B.Mus (Oberlin)
M.Mus (U of T)
Louis “Pino” Pino is from Dix Hills, NY and is a recent graduate of Oberlin Conservatory, having studied percussion with Michael Rosen and computer music with Aurie Hsu and Joo Won Park, and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in percussion performance at the University of Toronto with Aiyun Huang. Pino began his musical career playing drum set and hand drums with several local ensembles, and moved on to study at the Juilliard Pre-College, where he received the Commencement Award upon graduation. When arriving at Oberlin, Pino had the opportunity to collaborate with many students at the conservatory and has come to premiere over 50 new chamber and solo works written by himself and his peers.
In addition to performing, Pino teaches a small studio of students and is an active composer of electroacoustic music. He often writes music for instruments and interactive electronics, and collaborates in creating interdisciplinary works with dancers and film artists. Outside of music, Pino likes to spend time cooking, hammocking outdoors, and competing in food challenges.
Get to know Pino…Beyond the Bio!
Hobbies: Cooking, Hammocking
Musical influences: Chet Baker, Bela Bartok, Olivier Messiaen, The Strokes
Favourite food: Sushi
Least favourite food: Peanut butter
Favourite music: Hip-Hop, Contemporary Classical
Favourite song: Alvin Row – Animal Collective
Favourite movie: Taxi Driver
Favouirite movie music: Taxi Driver OST
Favourite musical theatre/opera: Saint François d’Assise – Messiaen
Best quote from your teacher: “Play pretty.”
Favourite quote: “ Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” Master Yoda
Favourite book: The Stand – Stephen King
Best thing about teaching at ABC: Watching young minds grow a bit more every week.
Latest Homework from Pino
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June 24-29 Practice
Ella- This week, focus on the transitional sections in Breezeblocks. They’re getting really solid now! Now, try doing them all at one tempo with the metronome. You’ll notice that the first beat might be a bit slower than is comfortable, but that will set you up to be able to play the last one without trouble. Start wit metronome on the eighth note (maybe around 140) then switch it to the quarter note when you get to 180 (so switch to 90).
Jonah- This week, I want you to practice improvising. Start by playing some beats, some fills, and even just anything at all! Then turn on the songs on your drum kit, or listen to music you like and try to play along in time with the song. Make sure you play a little bit every day so you can keep coming up with cool new things!
Noah- Now that we are finished with our lessons, I want you to practice some improvising! Play some beats, fills, or anything at all. Then, turn on some music you like and try to play along in time. It doesn’t have to be exactly what the drummer in the song does, but try to stay in time with what you hear and be musical. In addition, keep practicing Stick Control in the beginning of your practice, it is already helping so much. Here is another page of similar material (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-2-8mNg6sCOqWsyqtdUcHhJBk3Ygxncf/view?usp=sharing). Jonny is also familiar with the book and can help you continue on with technique. Lastly, try to get all of Take On Me learned, with a goal tempo around 110. It has been great working with you, I hope you have a great time with Jonny and a great summer!
Sylvie- Now that we have gone over most of it, try to finish Get Used To It at a comfortable tempo. Once it is all learned, try to speed it up and play along with the song. It has been great working with you this year, thanks a lot! Please always keep improvising and finding new sounds!!
Koel- This week, work on crafting interesting fills based on the beats. Each beat has something unique about it, so I want you to identify something that you want to highlight, and feature that in the fill. The best example is beat number 11, which has a sn are drum note on the ‘a’ of 3. Try to put a special sound on the ‘a’ of 3 in the fill as well to tie it all together. Try doing this with each beat on the page, focusing on 3 or 4 of them per day.
Sampson- Here is the link top Astronomia (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pV–Ysl8R1CU-uQI4_ZgGKbnbcubs7JL/view?usp=sharing) so sorry about forgetting the link last week!! Now tht we’ve covered most of the material, try to read through the whole thing and get to the end at a comfortable tempo. We will talk about how to speed it up and soon you will be playing along with the song in real time!
For those of you that do not have a make up lesson next week, thanks for a great semester!! It has been wonderful to work with all of you and I hope you all have a great summer. If you are continuing lessons with Jonny over the summer, I’ll make sure he is up to date on what we’ve been working on. He is a good friend of mine and an excellent drummer, I know you’ll enjoy being with him! For everyone else, have fun practicing and I’ll see you next week for our last lesson of the school year!
Pino
June 17-22 Practice
Hi everyone, thanks for some good lessons this week! Here is what you should look at for next time.
Ella- This week, work on the transitions between beats in Breezeblocks. Try to get the first transition down at 120 to the quarter note, and the second one at 90 to the quarter note (or 180 to the eifghth note).
Jonah- This week, try to get Lesson 4 1-12 learned. Also, play the drums along to your favorite songs or the songs on your kit. Lastly, just play the drums and try to come up with new beats and fills!
Noah- Take on Me is going really well, try to finish it this week! You’ll see that it is mostly repeated material at this point. Any tempo is fine this week, keeping in mind we are shooting for around 110 as a goal tempo when it is finished. Keep using Stick Control as a warm up, here is page 6 (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1c0TL6UKL-_4zGcGMaXOUFvkGYwCNbsp6/view?usp=sharing).
Sylvie- Here is the finished drum part for Get Used To It (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vhd6Xu9Te0Ssorb9qHd9zru8iwnehOVN/view?usp=sharing). Since it is most repetition at this point, try to finish the song. If you can’t do the whole thing for next time that’s okay. Also, check out this website http://www.rhythmrandomizer.com/. Under “Note Options” select quart notes, eighth notes, and quarter note rests. Spend a bit of time with this every day (3-4 minutes), trying to clap and count the rhthms. Click on the rhythm and it will change!
Koel- This week, work up to being able to play disco beats 10-18 with fills inbetween continuously. First get familiar with each beat, then try to connect them. Make sure that when starting beats and fills, you are paying close attention to the metronome to stay with it during the transitions. It is getting much better!
Sampson- Here is the sheet music for Astronomia, sorry I forgot to send it last time! Try to finish the song for next time, you’ll see that it is only repeated material from the beginning from here on out.
Have fun with this stuff for the week!! See you all on Tuesday.
Pino
Preferred Books for Pino’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.
4-Way Coordination
Rockin' Bass Drum, Bk 1
Written in two volumes, these books include 2- and 4- bar rock and jazz-rock beats designed for the modern drummer. Both books are designed to develop the drummer’s skill in coordinating their hands and feet. The books also offer the drummer a repertoire of exciting rhythmic patterns.