All posts by Kane Drums

Blending diverse rhythmic and musical styles into the mainstream scene with good taste has been Tim Kane’s forte as a Massachusetts-based drummer, percussionist and music educator for more than 25 years. Kane began drumming and playing trombone in fourth grade. He graduated from Fitchburg State College where he was course and ensemble trained in jazz, concert and various school-based jam bands. He also studied and performed with a jazz quintet at the well-respected Indian Hill Music Conservatory in Littleton, Mass. Today, Tim is the resident drum set and percussion instructor at Eagle Hill High School in Hardwick where he implemented an innovative new percussive arts and djembe group drum circle program for special needs students seven years ago, as well as teaching privately in his home recording studio. Kane exclusively plays Remo classic pin stripe and dotted heads on Gretsch and Rodgers drum kits, and owns about 20 Remo djembes and hand drums that he uses in his drum circles. He is also endorsed as a drum set educator by Vic Firth Drum Sticks and worked previously for several years as a professional educational and product writer for Dixon Drums and Gibraltar Hardware. He had a major story about famed Police drummer Stewart Copeland published in Modern Drummer magazine two years ago that is featured here. Kane currently tours New England in the northeast region’s top trop-rock Jimmy Buffet-style tribute bands, The Island Castaways Band, which released a new CD of original songs this past spring that is getting killer airwaves on a bevy of top island music radio stations. The band’s top single is linked here. TICB’s fan base ranges from a few hundred to a few thousand at indoor and outdoor gigs. Kane also plays in the Somerville-based alternative original rock band, “Right on Red”, and holds down jazz drums for the Trinity Swing Big Band, and performs regularly with all original jazz-folk band, Luscious Lushes. In 2012, he published a full album of his own making, composing and recording 10 original songs and playing all instruments found streaming live at Spotify and located at Reverb Nation here. Kane expanded his teaching and performance business five years ago to host All Together Drum Circles that exclusively features Remo djembe and percussion products in private and public settings on a weekly basis year-round. Recent clients have included 92.5 The River radio festival, the Worcester YMCA, area schools, senior citizens, town commons, parks and recreation depts., and the Center for Autism Awareness of Central Massachusetts. Learn more about Tim and his upcoming schedule at kanedrums.com and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/kanedrums/ Call or text him at: 774-757-7636 Email: tim@kanedrums.com
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Drums & Keys

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Drums & Keys combines an innovative introduction to music fundamentals and basic piano with a wide ranging drumming lesson program for kids in Grades K-4.
Because many schools don’t offer established concert or jazz band programs until fourth, fifth or even sixth grade and in classroom music budgets have been continually reduced, there is a large drought or void in musical development opportunities for younger kids.
This unique program combines a well established drum set, hand drums, and percussion lesson program along with music theory, songwriting and basic piano instruction. Kids ages 5-9 will now be able to learn the drum set, hand drums and concert percussion while also being trained in general music education.
Beyond drumming, this will involve learning musical terminology, notation, scales, ear training, music appreciation and history, jamming out live with other student musicians, original songwriting and much more.
If you have a younger child yearning for more musical development, please consider Drums & Keys based at Kane School of Drums, which operates a licensed, fun, safe and full music recording studio environment in Brookfield, MA. Tim can even travel to your home if within a 15-mile radius. Parents are most welcomed to sit in on the first few lessons. Many references available.
Learn more at kanedrums.com.
774-757-7636
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Welcome to Kane Drums

