fewer weaknesses in performance. The same applies to drumming. Right-hand versus Left-hand lead allows more options around the kit. Consequently, Heath has two drumkits, one set up each way. To accomplish his positioning requirements with all of his drums and sports training sight charts, Heath found no better suited option than to mount everything with a Gibraltar Rack setup. Much of racing is about engineering. When Heath sought out mounting solutions, it was his race-mindedness that noticed and appreciated the positioning options, the quality, and the consistency of setting up with his Gibraltar Rack.

Heath’s Drum Kit

Voss has 2 separate kits he uses for training purposes. His main ddrum kit consists of 2-24″ bass drums, 3 rack toms and 2 floor toms and a truckload of cymbals. With the sight charts on each side, Heath practices keeping his body centered and his head and eyes focused straight ahead. Heath calls out a series numbers listed on each chart using his peripheral vision while playing repetitive hand-foot patterns. His second kit, utilizes a DW drumset set up completely left-handed. Having grown up playing drums since Jr. High school and being right-handed, Heath finds forcing himself to play southpaw makes his brain compute in ways it never would have otherwise.

In fact much of our conversation was based on forcing yourself to do things you normally wouldn’t do. The message he made a point to convey was things that challenge us, as individuals are things that make us better at that which we aim to succeed. For many who may be unfamiliar with music, learning an instrument may be just the right tool. Just as a coach may make a football player take ballet or dance to break them out of their element, Heath says working at becoming a good drummer helps him succeed in racing! Conversely, after talking to him, there’s no question that what makes a good racer and makes a good drummer are not that different.

Heath Voss’s website shows a short streaming video entitled “A Day Off with Heath Voss”. In it, you’ll see him, climbing pegboard walls as a work out, shifter cart racing (one of his other passions), playing a bit of drums, single-ski water skiing, and having a good time. Given his mentality and drive to succeed I don’t think anyone would argue that even on “A Day Off” all of these activities are all parts of Heath’s training to win.

Brad Ranola