title: Finding the Groove: Lessons from a Life in Drumming, Teaching, and Performing
author: Jeremy Steinkoler
description: Jeremy Steinkoler is a drummer, educator, and writer who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and son. He is the Co-Founder and Co-Director or the award-winning BandWorks music program, is the Founder and Director of the East Bay Drum School, and has performed multiple times at the Monterey and San Francisco Jazz Festivals. His music has earned several accolades and has been featured on the cover of Jazz Inside Magazine. Jeremy is proud to be endorsed by Brooks Drums, Aquarian Drumheads, Vic Firth Drumsticks, and Protection Racket cases.
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  From Welsh
  
  Clubland To
  
  The Costa's
  
  Memoirs Of A
  
  Self-Taught Drummer
  
  By Gareth John Smith
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I was born in a small hospital in a tiny village called Nantyglo, which is in
  between Abertillery and Brynmawr in the valleys of South Wales in 1955.
  
  When my mother delivered me, she said I was tapping out a rhythm.
  
  Ever since I can remember, I have always had an interest in drumming.
  
  I can remember using an armchair as a drum kit, the arm of the chair being the
  side drum, and the back of the chair giving me my bass beat.
  
  I would kneel on the cushion, side on, listening to a record, and trying my
  best to replicate the beat I am hearing.
  
  Using my right hand with a wooden spoon upside down producing the bass beat on
  the back of the chair, and my left hand holding a wooden spoon upside down
  tapping out the snare drum rhythm on the arm of the chair.
  
  They accomplish my parents as musicians in their own right, so hearing music
  of different genres every day of my infant to teenag