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School band to join stars at festival

Young musicians from the Warriner School will be performing alongside stars like Elvis Costello, Joe Cocker and Bonnie Tyler at a top festival next month.

BIG-NAME ACT: Elvis Costello is one of the
top musicians who will play at the Cornbury Music Festival

A group of pupils aged 13-16, who perform in the folk/rock band the Warriner Rants, have been given an honorary spot on the main stage at the Cornbury Music Festival.

They entered the schools band competition and were one of 12 groups picked from more than 50 entries to play in a final on the second stage with the chance to win £1,000.

But festival organisers were so impressed by the Warriner Rants that they also gave the opportunity to perform on the same stage as the superstars of rock n roll.

Some of my students (Joe Nicklin - Drum kit, Oliver Newman - Percussion and Josh Bennett - Percussion) from Warriner School play in a band called the Warriner Rants. Here's part of an article about them.

Extract from an article from the BANBURY GUARDIAN: 

Drumming up final place

A DRUM teacher from Banbury is delighted at one of his pupil's success in a national competition.

Gary Marshall teaches 13-year-old Ashley Sims, from Oxford, who has reached the final of the Best Drummer in the UK, 16 or under competition.

Only 12 out of 362 applicants reached the final which is to be held in Birmingham on Sunday.

Gary said: "Ashley has been studying drums with me since the age of eight and is now 13 years old. He has done brilliantly to get to the final.

"The judges at the event include some of the greatest drummers in the world - Derek McKenzie from Jamiroquai and Mark Mondesir who has been drummer for Bryan Ferry and David Bowie."

Other judges will include the head of Premier Drums George Frederick and editor of Rhythm drum magazine, Louise King.

The winner will go on to appear on the bill with drumming stars at an event called Best of British Drumming in February.

Pictured above: the finalists at the competition.

Gary at the Premier Percussion stand at the Music Live Birmingham, UK,
November 18th 2000.

In 2000, I had the pleasure and privilege of teaching at the Premier Percussion stand at Music Live, a music exhibition held at the NEC in Birmingham, UK. I was teaching alongside Jim Kilpatrick (world solo snare drum champion 12 times), and internationally famous Australian drummer Virgil Donati. I also met Charlie Morgan (Elton John, Kate Bush, George Michael), Neil Wilkinson (Average White band, sessions), and Pete Riley (sessions).

The day was a challenging one. Not only did I have to teach but I also had to answer drum-related questions from the tidal wave of aspiring drummers! It was a great way to meet people and introduce drummers to my FUN WHEN YOU DRUM! message. The teaching part involved a Premier drum booth where you could book a drum lesson with the three tutors, or just go in and play! The lesson lasted approximately 20 minutes and the student had the chance to play one of the new Premier Artist maple drum kits.

There were also drum workshops throughout the day featuring Virgil Donati, Pete Lockett, Charlie Morgan and Steve Washington.

The whole day was a great success and I wish to thank everyone at Premier Drums for making me part of the team.

The following were all involved in the event, so do check them out on my links page.

Premier Percussion and Pete Lockett.

Bye for now

Gary

Recently I had the great pleasure of meeting and learning from the great Dave Weckl. I attended his drum clinic, and was invited to see his band perform at the world famous Ronnie Scott's club in London. The Dave Weckl Band is one of the hottest bands I have seen. Go and see them if you get the chance. They also have a couple of albums, including SYNERGY which I highly recommend you buy. The styles on this album range from an African feel to New Orleans, and from Jazz to a beautiful ballad.

All in all I can say that Dave is not only a world class drummer, but a really nice chap! I have linked his web site to my links page, so what are you waiting for?
GO CHECK IT OUT!

www.daveweckl.com

Pictured from Left to Right are:

Phil Solomon, Dave Weckl, Paul Francis, Crissy Lee, Myself and Dave Webster.

I taught at the very first DRUM ABILITY teaching day with ace tutor/players Paul Francis and Phil Solomon. The day was a great success with students ranging from Beginner to Advanced. The venue was Paul Francis's Orchard Percussion studios in Colchester. The day finished with 30 students and teachers jamming on drum kits, snare drums, and anything they could find! This included Mr. Loon himself Phil Solomon playing a metal chair!

From Left to Right:

Phil Solomon, Myself, special guest Crissy Lee, and Paul Francis.