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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January 13th Assignments
Ella
Recommended Practice Time: 30mins
What to practice: Work through the chorus of the Violent Sun transcription.
How to practice effectively: You had a good handle on the part today so just go through it and engrain it into your hands and make sure to play along to the song while you practice. 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.
And here is some fun listening if you’re interested:
Imogen Heap, Speak for Yourself
Muse, Black Holes and Revelations
Awesome job this week Ella, I could tell you were really getting the part so great work!
Jonah
Recommended practice time: 15mins
What to practice: Next week Jonah I want to hear you play the rest of Lesson 7 and I would like to hear you play along to Them Changes.
How to practice effectively: Work through the reading portion so that you know it backwards and forwards and it just flows. Even if its just on one drum try to make some music out of it! For Them Changes, listen to the song and play through it everyday, try to feel the music as much as you can.
Great stuff today Jonah, just make sure that when I need to get us focused, we can get focused quickly again.
Samson
Recommended practice time: 30mins
What to practice: Next week Samson I want you to hear you play through all of Mario Beatbox and the reading for Lesson 6.
How to practice effectively: Try putting in some more time to getting the details in Mario Beatbox better, I know its in your grasp you just need to practice it on your own a little more. Make sure to play it with the song at the same time as well at 75% speed. We might have started Lesson 6 before so just try to play through as much of it as you can.
A lot of things were better this week, don’t be afraid to push yourself!
Sylvie
Recommended practice time: 30mins
What to practice: This week Sylvie I want you to focus on playing Starlight through the first pre-chorus. Here are the transcriptions of the beats. And here is a form chart of the song. If you have some time also take a look at Lesson 8.
How to practice effectively: For Starlight just build up the beat from the bass drum, to the low tom, to the snare drum just like we did today. Then focus on getting comfortable with that beat and playing it at tempo with the song. With Lesson 8 work through the reading and the beats, don’t worry about the hand exercises right now.
Great to see your progress!
Paulina
Missed you today Paulina! I’ll keep the same assignment up for you.
Recommended practice time: 30mins
What to practice: This week I want you keep working on the coordination exercise, aim to get through the whole thing, as well as work through Lesson 1 and Lesson 2.
How to practice effectively: For the coordination exercise, continue isolating the patterns that give you difficulty. Repeat them, memorize them, engrain those patterns so that playing them is second nature. Then string them together and push towards playing the whole thing. For the Lessons I want you to clap and count the reading exercises and then once you feel comfortable with that try them on the drum looking for good strokes that start and stop at the top and good timing. We’re going to be using this book quite a bit so its not a bad idea for a purchase.
Heres an album I really like:
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.
