Pedro Horta:
DRUMS (Rock, Funk, Blues, Hip Hop, Afrobeat)

I picked up the violin in third grade and played all the way through my sophomore year in high school - then I got a drum set and started teaching myself, mostly by listening to bands like Led Zeppelin, The Police, etc... After playing in a few rock bands at Amherst College, MA, and pretending to be a physics major, I decided to switch to music, graduating in the end with a BA in music composition. While I was there I studied drums with the great jazz drummer Billy Arnold and jazz piano/theory with Andy Jaffe, who taught and recorded with likes of Steve Vai and Wynton Marsalis. In the years since college, I’ve been playing and writing for all sorts of bands (in the styles of rock, funk, hip hop, reggae, and afrobeat) from San Francisco to Milwaukee. I’ve also composed music for performance art groups and various theatre productions.

In my classes you’ll learn how to read rhythms (it’s good for your brain) but also how to figure out drum parts by ear. All of my students eventually learn how to write out beats, whether they’re original compositions or drum parts from their favorite CDs. Whenever I can, I like to accompany my students on the keys. This is a lot of fun because right away, you’ll get to feel what it’s like to “play in a band”, switching between holding down the groove and playing off me. And all the while, you'll be strengthening your ability to listen while you play - one of the most important things a musician can do.