Drums

Robert Pennel

Rob is one of our most experienced teachers having taught drums for 15 years. He studied music at Trinity College of Music, London and then at Middlesex University; where he studied Jazz with Nikki Ilses, Stuart hall and Martin France. As a freelance musician Rob has performed at festivals across Europe; such as the London Hyde Park Calling, the Electric Picnic Festival in Dublin, and the Seixial Jazz Festival in Portugal, most notably with Australian folk duo "Angus and Julia Stone ''. He has experience recording drums in some London's top studios such as Rak and Angel studios and gigs regularly with a number of Professional bands across the UK. The Union chapel, Ronnie Scots, Pizza Express dean street, the vortex and cafe Otto are to name but a few of the London venues he has performed in.

Rob is passionate about teaching the Drums and as well as teaching for Pelican and has a successful private teaching practice across west London where he teaches at Schools, students homes and online from his home studio. Rob's approach to learning the drums focuses heavily on getting students to read rhythms from musical notation straight away from their first lesson. He treats reading rhythms the same as learning your phonics as you would learning any other Language. Children quickly remember what the basic rhythms sound like by singing them and carefully over time become fluent in singing the rhythms straight off the page. The great thing about this approach is you don't even need a pair of sticks to get started let alone a drum kit. He is experienced in teaching children who don't have access to drums at home and has gotten some of his students up to grade 1 standard who do not own a set. Rob also plays guitar, bass, and piano and will often accompany students in their lessons to give them a musical context and develop their Musicianship skills further.