Link: DrumGuru.com

Drum Guru is the brainchild of music instruction video pioneer, Rob Wallis. Rob started as a drummer in New York, purchased the Drummers Collective in the 1980, and started the music education video revolution (along with co-owner Paul Siegel) in the mid 1980′s with DCI Video Productions. Rob also co-owns Hudson Music, which continued the spirit of those great instructional videos of the 80′s, but ventured into the digital realm with the advent of DVD.

I first met Rob in 2006 when I was working for Vic Firth, and began doing some work for Hudson Music on a freelance basis. In 2008, Hudson Music hired me to be their full-time digital content director, and to launch a digital delivery system we were calling “DrumTV.net”. Mid-project, some cold feet emerged from one of the partners, and the project was shut down. Hudson Music elected to keep me on board, and I began to absorb other facets of work at the company, including the usual suspects of ad creation, packaging design, etc…

Sensing that the DVD was falling out of favor, Rob decided to strike out on his own with a new venture that would deliver similar content as to what he has been producing, but through the “container” of an iPad app. He immediately tapped myself and Joe Bergamini as his right-hand men. We began the process of sourcing a developer and getting our ducks in a row in regards to exactly what this thing would do.

Rob and I acted as co-project managers, Rob with more of a conceptual overview and communicator, and me to develop the initial RFP docs, wireframes and specs. I was the technical advisor (evolving to technical manager once the app launched). It was my role to set up anything on our end that was required to “feed” the app – including databases, fileservers, social media accounts, Apple developer accounts, etc. I also was called on to test and create the spec for video encoding for the app.

After a LONG development period, Drum Guru launched in late-summer 2012. It’s a pretty cool project, featuring some massive powerhouse names in drumming such as Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater), Steve Smith (Journey), Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Steve Gadd (a household name in drumming).

My role with Drum Guru continues as I create and manage content creation for the app. I also created a small microsite for the project, which can be found at DrumGuru.com.

Link: marching.Stevenson.edu

The Stevenson Marching Band was formed in 2011 to support the newly-created Stevenson University football team. The school devoted a lot of resources to building a new stadium and hiring staff to make the inaugural season a big success.

I was actually involved with several projects involving the newly-formed band – a website design and launch; a promotional video, and a stint as their adjunct professor of percussion in the fall of 2011 (I had spent many years teaching marching drums and percussion, beginning in 1990).

The Stevenson Band project was an interesting one. The band director, Mark Lortz contacted me with the requirements, and I set off on the usual stuff: sitemap, wireframe, design, etc. He loved it all, but came back to me and said, basically, the school needs the band website to look just like the athletic website. I wouldn’t say that I found the athletic site to be “visually appealing” to me, but hey – it’s not my job to judge, it’s my job to give people want they want and need. We launched the website in the late-spring of 2011, just prior to the inaugural season kickoff.

Part 2 of the project involved a short promotional video for recruitment purposes. We used some highly-effected images and video footage, along with an original score I composed, to create a short video. Mark and the school administration really liked it, and, I was really surprised when Mark called me in need of a broadcast-ready version of the ad – the university had purchased airtime to show the commercial during some regional lacrosse programming (lacrosse is huge here in Maryland, and Stevenson is a very well-ranked and regarded program). One more item in “the toolbox”!

Link: SBOMagazine.com

In early 2010, I was approached by Sid Davis, who was referred to me by Mark Dyke, Marketing Manager for Vic Firth Inc (Another referral from a former associate, which I am always grateful for). Sid was in need of someone to handle their email marketing campaigns – design and management of templates and mail pieces, list management, etc. What intrigued me about this project was that Symphony Publishing offered 4 music industry magazines – School Band & Orchestra, Musical Merchandise Review, JAZZed and Choral Director. I saw the opportunity for some larger projects with them (website redesigns) as well as some regular, on-going work with the management of the email marketing and website content.

After a few months of working with Sid on the email projects, he asked if I would put together a proposal to redesign their collection of websites. We got to work on them in late 2010 and finished and launched all four by early-2011. I continue to work with Sid and the crew at Symphony Publishing on a variety of web-related projects.

Link: VicFirthGourmet.com

In late 2010, Dick Smith, who ran the gourmet division of Vic Firth Inc, contacted me to see if I would be available to help him with some web and graphic design projects. I had worked with Dick back during my time at Vic Firth and was involved in some projects for the gourmet division: product photography, marketing pieces, custom engraving mock-ups for high-end customers, etc. He was having a hard time getting anything done with the in-house team, due to their heavy workload on the drumstick side of things, so he got the green light to go outside and work with me.

