About Me
My name is Chris Senior. I’ve been playing drums now for a little over a decade and have been teaching (with great success may I add!) for the past six years. If you don’t think this is long enough to have played and taught to know what I’m talking about, well I’m sorry you feel that way and I’ll do my best to gain your confidence!
I am a full time teacher (i.e. 35hrs of solid teaching per week!) and also find time to gig with a great session band on top of that.
I started out by teaching myself how to play for the first year or so, on what can only be described as the worst drum kit ever! It wasn’t even a proper kit! But hey, we all start somewhere and now I have five great kits so I’ve definitely made up for it!
I then took a few lessons but, as nice as the guy was, I didn’t really think he was a great teacher, so went back to teaching myself for about another year.
I then stumbled across a great teacher, a Mr Steve Hamper, with whom I really got on well and came on in leaps and bounds. My playing ability really took off however I never learned how to read music. Hitting the milestone, at the age of 16yrs with my G.C.S.E’s just around the corner I needed to make a decision that would affect the rest of my life. I loved to play the drums and people had said I was quite good so I chose to go to Drumtech, part of the Powerhouse Institute in Acton, West London. There I completed a 1 year Diploma course and passed with flying colours (of course!). That year taught me so much about the academic/technical side of music, as well as much about the industry. I learned how to read and write music to a very high standard and finally understood what it was I’d been playing all those years!
Once back from Drumtech I really went full on into teaching and started work on all my teaching material, while learning more and more along the way. What sets me apart from a lot of other teachers is that I teach kids as well as adults, teaching from 6yrs and upwards. Doing this has given me a wealth of knowledge as it means I really have to know everything I teach inside and out. I have to have many different ways to explain the same thing and take many want to be pro drummers, I teach guys and girls who just love the idea of having a crack at playing the drums as a hobby, which to be fair, most people who learn to play any instrument do. Having said that I do teach many great players who want to go on to pursue a career in the music industry. One lad in particular, Max, who’s only been playing two and half years, is this year entering “young drummer of the year”, which is a competition that runs annually throughout the UK to find the best young talent under the age of 16yrs. Of course I would say this as his teacher, but I think he stands a great chance of winning, though I’d be very proud of him just getting to the finals on his first attempt.
As far as MY achievements, well, apart from being a teacher and performer in covers bands, I’m currently OFFICIALLY ranked 2nd fastest drummer in the UK, and UNOFFICIALLY 1st. (That’ll cause a stir!)
However my greatest achievement is yet to come as I’ve only just set out to follow my goals. So watch this space!
