TIM WARD

Tim is available for private drum lessons.

Tim has over 30 years of performance experience including a wide range from College Orchestra/Jazz Band/Ensemble/Choir, Southwest Washington Symphony, High School Marching Band, and Pit Orchestras for musicals such as Guy-n-Dolls, to Jazz quartets. Along with his two brothers, he performed in the punk rock band, The Jimmies, who played with such acts as The Misfits, Marky Ramone, and The Damned. Tim currently performs with one of his brothers in the two-piece band, Grand Head. He has recorded on over 13 records, and has been a hired hand to blues, country, and rock bands, also studying traditional Cuban rhythms under Israel Annoh.

Tim believes in building a foundation for his students and setting up a step-wise progression that will encourage them to think for themselves musically. This process is two-fold. One, learning to read rhythmic notation, which involves being exposed to a stepwise progression of patterns and repetition. Two, the learned rhythms must be felt and internalized into the body. The student will be present and aware of their body and how each rhythm feels. Over the years, he has learned that the most effective way to teach is not one or the other, but both!

Most students come to Tim wanting to learn how to play the drum set. To do this in an effective manner is not always a matter of playing all the drums. He has heard it said “If you can play it on one surface, you can play it on the drum set”, and he believes that this is for the most part true. He can show the student how to take a rhythm learned on one surface, internalize it, and once this has occurred, show them how this can be played across the drums. In fact, it will make more sense, and the student will have the awareness of how that rhythm fits within time and space. And they will always recognize this rhythm when they hear it, because they will have internalized it within the body. Whether the student hears it on the snare drum, as a drum fill across the entire set, or as a drum beat, they will know!