Dedicated to providing just what the music needs with good ears is Tim Kane’s forte as a Massachusetts-based drummer, percussionist, trombonist, audio editor, drum circle leader, podcaster, blogger, and private lesson instructor.
Kane began writing songs with his family well before he started drumming and playing trombone. That early journey provided an essential foundation of improvisational creativity, later channeled through formal Grade 4-12 jazz, choral and concert band experiences that quickly grew into a love for mainstream and alternative pop-rock music.
He graduated from Fitchburg State College with a BA in  writing, where he continued his course and ensemble training in jazz, concert and various jam bands. He also studied jazz performance at the well-respected Indian Hill Music in Littleton, Mass where, ironically, he now serves on its faculty in the community outreach program teaching hand drumming and percussion.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Tim went back to school and earned an Advanced Professional Certificate from Berklee College of Music in music therapy/piano and audio recording/mixing using Logic Pro X.
Tim has served for 11 years as the drum set and percussion instructor at Eagle Hill High School in Hardwick where he implemented an innovative new drum set/percussive arts and djembe group drum circle program for ADHD special needs students as well as teaching privately in his home recording studio and in students’ homes. He also teaches songwriting, basic piano, and digital audio recording. He assists many students and others with professionally recording and mixing their own original songs and cover play-alongs.
Ending his six-year tenure in Fall 2022, Kane toured throughout New England on the drum kit in a popular trop-roc Jimmy Buffet-style band, The Island Castaways Band, which continues to release new original songs making the Top 20 on major island music radio stations. TICB’s fan base ranges from a few hundred to thousands at indoor and outdoor public and private venues. He has played the drum set in many locally touring bands over the past 20 years.
In 2011, Tim expanded his drum teaching and music performance business to build “All Together Drumming” through leading fun, therapeutic group hand drumming circles using djembes and other percussion in private and public settings year-round.
Drawing upon his vast writing achievements, Kane currently hosts a Q&A format radio show – Tiki Tim’s Trop-Roc Tributes – at Florida-based Shore Life Radio every Sunday at 8 pm for regionally and nationally touring singer-songwriters, which attracts thousands of avid listeners every week. 
Donning his own songwriter hat, Tim has published three all-original studio albums by composing, recording, singing, playing and mixing all of the instruments. He continues to write and record his own songs as well as with other musicians and bands. Check out his discography on this website.
Kane endorses Noble and Cooley Drums and Vic Firth Drum Sticks and Zildjian Cymbals and has worked as an educational and/or product blogger for the Drum Circle Facilitators Guild, Percussive Arts Society, Dixon Drums and Gibraltar Hardware. He had a major story about famed Police drummer Stewart Copeland published in Modern Drummer magazine that is featured here, which was based upon several private hangs with Stewart while visiting Massachusetts.
Finally, Kane is an active member of the national Drum Circle Facilitators Guild, Percussive Arts Society, American Federation of Musicians and Massachusetts Music Educators Association. He supports many charitable and environmental causes, the most pertinent being the Be Like Brit foundation for impoverished children living in earthquake-ravaged Haiti.
Learn more about Tim at kanedrums.com and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/timkanedrums/
Call or text him at: 774-757-7636
Email: tim@kanedrums.com
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Thanks for hiring All Together Drum Circles/Kane Drums

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Hi.

I would like to take this brief time to thank you for hiring me to lead your recent drum circle experience. I thought it went well and hope you and your guests feel the same.

As my business relies on word of mouth and referrals, I invite you vote and comment on my services at the quick Poll link below? I will use comments and feedback to improve my program.

I find most repeat clients of mine remain happy with the services rendered. I would like to extend the same opportunity to you and perhaps any peers who might be interested as well.

Thanks again for the opportunity.

Sincerely,

Tim Kane
Founder
All Together Drum Circles
kanedrums.com

774-757-7636

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Drum set and percussion repairs

The Drum Set Doctor as part of Kane Drums offers a complete drum and percussion instrument repair service traveling to local schools, colleges,  institutions and homes.

With 30 years of experience tuning and repairing everything from drum set, bass drum and timpani heads to replacing smaller lugs, nuts, washers, strainers and felt components, The Drum Set Doctor can quickly assess your drum or percussion instrument’s needs and recommend options.

The Drum Set Doctor also offers a complete drum restoration program, specializing in drum kit re-wraps and hardware overhauls.

Read our drum and percussion repair blog here.

Call today for a free consultation at 774-757-7636.

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New Art of Drumming Program Launched

– A live performance and slideshow-driven historical presentation on the invention and evolution of America’s own drum set during the various musical eras of  the 20th century….with a twist….

Watch Tim’s 3-minute program video preview by clicking here.

