#460 Greg Hersey- Percussionist, Educator, and More!
This week’s guest is Greg Hersey! Greg Hersey is a percussionist and educational artist based out of Jacksonville Florida. Greg currently serves as the Director of Instrumental Music at Episcopal School of Jacksonville, cultivating successful middle and high school ensembles. He inspires students to strive for excellence and to become passionate, dedicated musicians. Greg Hersey is a graduate of the University of North Florida School of Music and holds a Master's degree in Percussion Performance. He has studied with renowned instructors Charlotte Mabrey, Kevin Garry, Danny Gottlieb, and Benjamin Wiseman. Greg has competed in the Guitar Center Drum Off and was 1 of 30 semi-finalists nationwide, representing the southeast region.
In addition to being a full-time educator, Greg works as a freelance percussionist in the Jacksonville area and surrounding communities. He actively performs for musical theater productions, BayKings International Band, orchestras, and various schools as a guest clinician. He offers private drum set and percussion instruction to students locally, nationally, and internationally. Greg has been featured in several full-length podcasts such as Drumeogab, Big Fat Five, Drummersilike, and Sit-Down Saturday. Greg Hersey is an artist for Yurt Rock music library, offering original percussion sounds and loops for professional music producers and engineers. His strong social media presence with now over 250k followers has provided a plethora of musical opportunities and international recognition. Greg is immensely grateful to be in partnership with various companies and families; Vic Firth, Zildjian Cymbals, Evans Drumheads, Ludwig Drums, TNR Products, Big Fat Snare Drum, Rustic Percussion, DrumDial, and RimRiser.
R.I.P.
Legendary jazz drummer Jack DeJohnette, best known for his work with Miles Davis, Alice Coltrane, and Sonny Rollins, has passed away at age 83. -Article
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday to Lalo Davila! Lalo Davila is currently Professor of Music and Director of Percussion Studies at Middle Tennessee State University. Lalo received his Bachelor of Music degree from Texas A & M Corpus Christi and a Master of Music degree from the University of North Texas.
Lalo has extensive experience both as an educator, composer, author, and performer. Lalo was named Nashville’s Top Five 1998 Percussionist of the Year Award and “Nashville Scene’s” 2012 “Best Latin Jazz Musician”. Lalo has toured with many artists including the "Take 6" Summer 1996 tour of Japan. Other performances include; the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra, the Nashville Symphony, the Nashville Jazz Orchestra, the Nashville Chamber Orchestra, the Nashville Chamber Chorus, the Nashville Ballet, Six Pence and None The Richer, Clay Walker, Allen Vizzutti, and Arturo Sandoval to name a few. Mr. Davila can also be heard on Kirk Whalum's Grammy-nominated CD “Hymns In The Garden”. Most recently, Lalo’s voice and playing can be heard (as Jafar) in Disney’s Dual Language Series “Aladdin”, “So You Think You Can Dance”, The movies “People Like Us”, “The Amazing Burt Wonderstone”, “McFarland USA”, and “The Equalizer”, EA SPORTS' recent release, NCAA College Football 25, The 2012 PlayStation Game "Thieves in Time", "Star Wars", "America's Funniest 2010 Commercials". Lalo has also composed music for: “Drop Dead Diva”, “Breaking Bad”, “Graceland”, and “Burn Notice”.
Known as an outstanding clinician and adjudicator, Lalo has conducted clinics/performances throughout the United States, Australia, Paris, Poland, Mexico, Sweden, Cuba, and Japan. Lalo is the author of “Contemporary Rudimental Studies and Solos”, and “Play at First\Sight”, “Timptastic”, “Uncommon Duos”, " Bugadafish", and “Jingle Jamz”. Lalo is an active clinician/performer for the Pearl Corporation, Row-Loff Productions, Avedis Zildjian Co., Innovative Percussion, Grover Pro Percussion, and EVANS Drumheads.
Happy Birthday to Ney Rosauro! Ney is a native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Ney Rosauro has developed a successful international career as a percussionist, composer and pedagogue.
With his unique style of writing which combines charming melodies with catchy rhythms, he utilizes the rich elements of Brazilian folklore to create stylized compositions that are full of life and fantasy, and has been enchanting audiences all over the world.
