:: GEORG VOROS ::

The 2009 Georg Voros OUTREACH Drum Clinic Tour

This groundbreaking six date drum clinic tour was the first of its kind to be undertaken by a South African drummer.

THE OFFICIAL POSTER

"Six drum clinics in six different cities in two weeks! This has been a great experience and something of a learning curve as well. I played in places where people had no concept of what a drum clinic was and no idea what to expect. At one venue parents arrived with babies in arms. Before starting, I felt it my duty to warn them that what they were about experience was going to be VERY LOUD. One kid in the front row actually jumped out of his seat when I hit the first crash cymbals – it was pretty funny.

I have been receiving feedback from various sources and can honestly say that every event went well and everyone went away from each clinic with some form of positive experience and useful information to take on board. My intention on this tour was to not place too much focus on demonstrating techniques as I have done in previous clinics, but rather to feature more playing (performance) and share various drumming concepts from my newly updated book RHYTHM OF THE HEAD, thereby appealing to both the novice and more experienced player. Another important factor on this tour was making everyone aware of the gear I was playing. Many people found this very useful and a lot of questions were raised at the clinics relating to the drums, cymbals, sticks and heads I use. Questions relating to tuning, cymbal choice, cymbal ranges, drum shell construction and the materials used, what sticks I use and why, are nylon tips better that wood tips, why do drumheads differ in sound and tone…? etc etc. I feel a lot of useful information was imparted on this tour and I am satisfied in having done that, as the end result is that it helps to raise the bar and awareness of drums and drumming.

What about attendance? As I mentioned before, every clinic was good and each one had it’s own certain charm attributed to it. In Potchefstroom at Much More Music we exceeded the expected audience numbers by almost double. This clinic took place instore and was packed out with drummers into a compact corner of the store. The Welkom clinic at Music Corner took place in a very nice 100 seater theatre style venue, which is part of the store. Here we exceeded the seated numbers as around 110 people came to check out the clinic. In Bloemfontein with the hosts being Dee Vee’s Music, the clinic took place at St. Andrews school in the ‘Singing room’, which by my estimation seats around 80 people. The turnout on that night was virtually full. The Witbank clinic took place instore at Raslo Music and all of the 70 seats were occupied with some people standing. At Glenwood Village Music in Durban the seating arrangement catered for approximately 60 people. We had a great turnout night with around 70 people in the store. The Port Elizabeth clinic, which was hosted by Tempo Music, saw around 45 people brave a cold night to come check out the final leg of this tour. All in all, I played to over 400 people on this tour.

I find all this encouraging as the only two cities I had previously played was Durban and Bloemfontein. Around three years ago in Durban after having played The Durban Drum Experience show, the following night I presented a clinic at the same venue as I have just played on the OUTREACH tour. On that night we had a turnout of around 40 people with everyone commenting how ‘good’ this was for Durban. This time round we had 70 – almost double! In Bloemfontein I presented a clinic to around 10 people approximately three years ago. This time we had around 70 people! So I believe that with perseverance, a South African drum clinic circuit can be established as people do want to see this kind of thing and they will come out. I have already been asked to go back to at least three of the cities I played on this tour. The guys have seen what has happened and are excited, and want to prove that they achieve an even bigger turnout. Cool I say, let’s bring it on and open up a new avenue to increase awareness and sales for everyone involved in the drum business.

Thanks once again to Paul Bothners Music, Marshall Music and Active Music for helping to make this tour happen. My final words: WE DID IT - MISSION WELL ACCOMPLISHED ! "

The Georg Voros 'OUTREACH' drum clinic tour visited these centers around South Africa:

September 1 - Much More Music, Potchefsroom

September 2 - Music Corner, Welkom

September 3 - Dee Vee's, Bloemfontein

September 8 - Rasio Music, Witbank

September 9 - Village Music, Durban

September 10 - Tempo Music, Port Elizabeth

Some Photos: