Ready to learn what a jazz drummer actually does?

Jazz drumming isn't about playing louder or faster — it's about time, touch, and listening. This course is an introduction to the drummer's role in a jazz group, built around a single idea: your job is to make everyone else sound better.

Material comes from two places — a method book for reading and technique, and real recordings for feel. No prior jazz experience needed.

Fall Session Open Now!
Every Wednesday, 5:00–6:00 PM in The Pocket

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Single Class: $29  |  Full Session: $192 ($24 per class)

Drop-ins: We recommend reviewing the schedule below before joining.
​If you drop in near the end, you may be joining a class preparing for (or presenting at) the final showcase.

SIGN UP HERE!

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Students Will Learn:

• Time & Feel: Hold a tempo steady enough that other players can rely on it — and make it breathe instead of just tick.
  
  
• Accompaniment: Respond to what you hear instead of playing over it — the hardest habit to build and the most valuable one you'll leave with.
  
  
• Reading & Syncopation: Read syncopated figures off the page and play them cleanly at tempo.
  
  
• Touch & Dynamics: Control volume and articulation, including brush work for ballads and quieter playing.
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• Ensemble Playing: Trade phrases and listen across a group rather than just keeping your own part.

What To Bring:

Sticks and brushes — both available for purchase at the front kiosk if you need them.

​Practice pads + kit are provided onsite.

The 8-Week Plan:

• Week 1 — The Language of Jazz Drumming: The drummer's role in a jazz group, and what “keeping time” actually means here.
  
  
• Week 2 — The Swing Feel: The ride pattern and the triplet subdivision that makes swing swing.
  
  
• Week 3 — Comping: Supporting a soloist — responding without crowding, and staying out of the way.
  
  
• Week 4 — Reading & Syncopation I: Reading and playing syncopated figures from the book.
  
  
• Week 5 — Touch, Dynamics & Brushes: Playing softly with intention; brush vocabulary and ballad feel.
  
  
• Week 6 — Reading & Syncopation II: Harder figures, plus trading phrases around the group.
  
  
• Week 7 — Playing the Tunes: Applying everything to real recordings across a range of tempos and forms.
  
  
• Week 8 — Final Ensemble Play-Along: The group plays through tunes together, trading and comping for each other.

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Meet Your Instructor

Danny Ortiz is a drummer and multi-instrumentalist instructor who has been performing since age eleven and gigging on drums since fifteen. While at George Mason University, he studied under experienced professors and performed in both large and small jazz ensembles, honing his skills as a jazz drummer. Today, he can be caught freelancing around the DC area as a drummer and solo acoustic act. Since beginning his teaching career in 2015, he's helped students learn their favorite songs, develop their playing, improvise, and prepare for auditions, bringing genuine passion and a love of helping others reach their musical goals on the kit.​

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