Monday, June 22, 2009

Penang Drum Battle 2009

Venue: New World Park
Date: 20th June 2009

Results:
Champion: Penang Free School (Pic)
Runner up: St Georges' Girls School
Second runner up: Bukit Mertajam High School





Monday, June 15, 2009

The Rudimental Drumming scene in Penang

When I first started learning rudiments back in 1999, I was awed by how wide the syllabus for rudimental drumming was. All those percussion jargon sounded like something out of this world. Imagine, a Malaysian discovering pataflafla and paradidle. They sound like a teletubby!

I began to get curious about the drumming world. How many others knew of this information let alone play these rudiments?

On one faithful day during Merdeka (to my utter surprise) none of the other drummers displayed any know-how of rudimental skills apart from single strokes!

Fast forward 10 years later, the year 2009.

Improvements? Close to nothing.

During competitions, you'll occasionally hear drummers trying hard to emulate whatever they've seen. Unfortunately, for a lot of them, Drumline: The Movie was their benchmark. Exciting? Maybe, but they're not quite there yet.

So here's a challenge to all drummers in Penang.
How about learning some rudiments for a change?
Drumming isn't all about the visuals and your over-played rimshots.

Are you ready Penang?