WELCOME

You’ve found the online home of Derek Munson, drummer and percussionist from the Pacific Northwest.

Feel free to check out the gear I use, find out what I’m listening to right now, check out the latest news in the blog, contact me about booking recording sessions or live dates, or check my availability for teaching private lessons.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Associated Acts

Bob Curnow
Big Band

(Spokane, WA)

The Aaron
English Band

(Seattle, WA)

The Frazer
Wambeke Trio

(Richland, WA)

Columbia Basin
Jazz Orchestra

(Pasco, WA)

Latest from the blog

Mastering The Elements

I just watched a snippet of an interview with the great Eric Harland - one of my drum heroes - and he was talking about "grounding" a song - bringing it "back to Earth a little bit." This is a great lesson to learn: when the song gets too far out into space, bring it back around to simple time and establish a solid groove.

Practice, Technique, and Other Dirty Words

If you're just beginning to learn how to the play drums, then there are number of technique and practice issues you are likely to have questions about: "How do I work on my accents and taps?" "How can I speed up my hands and build endurance?" "What is the Moeller Method?" "How can I get better with each practice session?" "What do I do if I start to feel like I'm plateauing?" In this post, I'll give you my tips for getting the most out of your self-education.

On Mel Lewis

I'm doing my homework on Mel Lewis today, as I am meditating on how to best teach swing concepts to beginning and intermediate drummers, and I thought I'd share some thoughts with anyone out there who may be interested.