As a kid in greater New Orleans, I experienced the marching bands at Mardi Gras, Drumlines at highschool football games, and even drumcorps. Drums are at the heart of New Orleans culture and music, so it is fitting that as a young lad, I was heavily influenced by rudimental, jazz, and ethnic drumming. From the secondline bamboola to blue raiders, drum beats and cadences were and still are heard from miles around the New Orleans Metropolitan Area (East and West Banks).
So, with all of the drumming going on in New Orleans, I decided as a youngster to pick up the instrument. My sister was on a baton twirling line in Westwego when I was about 6 and the husband of the baton school instructor taught drums. I remember going to my lessons and there would be drummers positions around a folding table with drum pads in front of them on the table, and I could barely reach the pad. But I stuck with it and learned some rudiments. When my sister was in high school she was on the flag team in the Band at Higgins High School, so my mom would bring me to the football games, usually held at West Jeff High School and I would just be blown away by the band in the stands. At some point in the second half of the game, The drum line would do a little call an response thing and It just made the hair stand up on my arms just like the feeling I would get when that Big Bass Drum would pass me in the Mardi Gras parades.
When I was in 5th grade, at Vic A. Pitre in Westwego, we did not have a band but the school hired a drum instructor, it was Bob French, Legendary drummer in New Orleans. I didn't know who he was at the time but he was awesome. The first thing he taught me was how to roll, double strokes and singles. He also taught me how to write and read simple drum music. I was hooked and even though I moved to Lafayette La. in 1984, I continued with band in school and ended up playing in many bands professionally after high school and I still play professionally. All because of my experiences with drums in New Orleans as a child.
