M.Mus (UofT) in-progress
B.Mus (Eastman)
Gordon is a percussionist and educator interested in performing, creating, and engaging within a multitude of musical styles, invested in how music might be embodied in a variety of forms through joyful exploration.
From Tampa, Florida, Gordon became acquainted with music through piano lessons, eventually moving on to drum set and marching percussion in high school. In 2019, Gordon completed his undergraduate studies at the Eastman School of Music under the tutelage of Michael Burritt. At Eastman Gordon performed and premiered works with the Eastman Wind Ensemble, Eastman Percussion Ensemble, and Musica Nova in addition to serving for two years on the board of the student-led new music ensemble, Ossia.
He is also interested in the intersection between music and technology and has contributed to creative projects with the Eastman Audio Research Studio and the University of Toronto Percussion Ensemble.
Gordon is currently working towards completing his Master’s degree at the University of Toronto under the instruction of Aiyun Huang.
Get to know Gordon…Beyond the Bio!
Hobbies: Spending time with family and friends, watching movies, reading, spending time outside, tossing a frisbee and playing Spikeball
Musical influences: Rush, Mutemath, Max Roach, My Brightest Diamond, Son Lux, Rachel Podger, Michael Burritt, Steve Schick, Paul Rennick, Sarah Kirkland Snider, Jess Ray, Mark Andre…
Favourite food: Kanafeh (Middle-Eastern dessert)
Least favourite food: Brussel sprouts
Favourite music: Rock, Jazz, Contemporary Classical, Indie-folk, Electronic
Favourite song: One favorite is Humble Heart by Jess Ray
Favourite movie: Another favorite is Tree of Life by Terrence Malick
Favourite movie music: Bernard Herman in Vertigo, Ennio Morricone in Once Upon a Time in the West
Favourite musical theatre/opera: Hamilton, Invisible Cities by Christopher Cerrone
Best quote from your teacher: “Listen…”
Favourite quote: Romans 8:37-39
Favourite book: The Giver by Lois Lowry
Best thing about teaching at ABC: Sharing music with the students.
Latest Homework from Gordon
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October 20th Assignments
Lucas
How many minutes to practice: 15-30
What to practice: This week Lucas I want you to work on playing the beginning Seven Nation Army up through to the pre-chorus. HERE IS A VIDEO OF ME PLAYING THE PART!
How to practice effectively: This is the transcription of Seven Nation Army and here is a link to the song. This is sounding great Lucas, I love the improvement! For now, don’t worry about the hi-hat. Try to play through with the song all the way through the crash cymbal part in the pre-chorus that we covered today. Remember to play the floor tom and bass drum nice and strong and check out my video if you have any questions to how things sound!
Great work this week Lucas, have fun practicing this week!
Ella
How many minutes to practice: 30
What to practice: Play the second half of the bridge of Paranoid Android as best as you can. Here is the UPDATED transcription and a link to the music And HERE IS A VIDEO OF ME PLAYING THE PART
How to practice effectively: I know you haven’t practiced too much recently but man you’re catching all of this so quickly. I think if you spent a couple sessions this week just covering everything we did you’d be playing it perfectly at tempo! So just focus on going over everything we did today and if you have any questions just check out my video! I play through the whole thing at the end.
Its awesome to see you take on such a challenging song!
Jonah
How many minutes to practice: 30
What to practice: This week Jonah I want you to work on this new accent tap exercise. For Rock With You just keep going through the song and nailing those little fills we looked at today.
How to practice effectively: For the accent tap exercise remember to keep the accents strong, but not tense and the taps should be super low, like one inch, but clear. The sticking for this exercise is alternating RLRLRL the whole time. You can apply this technique to Rock With You! Anytime you have 16th notes on the hi-hat remember to lighten up your touch on the smaller notes but keep the big accented notes like the snare drum nice and strong. Remember to check the fill going into the second pre-chorus and the beat during the bridge.
Awesome as always to see you play today!
Samson
How many minutes to practice: 15-30
What to practice: This week Samson I want you to work through the Accent Tap exercise with the feet and work on trying to get the Dark Red beat up to 0.85 speed on youtube. Here’s a link to the song.
How to practice effectively: Remember with the accent tap exercise that the accents should be strong but not tense and that the taps should be only like one inch off the drum, but still clear. Also remember to lead with the bead of the stick for this exercise and not your elbows or forearms. For the feet, just take things slow, it looks like you had the hang of it in the lesson, keep pushing the tempo! For Dark Red, the right hand on the ride cymbal is doing exactly what its doing on the Accent-Tap exercise, it transfers perfectly. Then just keep bumping the tempo!
Great job this week Samson, look forward to hearing your business ideas next week!
Preferred Books for Gordon’s Students
Click to buy them here, and they’ll come right to your house! What could be easier?
STICK CONTROL
George Lawrence Stone’s Stick Control is the bible of drumming. In 1993, Modern Drummer magazine named the book one of the top 25 books of all-time. In the words of the author, it is the ideal book for improving: control, speed, flexibility, touch, rhythm, lightness, delicacy, power, endurance, preciseness of execution and muscular coordination, with extra attention given to the development of the weak hand.
Reading, Rudiments, and Rock Drumming
This beginner book contains the basic 3 R’s of drumming-Reading, Rudiments, and Rock, in an easy to learn format.
Intermediate Snare Drum Studies
The Art of Bop Drumming
The definitive book on bop drumming—a style that is both the turning point and the cornerstone of contemporary music’s development. This comprehensive book and audio presentation covers time playing, comping, soloing, brushes, more jazz essentials, and charts in an entertaining mix of text, music, and pertinent quotes.
