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The Drumsense Programme
Colin Woolway
Colin Woolway is a well known drummer, teacher and the author of Drumsense Volumes 1 & 2, which are
rapidly becoming the standard books for teaching beginners to play the drum kit.
As a professional drummer he toured the world for 20 years, including eight years as Suzi Quatro's drummer,
and then hung up his touring boots to concentrate on teaching. This resulted in a very busy teaching
studio, the aforementioned books, a percussion video and more recently, the Drumsense Teaching Programme.
He also writes educational articles, "Teasers", and "Getting Started" each month for Rhythm magazine,
the leading UK-produced drummer's magazine, to which he has been regularly contributing for ten years and
counting!
What is the Drumsense tutor network?
Drumsense provides services to drum teachers to help them bring structure and professionalism to their teaching. We provide a
teaching syllabus based around the Drumsense tuition books, but which also taps into a wide range of other teaching resources, and takes
the complete novice through the basics of drum kit playing, like a foundation course.
We also provide marketing support to help tutors present themselves professionally and reach more students. Finally, we provide access to
the music industry, including significant discounts on tuition equipment and supplies from our partner organisations. These services
are described in more detail below ...
The Drumsense programme
Probably the most important aspect of the programme to tutors is the teacher training which we provide. This is an ongoing programme
of training for the tutor which gives them the skills and knowledge they need to deliver the Drumsense programme to their students. Many
tutors in our network tell us that the training has also helped to improve their own playing significantly. The training can be delivered by one of the
following routes:
- In person with Colin Woolway at our studio in Croydon, UK
- In person with another of our master tutors at a location nearer to you
- Via DVD - we have filmed the teacher training process, and have a series of DVDs which are posted periodically to tutors across the world
- for a video sample, click here
All tutors also receive a personal copy of the Drumsense Teaching Manual. For face-to-face teacher training, we aim to deliver around 24
hours of tutorials in the first year of membership, and 12 hours per year
thereafter. The DVD route is designed to be roughly the same pace, which equates to one DVD in the series every two months. The DVDs are about 75
minutes each in duration, but each represents about 4 hours of face-to-face tutorial time, as tutorials include a significant amount of time
in which the tutor will practice and apply their learning.
The Drumsense programme is designed to be supportive and constructive. We believe that enthusiasm and commitment are just as important to
good tuition as technical ability. You do not have to pass a test or exam to be a Drumsense tutor - our view is that anyone committed to
learning how to deliver the programme will be able to give great drum lessons.
In terms of monitoring student progress, there are a number of options around exams and grades. One route is to use existing accredited
grades, such as Rockschool or Trinity. The Drumsense programme complements these grading systems well. At a less formal level, we also have
a set of Drumsense grades available to all tutors at no extra cost, which we believe are an even better way to mark progress for the student,
especially at beginner level. We are working to enhance these grades and have them accredited.
Marketing Support
Publicising your services as a drum tutor can be a daunting task - we get you off to a flying start. The following services, all included
in network membership, will help you to promote your services:
- Personalised stationery, including business cards, compliment slips, headed paper, envelopes and flyers
- Your own page in our tutor directory on www.drumsense.com
- To drive traffic to your tutor profile on our website, we have constant adverts running on Google, and also advertise every month in
the tutor directory section of Rhythm magazine
- Your own drumsense email address which will forward to your real email address
Access to the Industry
We believe that we are the largest network of drum tutors in the world, which gives us some clout! We are proud to have relationships with
some of the largest manufacturers in the industry, and our tutors are entitled to significant discounts from these providers, to reduce the
cost of equipping their teaching facility. Our relationships include:
- Zildjian cymbals
- Sonor drums
- Aquarian drum heads
- Vic Firth drum sticks
- Protection Racket cases
- Bill Sanders practice kits
- Rhythm magazine
The discounts on offer vary over time, but are always better than a tutor would get on their own. Note that discounts are only
available on equipment which is for the tutor's use, and not for resale.
We also have connections with many of the world's best-known drummers and percussionists. Some of our tutors have used these connections
to put on masterclasses and other events in their local area to put their teaching service "on the map". Participants to date include
Carl Palmer, Rick Latham, Mark Mondesir, Ian Thomas, Chuck Sabo, Neil Robinson, Chuck Silverman, Jonathan Mover, Darrin Mooney, Pete Lockett
and Adrian Erlandssen.
This sounds great - what do I do now?
If you would like to know more, please contact us as per our contact details here, letting us know your name, address,
email address and phone number(s) - we will then send you one of our information packs. Following that, most people then attend
one of our seminars, where the details of the programme are explained in great detail. These run every two months in the UK - for those
overseas, please contact us for options on finding out more.
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