Recent Reviews:

Hope Bodwell  recommends Tim Kane.

Tim did a family drum circle followed by a program for adults on the history of drummng at the Monson Free Library and Reading Room Association last week and people haven’t stopped talking about it! Everyone was engaged! The adults are begging for their own drum circle so we are having Tim back in the fall for another round of 2 drum circles this time! Highly recommend his programs!

Nym Cooke reviewed Tim Kane — 5 star

Tim Kane is both a fabulous, A-1, five-star drummer and a fabulous, A-1, five-star person. If you’re looking for a drum teacher, a drummer for a professional gig, or someone to lead a drum circle, you absolutely could not do better than Tim. We are lucky to have him as drum instructor at Eagle Hill School, where I teach.

Titled “The Art of Drumming”, veteran Drummer and Educator Tim Kane’s professional powerpoint presentation combined with live demonstrations takes audiences on a well-researched journey into the rich American history and evolution of the drum set; explores early pioneers of the drum set by men and women of all ethnicities and backgrounds; and details the instrument’s incredible rhythmic influences upon jazz, blues and rock music from the Civil War through late 20th century eras.

Beginning with Massachusetts-based Noble & Cooley Drum Company’s first field snare drums used by northern regiments during the Civil War, Tim unveils the origin and architecture of the All American-created drum set, which was inspired by early immigrants at the turn of century. From there, audiences begin to witness the drum set evolving into its present-day form via the BeBop and Swing eras, World War II influences, Prohibition times and Speakeasies of early Blues in Chicago, and when standard rock music began entering the fabric of popular music in the 1950s through 1980s.

Interwoven between the evolution of the drum kit design driven by a bevy of musical changes and listener demands, Tim discusses top drummer influences and how those musicians set the table for an amazing growth in US drummers and innovations by drum companies that continues to this day.

Tim’s main presentation is enhanced with a special, more intensive hands-on drumming workshop for interested audience members who want to become fully immersed in the world of drumming. On this stage, participants are taught to play actual Djembe hand drums themselves and learn how to compose their own patterns using some of the early rhythms presented during the drum set discussion.

The total program – in educational partnership with international manufacturer Vic Firth Drum Sticks – lasts two hours, including a question and answer period. Audiences walk away with a better appreciation of the drum set’s contributions to American music and it often inspires them to explore drumming on their own. If your program, facility, school or club is in need of a powerful, live music and rhythmic-based historical presentation covering much of the 20th century, then please contact Tim today to learn more.

For bookings or more info, please contact Tim at: 774-757-7636, tim@kanedrums.com, or look him up at www.kanedrums.com.

Thank you for reading this.

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Summer Drum Circle Season Heating Up

Most know that I facilitate and lead group djembe drum and percussion circles on a weekly and monthly basis at various senior centers, libraries, community facilities, and assisted living facilities throughout Massachusetts. This summer is heating up as one of my best season’s yet. Thanks to everyone for taking a chance on me. Here’s the schedule:

Hitchcock Free Academy International Music Day – June 21,  6-8pm (for kids, teens and adults, public invited)

Eagle Hill Summer Camp, July 10-Aug. 1 (private)

Oxford Public Library, Oxford, MA – July 18, 6 pm (for kids and teens only, public welcomed)

Monson Free Public Library, Monson, MA – July 19, 4-5 pm (for kids only, public welcomed)

“Art of Drumming” Lecture and Drum Circle, Monson Free Public Library, Monson, MA – July 19, 6-7:30 pm( for adults only, public welcomed)

Gardner Rehab, Gardner, MA – July 20, 10:30 am (private)

Clapp Memorial Library, Belchertown, MA – July 25, 6-7 pm (for kids and teens only, public welcomed)

Joshua Hyde Public Library, Sturbridge, MA – July 27, 2-4 pm (for kids and teens only, public welcomed)

Sturbridge Senior Center, Sturbridge, MA – Aug. 1, 3:30 pm (seniors welcomed)

Clinton Senior Center, Sturbridge, MA – Aug. 9, 10 am (seniors welcomed)

