For 15 years, Paula Spiro and the Female Drummers Workshop have led the charge for female drummers. Mike Hollitscher passes a couple of hours with one of our founding mothers.

intro:

The Female Drummers Workshop was born out of necessity. Paula Spiro started the thing 15 years ago out of her home in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, because she felt women drummers were suffering from a lack of access to master teachers. As a female drummer in the 60's and 70's, a "novelty," as she termed it, Spiro dealt with the dearth of resources firsthand, all the while building a reputation as a drummer in numerous bands in New York City.

Since its inception, the Female Drummers Workshop has achieved both national and international recognition as an unparalleled resource for female percussionists, instructing both professional players such as Luscious Jackson's Kate Schellenbach and unschooled beginners from as far away as Scandinavia and the Middle East. Spiro's teaching has also branched out to include a group workshop held quadrennially with jazz drummer Paula Hampton, of the Hampton jazz lineage that includes vibraphonist Lionel and trombonist "Slide" Hampton.

What makes the stature of the workshop more impressive is that it is, at the moment, a part-time affair run out of her apartment, with a four-piece Ludwig kit sitting squarely in the middle of a room surrounded by her girlfriend's paintings, a large record collection of classic jazz, blues, and rock 'n' roll, their plants, their cats, and their songbirds. Spiro is an engaging speaker, and it became apparent as the interview went on that in addition to her credits as a master player and teacher she also possesses a wealth of information about the history of drums and their changing role in society over the years.

drummergirl: Is most of your student base in the neighborhood [Williamsburg]?

Paula Spiro: No, it's from all over New York, all over the tri-state area -- all over the world, in fact.

dg: Wow.

PS: To this tiny little place!

dg: You told me your students are about 50% word-of-mouth and 50% advertising. How do you get the word out?

PS: I advertise in the "Voice," and right now I'm advertising my workshop with [jazz drummer] Paula Hampton. The workshop will be on November 15th from 3 to 5 at Funkadelic Studios. So, there's not a great mystery to what I'm doing. I realize how many people are hitting the stage now and playing. I see a lot of bands now, a lot of good ones, and a lot of not-so-good ones. My goal is basically to get my students out there playing, and the rest, hopefully, will take care of itself through natural curiosity and persistence.

dg: How many students do you carry now?

PS: I carry more than 20 private students. Right now, I teach three days a week - Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. I have approximately 6 roving students that come in on an occasional basis, which is like, "My hands hurt. What am I doing wrong?," or "My left foot is slow, teach me some bass drum technique."

dg: You're their mechanic...

PS: Yeah, yeah. And occasionally, a student will come in and will be extremely proficient, and I'll say, "What can I do for you?" And we usually find something … The reason I don't teach more is that I don't work out of a rehearsal space, I work out of my home and, as you can see, it's a tiny space, and the people that I live with, I don't want to encumber them. So, the teaching takes place three days a week, although everybody is trying to convince me to do more...

dg: What are some of the special needs you have to deal with in teaching female drummers, like size and strength issues?

PS: Size, strength, and cultural upbringing are big issues. One is that it's okay to make noise. That's a big one! You'd be surprised; ladies are taught to be quiet and let the guys talk... Certainly not all -- this is more of an overview, and there are many exceptions to every rule. I'm primarily concerned with breaking through those kinds of barriers... By virtue of how drummers sit, which is in an open-legged position, that is not culturally acceptable! … And then there is size … A large sound requires technique as well as strength, because you're going to be carting your gear around at 2:00 in the morning … In my opinion, most women are going to come in at about 130 pounds or under, so how are you going to project your sound and your playing ability in that setting? That's an issue. Most pedals are made for larger men's feet. It's a lot of metal to push down for a woman that weighs 108 pounds. So I might suggest a pedal that's better for them…

dg: That's a question too: How much is strength an issue in getting good projection and tone?

