Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ross Hodgkinson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Ross, thanks for joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I began with piano lessons from a very young age. I played for about 3 years before asking my parents if I could switch to taking drum lessons instead, and thankfully they said yes! From the beginning it felt so intuitive and natural to me, the feel and form all made sense and I was hooked from day 1. I was lucky to be able to be part of so many different groups in and out of secondary school growing up (orchestras, big bands, samba bands, celtic groups + rock bands) and I think this was such an incredible foundation to me becoming the musician I am today.

Ross, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I work as a studio + touring drummer. As a studio musician clients will come to me with songs of theirs that need drums and percussion and then it’s up to me to lay down a groove foundation for them to base the remainder of the song on. I really love doing this type of work as it’s incredibly creative working from a blank palette to bring music + audio to life!

As a touring drummer I tend to be sent songs with prerecorded drum parts and its up to me to translate that into a live setting. Often, the drums on the record will be programmed by a producer and not necessarily played/recorded by a live drummer in studio so taking these parts and working out a way to play them live is a big component of what I do.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Getting to translate emotions into moving air, and feeling the effect/seeing the effect of that is the absolute best feeling.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My main goal as a musician is to be able to be able to always give my best and most heartfelt performance, in every single drum stroke!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rosshodgkinson.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rosshodgkinson

Image Credits

CJ Moy