I will admit, I am always flattered when a former associate thinks enough of me to ask if I will do work for them, or refers me to someone who is looking for services that I can provide. It’s really an honor to think that these people think enough of me to hire or refer my services. And, I am grateful for it.

A Brief History

Vic Firth was the timpanist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1952 until the mid-2000′s. He bagan making his own drumsticks and mallets for his personal use shortly after starting his career with the BSO, and quickly found that there was a demand for them amongst his students, and shortly thereafter, drummers all over the country, and world. Vic has a great story he’s told about how he won the timpanist position with the BSO, where, in essence, he auditioned and was awarded an auxiliary percussion position (cymbals, triangle, etc) – which most guys, these days especially, would kill for. Vic being Vic, decided he wanted more, and walked back in and said something to the effect of “I don’t want the position you offered me, but I think you should hire me as your timpanist”. My guess is that the BSO was either so confused, taken aback or impressed with the young 21 year old’s “suggestion”, they went ahead and gave him them job as timpanist. It’s a story that I often think about – if you want something, ask for it. You never know what might happen. In any case…fast forward many years to the 1990′s – Vic’s drumstick business is doing great, and he’s bought a factory that makes them as well as other cylindrical objects – such as peppermills. He decides to absorb the peppermill business into his own (it was formerly known as the Banton Company), and Vic Firth Gourmet was born.

Interestingly enough, I came to work for Vic Firth in 2001 (my initial interview with the company was on 9/11, the afternoon of the infamous terrorist attacks). I spent the next 8 years working in an office that sat 5 feet from Vic’s, and had the opportunity to work on some projects that really added to my “jack of all trades” toolkit.

Back to the gourmet project – Dick wanted a new website that would showcase the products in a better light than their existing Miva-based store. I built the site on top of WordPress and Shopp, and launched it in late 2010. We continue to work with Dick and Vic Firth Gourmet on a variety of projects.

Link: MWPublications.com

In late 2011, Mark Wessels contacted me about a project that would involve redesigning his website, which included e-commerce functionality for his excellent percussion method books, but the main motivator was his desire to make digital downloads available for a new series of lessons with well-known New Orleans drummer, Stanton Moore. Mark’s previous website was based on the Miva Merchant platform, which was solid and got things sold, but wasn’t much to look at. My plan was to move him to a modern CMS (WordPress) and to implement an e-commerce solution that I’ve used many times, with good success, Shopp.

What made this project and proposal so interesting and special to me, was that Mark and I worked together for a number of years at Vic Firth. Mark is the Director of Internet Activities, which means, in essence, he’s their web guy. Mark is a close friend, mentor and was a great advocate of mine as I weaved my way up and around the job ladders at Vic Firth. He was also responsible for introducing me to and ultimately getting me hired with the guys at Hudson Music in 2007, which led directly to my current status. I’ve always looked to Mark with respect, so to have him consider me to work on his own website was rewarding, to say the least.

We started with the traditional paths of site mapping, wireframes and then on to thedesign elements. The design process was short – Mark liked what I had put together, and so I got started on the process of building out the templates that would become his website. A few weeks and tweaks later, and the new MWPublications.com website was up and running! We did opt to hold off on the digital downloads at first, as Mark still had some work to do on the products with Stanton. We circled back and launched the download function in early Fall, 2012!

Link: TommyIgoe.com

Reknown drummer, educator and author Tommy Igoe contacted me during the summer of 2012, anxious for a website redesign. He wanted something new, fresh and fast.We spoke a little about his feelings on what the site should focus on – namely, he felt that he needed a place to promote his bands, list some events and connect people to social media.

I worked up a sitemap and wireframe for him, and then a design. The feedback was good, and minimal (a plus, in my book!). The fun came when Tommy called, a week before his Birdland Big Band was set to hit the road on a month-long tour of the US – he needed the website redone, and needed it done asap!

So, after some long, late hours, a few server configuration issues, and a weekend of good, old QA, the new and improved TommyIgoe.com was launched.

An interesting feature to the website that Tommy wanted to include was a function to allow audience members at his shows to cast a vote for a song to be played at the show that night. A pretty cool interactive feature to a live show, I thought! I set up a form and put together a leaderboard that Tommy could monitor from his iPhone, right from the stage. At the end of the night, the band plays the most requested tune. Power to the people, right?!