Drums n' Cats n' Drums n' Cats n!
A Masterclass with Cat Myers.
Cat Myers is a renowned professional touring musician with an enviable expanse of industry experience under her belt. Drumming for Mogwai in their own drummer’s absence, storming the witch-punk music scene as the drummer of Honeyblood and more recently bringing her unique sonic calling card to the work of KT Tunstall, when we had the opportunity to have a masterclass with Cat we jumped at the chance.
The focus of the session was on technique and enhancing young people’s musicality and knowledge of the music industry. With an informal approach and a delivery method that made the techniques being taught accessible to all levels of ability, Cat went deep in to the rudiments of drumming, integrating music technology in to a drummers toolkit, and how to highlight the unique elements of a person’s drumming to make a piece of music truly their own.
The addition of music tech was a real highlight of the day. Though we do an awful lot of drumming here at Jack Drum, having the opportunity to fuse that experience with a modern flavour, and see first hand how our expectations of the role of a kit drummer have changed and evolved in recent years to include Bass and Melody as well as rhythm was very unique, and a really special thing to see our young people get to grips with.
The workshop was of course outstanding, but what was also great to see was how keen and genuinely excited Cat was to share her experience of touring and how the young people might approach it themselves. Our Youth Music Band Cuttlefish Orchestra recently visited the Youth Music Awards and left having been presented with the Social Action Award in recognition of their achievements in making change in their community. This spurred the band to action, and Cuttlefish Orchestra are now planning a tour themselves in order to spread their message. Having Cat at hand readily offering tips, tricks and information was so important and an intensely kind gesture that our young people will see the benefit of now and going forwards.