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 17th Assignments
Lucas
Recommended Practice Time: 15-30mins every day
What to practice: This week Lucas I want you to play the Hand Exercises of Lesson 1 as well as the beat breakdown at the end.
How to practice effectively: Be sure to keep a steady pulse when you’re counting and playing, go as slow as you need to but not so slowly that you lose the pulse. Be sure to repeat each of the hand exercises a lot!
Great work today Lucas, keep playing music with your Dad!
Ella
Recommended Practice Time: 30mins every day
What to practice: Next week Ella lets start with a fun-through of Violent Sun, take a look through Lesson 8, and finish off by starting on Verbatim.
How to practice effectively: Work it slowly up to tempo with a metronome, remembering to keep your hands relaxed and pumping the arms on the main beat to smooth out the sound and add some musical inflection. Here is a video of me playing the chorus for audio/visual reference and here is a video of the drummer Michael Spearman playing the song. For lesson 8 focus on counting out the rhythms correctly and playing each of the beats 4-8 times.
And here is some fun listening if you’re interested:
Imogen Heap, Speak for Yourself
Muse, Black Holes and Revelations
Really impressed with your work on Violent Sun Ella, keep it up!
Jonah
Recommended practice time: 30mins every day
What to practice: Next week Jonah I want you to come prepared to play through the Lesson 9 beats 4-8 times and work through the reading with the dynamics this time.
How to practice effectively: Really good job this week Jonah, for this next week now that we have covered more about dynamics, try to follow them in the Reading section. We will talk more about technique next week. And for the beats, play them each 4-8 times and ALWAYS count out the fills. We want to be able to count anything we see!
I had a lot of fun with you today Jonah, excited to keep learning with you!
Samson
Recommended practice time: 30mins every day
What to practice: Next week Samson, I want you to play through Lesson 7.
How to practice effectively: Right now I would say I want you to focus most important on making sure that for the reading, that each stroke starts and stops above the drumhead, this will help develop a stroke that can take advantage of rebound. Then for the beats make sure to play each one 4-8 times to get it really solid. If we have some time next week we can also start looking more at Uptown Funk.
Keep working Samson, I know you’re capable of so much!
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: You’ve got a really good handle on the song, just be sure listen for the details. I think the beginning of the song is in a good spot and now its going to be more effective to look at the end and then you can go back and put both together.
Great work today, keep it up!
Preferred Books for Gordon’s Students
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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.