Masonic Nursing Home, Charlton, MA – Aug. 10, 2 pm (private)

Gardner Rehab, Gardner, MA – Aug. 17, 10:30 am (private)

Charlton Senior Center, Charlton, MA – Aug. 20, 11 am (seniors welcomed)

Paige Memorial Library, Hardwick, MA – Aug. 21, Time TBA, (kids and adults welcomed)

Hampden Senior Center, Hampden, MA – Sept. 7, 10 am (seniors welcomed)

Masonic Nursing Home, Charlton, MA – Sept. 14, 2 pm (private)

Email: tim@kanedrums.com

Cell/text: 774-757-7636

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Major league gig

I feel like that little boy again sitting in my tiny bedroom endlessly playing my uncle’s Pearl cotton candy finish drum kit dreaming of  stardom.

Some things take time and patience in life. Sometimes even decades.

One of the biggest gigs of my life with The Island Castaways Band came Tuesday night at the Boston Red Sox’s Fenway Park. The festival was unbelievable and surreal. This was not your typical local nightly band or solo artist lining up next to the sausage stand on Yawkey Way and hoping a few dozen folks would take a listen as they passed by. This was as close to the big time as I’ve ever been honored to be a part of. Thousands of people showed up to actually hear our band, dance, sing and have a great time at a private, pre-game party. It was a live concert.

Bandmaties Joe, Paul, Heather, Rick, Lyn, John and I practiced really hard for this and it paid off with a nearly flawless performance.

I don’t know where the future will take me as a career-minded drummer looking to tour more, or even with this very talented on-the-rise band, but one thing is resoundingly certain after this awesome experience: all that endless teenage practice, sweat, rejection, criticism, pain and study is finally paying off.

Live to play live music.

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Rudiments are the language of drums

percussion-rudiments-kwpzvmszrIn my private teaching system, rudiments are a part of every lesson no mater what skill level the player is at.

Why?

Because rudiments are “the language of drums” – just like our alphabet helps power English as our primary language or scales guide the learning process on brass, string or woodwind instruments. Without rudiments, there is no baseline barometer for playing any type of percussion instrument.

Today, there are 40 common rudiments as agreed to by the Percussive Arts Society (PAS). In 1979, the PAS Marching Percussion Committee appointed the PAS International Drum Rudiment Committee to act as the governing body in the revision and standardization of the previous 26 rudiments. A new listing of 40 International Drum Rudiments was adopted by PAS in 1984 and included drum corps, orchestral, European, and contemporary drum rudiments.

However, the genesis of rudiments actually dates back to the morning of April 17, 1775, according to graduate student Eric Alan Chandler in his 1990 Louisiana State University dissertation paper, “when drummer William Diamond was given orders by Captain John Parker in Lexington to sound his drum (no doubt a field snare crafted by Noble & Cooley Drum Co. of Granville, MA) to warn that the British were coming. At the Battle of Yorktown, which was the virtual end of the Revolutionary War, a British drummer from the 23rd Royal Fuseliers stepped up on a redoubt and beat the Parley, which stopped the firing. This signified the desire for a conference with the enemy. The fact that the Revolutionary War started and ended with the beat of a drum indicates the instruments’ historical importance.” Essentially, rudiments and drumming helped end the war.

For those who possess little knowledge of drumming rudiments, they are simply a series of left and right hand snare drumming command signals (like the famous Paradiddle RLRR-LRLL) coming in several different families and sequences meant to strengthen coordination and improve muscle memory. They also help students develop an early understanding of sight reading and note values.

But they are a lot more than that today with countless stick control method books written on the topic. When applied to the full drum kit, rudiments take on a whole new meaning and application.

Everything we play on the drum set is a simple or complex array of different rudiments played in partiality or as a whole together. So you can see why mastering them first will make you a better drummer. In fact, I’ve found those who don’t learn rudiments and don’t practice them for life, hit a wall in their progression on the instrument and that can even lead to injury from poor technique. That’s because rudiments are meant to help drummers teach their own body how to play. It’s called muscle memory.

Learn your rudiments.