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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February 24th Assignments
Lucas
Recommended Practice Time: 15-30mins every day
What to practice: This week Lucas I want you to play through Lesson 2 in addition to practicing the beat at the end of Lesson 1.
How to practice effectively: With lesson 2 just do your best counting the 8th notes, they are counted as 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +. For the beat in lesson 1 just work through the steps, first the hi-hat, then the snare drum, and then the bass drum. You can practice this to any song and practice it a lot! You want it to feel like second nature.
It was a ton of fun playing with you today as usual!
Ella
Recommended Practice Time: 30mins every day
What to practice: Next week Ella I want you to work through the second page of Lesson 8 as well as look through Etude IV from Mitchell Peters Intermediate Snare Drum Studies. In addition work on the 16th note beat to Verbatim.
How to practice effectively: Focus on getting the beats with fills comfortable and try to work through the stickings in the hand exercises in Lesson 8. Then for the Peters etude, focus on playing the accented notes loudly and the non accented notes really softly. The sticking is just alternating the whole time starting on whatever hand you want. We’ll talk more about this technique next week. For the Verbatim 16th note beat, try alternating from 8th notes to 16th notes and back, keeping the inflection. Getting that feel right is something that will only come with time.
And here is some fun listening if you’re interested:
Imogen Heap, Speak for Yourself
Muse, Black Holes and Revelations
You sounded great on Violent Sun today Ella, can’t wait to keep working on Verbatim!
Jonah
Recommended practice time: 30mins every day
What to practice: Next week Jonah I want you to be prepared to play through Lesson 10.
How to practice effectively: Really great focus today Jonah, I felt like we got some really great work done! This week you’re going to need to really count carefully for the fills and the reading, so make sure to be very deliberate, I know you have the focus, so keep honing it!
Great playing today Jonah!
Samson
Recommended practice time: 30mins every day
What to practice: Next week Samson, I want you to play through the beats and hand exercises to Lesson 8.
How to practice effectively: Good work with the beats in Lesson 7. This week I want you to focus on playing the beats as many times as possible, to get them engrained at that next level and then be able to run through all of them either 2 times or even just once. You could even try them backwards too!
Good job today dude, it was good to see how much you can improve on those beats in even just half an hour!
Sylvie
Recommended practice time: 30mins every day
What to practice: This week Sylvie your goal is to practice the pre-chorus fill and the last half of the song. Here are the transcriptions of the beats. And here is a form chart of the song.
How to practice effectively: Don’t be afraid to get all the way through the song! Work on the first beat variation and the last variation in the chorus. Also be sure to really listen to the track and try not to rush!
Good playing today Sylvie!
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.