PS: The technique is about stick height from the drum. For example, if I'm playing at low levels from the kit, that low level isn't a problem. Once we get into the higher stick levels, it's not really how hard you hit, it's how high the stick is that requires a different technique … One has to really know how to hold the stick correctly and how to play this instrument, because the sticks aren't the instrument, they're the interface between us and the instrument. So, the first lesson would be how to hold the sticks and how you are going to get a stick to bounce. And the height you're coming down from is essential. There has to be a certain projection for the form of music you're playing. You have to learn how to bring the sticks up. Once you're bringing the sticks up to a certain height, then we're talking about an entirely different sound. I can take the sound and I can project it to an even higher level according to how I hold the sticks and the height I'm keeping. I'm trying to teach all these forms and understanding that, well, you know, you have crescendos, you play softer for the quieter stuff, and harder for the blast-your-ears stuff, but that takes a lot more physical endurance...

dg: How do you teach that, though? How do you teach someone not to shoot their wad on the first song?

PS: Good question. There's a lot of things. First of all, I would teach someone how to bounce a drumstick ... There's a lot of hi-hat in rock, for instance … For example, I'm playing eighth notes, which is mostly what we're playing on the top in rock music. Eighth notes define rock, sixteenth notes define funk. So, I might tell a certain student to accent every other note, or use what's called molar method, which is accenting the first note of the phrase. The accent is what dispels the tension. So, rather than always landing in the same place each time, like this [plays strict, typewriter-like rhythm on the hi-hat], if you're playing like that, there's nowhere to dispel the tension. So every time you throw in an accent like that, you're hopefully dispelling tension throughout your body if you're playing a 3- or 4-minute tune in a particular rock tempo. That split second will be enough and, in addition, it gives you a chance to play the stroke. People always ask, "How do you avoid hitting the sticks together?" Just that one technique out of many can prevent that. There's a couple ways we can do this. We can accent on 2 and 4 where that opens the stick, or you can accent every other one. There's a couple things that are going on. There's many ways to release it. The accent can create a stronger downbeat or something different, and it gives room to play. These are some of the things you don't get from books, that you have to get from teachers. A lot of it is transition playing, learning how to play transitions, from fills, moving from fills and soloing back to time without losing the energy of what you're doing.

So you see, this would be a very elemental beginning for a student to see just how one functions behind the kit. These are the things you watch when you watch players … You can figure out a lot by watching ... Size is not an issue, training is an issue.

dg: For a beginning drummer, I know it's a case-by-case basis, but how long does it normally take for a drummer to move from straight beats to fills and the like?

PS: From an absolute beginning point, I would say approximately 12 lessons when you study with me, to take the leap. By that I mean that I've really laid down some foundation of what this instrument entails. After 12 lessons, the student is at another level in terms of how they view this instrument, and it either agrees with them and enthuses them, or it's not for them.

dg: That's when you realize how serious it is.

PS: And supporting them, because it's a real lonely process. For a lot of women, there isn't really the support for them in society. You know, why don't you get a real job? Why don't you play a real instrument? All these things.

dg: What have you ended up learning from students and from teaching that you had no idea you were going to learn?

PS: …What I get from my students is their enormous sincerity and enthusiasm, which is very touching. And their ability to take these techniques and forms and make it their own and have their own sounds. I don't want clones of me. There's already one of me doing what I do….

They teach me a lot about life, and they remind me of myself when I was starting … They're gung-ho. When they're good sports, and true to the thing, it gives me a lot of... It's like a prayer. They're like God's working children. I know it's going to sound hokey, but they're totally enthused, and their enthusiasm helps create things, and it keeps me on my path too. You know, every year, I review, Am I going to continue playing drums? Because it's an enormous physical output, particularly if you gig. I've done maybe 700 gigs in my life. It's a question to keep it at a certain level.

It's a tough gig, carting gear, and if it doesn't go well, you wonder what you're doing. I could be home with my girlfriend or watching a movie. In order to continue at my level, I have to practice a lot, which requires a lot of discipline. These fellas who say they come by it naturally, they're so full of shit…. So, I always have to renew my lease with my drums. I could probably just go as an educator and not gig or play with bands, as some teachers do. I figure as long as you like to gig, keep doing it. If you start to hate it, stop. Do other things.

dg: What do you do to relax a new student? No matter the level of the student, there's almost always an edge with a new teacher.

