We recently connected with Stefano Ashbridge and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Stefano thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
I began teaching early into my drumming journey when my drum teacher asked me to fill in for him when he was unavailable.
Learning any instrument can be frustrating but the love of music kept me pushing to improve. Having the right mindset about learning and having a structured plan makes all the difference. That’s just one of the things I love to impart to my students, even if they don’t have a drum set.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Music has always been a major part of my life. I have spent the last 30 years developing successful methods and solutions that will guide my students in their drumming journey to improve quickly and have fun.
I began teaching early into my drumming studies when my teacher asked me to fill in when he wasn’t available. That made it easy for me to relate to my students and my love of teaching grew alongside my love of drumming. I have studied the drums with William Lyons, Mark Schulman (Pink, Foreigner), and Zoro (Lenny Kravitz, New Edition).
I have played the drums on albums, toured internationally with a variety of artists, and even won the “Electronica Drummer of The Year” at the L.A. Music Awards. I have appeared on DrumChannel.com as a guest panelist and was asked to judge the Hit Like a Girl contest. More importantly, though, I have coached hundreds of drummers of all ages and skill levels. Nothing makes me more proud than when my students play their first show, record an album, or go on tour.
Have you ever had to pivot?
The pandemic forced teachers to pivot to teaching online. Before then, I had several students whom I taught remotely. Shifting to teaching everyone online helped me to use the technology we have available to improve my student’s online experience.
I now consistently offer both online and in-person drum lessons.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
One thing creative people encounter from friends and family, or even from themselves, is that you can’t make a living with a creative endeavor. For musicians, most people only know the potential to be a rock star or starving artist. There are so many other options to make a good living from your art these days though.
Besides, all of the rock stars found a way to do it!
Contact Info:
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