PS: Yeah, there is. Sometimes that's good, sometimes I wouldn't do anything, and always keep that edge, depending on the student. Because they'll do well with that edge.

dg: And what do you expect practice-wise from your students?

PS: I like them to practice a half-hour every day. It depends on the student. Some are really diligent. I want them to know the darn lesson when they come back in for the next lesson. I don't want to see a piece of paper that doesn't have a fingerprint on it, a blob of coffee, crumpled up a little...

I tell them, Study with me for one year of your life -- particularly the ones who are already drummers -- Take one year out of your life, and through your hard work and mine, because I'll meet you 100% on every level, you will have your drumming go to such a high level from where you're at now. It's a very holistic thing, I'm a player, you're a player, or are going to be a player, the money you give me helps me pay the rent and keep the studio going.

dg: How often do you do the workshops with Paula Hampton?

PS: I was doing them quarterly. The workshops I was doing was with three, four, five students in my studio and bringing people to show them stuff within the workshop. This is the first of its kind of getting a "star" type of lady, and really featuring her, and have her talk about her life. This is new for me.

dg: How long has she been playing?

PS: Forty-five years. Now what am I teaching a lady from the Hampton family that's been playing that long? Why does she need me? She doesn't! But there are certain things for me having studied formally that, at this juncture, she wants to learn. Am I going to teach this lady how to play drums again? I don't think so, it's more like the other way around. Particularly in the area of jazz. She can swing all the way... That's the form that she grew up with in the bebop era in a musical family … It helps me just being around her. I learn stuff all the time because she's such an American treasure.

dg: When you were studying in Philly who did you study with?

PS: Allan Herman, Al Duffy ... Armand Santorelli, who was a great jazz drummer in the area. I didn't take too many lessons from him, but he was such a theoretical drummer! And he spoke to me with a great deal of respect, and that's very important when you're speaking to a student. What simply separates you is nothing. It's just by virtue of the situation you set up. I'm calling myself a teacher and calling you a student. That doesn't mean you have a free-for-all with yanking on students' intelligence.

dg: Drums aren't viewed as musical instruments to the layman.

PS: Yeah, you just go pound on them, anybody can do that.

But it's a lifelong process. I hesitate to mention that to my beginning students, because I don't want them to think that this is an insurmountable instrument that's going to take an enormous amount of years. Let's just say this: For me personally, in the last 10 years I've just steeped myself in the enormity of this instrument, and how it affects people … I can use the drums as a way to help them to deal with life. It's not always about drums when people come here. They might have had a really bad fight with their boyfriend or their parents, and sometimes they come in here and their minds are not on drums for whatever reason. Well, they're paying their good money, what's going on? So we try to get through that and get to some playing before the hour is done … I try to get them into a different experience with a teacher that they may not have had. I was saying, you have to know the thing in order to teach the thing...because a lot of teachers want a legacy, that's why some don't teach beginners, because they don't see a legacy there …

That's one reason I got into teaching beginners: There was no one there. There was a real problem with people getting access to proper lessons, and not being hassled by their teachers. A young student coming in to a teacher and having them come on to them. I mean, come on, the girls don't want that! They're coming to study, not to date. I was really bowled over by how many came and said, This one tried to kiss me, This one tried to pick me up. I won't say names because that wouldn't be proper, but these are big-time guy teachers in New York who shouldn't be doing that. It's not proper.

So what I'm thinking with students is to get them into a place where they come from a desire. Then we come to a student that's already playing, like Kate Schellenbach, for example. She was already a player when she came to me; this was before Luscious Jackson. She studied with me for years, still does occasionally. Stuff comes up. An old student will come back and say, "We're working on this album, and we have this part, and I want to work on this with you."

We have hobbyists through to top professional players, and everybody in between. And I think it's working because they keep in touch, or come back, or send postcards… But there's something to be gained beyond a video, something beyond a computer. A teacher can impart the knowledge, word-of-mouth, and show you. There's nothing that replaces the classroom.

Paula teaches at the Female Drummers Workshop on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. For more information about the Workshop, call (718)486-8147.