Happy Birthday to Bill Bachman! Bill has been on twice (Ep 72 and Ep 159) and is a world-renowned specialist in hand technique with a heavy background in rudimental drumming and its application to the drumset. Bachman is a regular contributing columnist for Modern Drummer magazine and is the author of the books Stick Technique, an Essential Guide for the Modern Drummer and Rhythm & Chops Builders published through Modern Drummer Publishing (nominated for “Best Product” in their 2018 Readers Poll, as well as the Logic marching percussion instructional book series for Row-Loff Productions. Bachman is the founder of DrumWorkout.com, designer of Vic Firth’s Heavy Hitter pad series and his signature Billy Club drumsticks and the inventor of the patented Remote Speedy Hat.
Bachman is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music and has studied percussion performance at the University of North Texas. He is a member of the Percussive Arts Society’s Health and Wellness committee and Modern Drummer magazine’s education team where he was recently nominated in the 2016 reader’s poll under the “clinician/educator” category.
Bill has played with and instructed many award-winning marching percussion groups, including the UNT drum line and various DCI World Class finalists (Cadets, Bluecoats, Blue Knights, and Carolina Crown). On drumset, Bill is the drummer for Herd of Instinct, Spoke of Shadows, has toured with progressive rock artist Neal Morse, and freelances playing and recording in the Dallas area. Bachman is an international drum clinician, and he endorses Vic Firth sticks, Remo drumheads, Zildjian cymbals, and Row-Loff Productions products.
Gig Alerts
The Arizona Jazz Fest is happening Nov 7th-9th in Glendale, AZ. It’s been rescheduled from March.
The Party in the Park Festival is happening Nov 8th in Gilbert, AZ.
The Festival at the Switchyard is happening on Nov 8th in Carrollton, TX.
Bon Jovi adds more dates to his 2026 tour, including 6 nights at MSG. Friend of the show, Everett Bradley will be touring with the group.
Educational Spotlight
The Guidebook App for PASIC 50 is out now and you can create your own personalized schedule. Go to: https://pas.org/pasic/app/. You can also check out when the various committee meetings are happening and when if you need to attend or are interested in becoming a member on one (see image below).
Tickets for PASIC 50 are not sold online after Oct 30th. They will be available at the door for a slightly higher price.
Iconic Recording
Greg chose “Alright” by Kendrick Lamar as the iconic recording, from the album, “To Pimp a Butterfly”.
Music News
Broadway musicians’ union AFM Local 802 has reached a tentative agreement with the Broadway League, averting a potential strike.
Greg Hersey Interview
The song leading into the interview is, “Act a Fool” by Ludacris.
Damon and Greg both have loop and one shot packs with the company Yurt Rock.
Greg talks about his percussion/drumkit setup.
Shout-out to Evans drumheads.
Greg currently lives in Jackstonville and Damon asks about Jacksonville artists like Bob Reynolds and Derek Trucks/Susan Tedeschi. Greg mentions Ulysses Owens Jr. , Jamison Ross, and other instrumentalists too.
Greg arrived in 2010 to Florida to attend University of North Florida. He got his bachelors and masters from there.
Greg studied with Charlotte Mabrey.
Greg talks about why he stopped school after his master’s degree.
Greg mentions that both his parents and his brothers play some drums.
Damon asks about breakbeats. Shout-out to Who Sampled.
Greg is working on his invite to “the cookout”
Greg talks about his PASIC 50 preview.
Greg’s clinic is on Friday Nov 14th at 2pm in room 101 at PASIC.
Greg talks about his different jobs and balance. He’s the Director of Instrumental Music at Episcopal School of Jacksonville.
Damon mentions the stage weights.
Damon asks about the Guitar Center Drum-off.
Shout-out to Juan Carlito Mendoza, Eric Moore II, and Jerome Flood.
Damon mentions the book Teaching Rhythm by David Newell.
Shout-out to (friend of the show) J.J. Johnson.
Greg picks the iconic recording and honorable mention.
Greg mentions the 1997 Modern Drummer Festival. Shout out to Tony Royster Jr., Dennis Chambers, Horacio ‘el Negro’ Hernandez and many more.
Greg started playing paid gigs in high school and talks about how he got that going.
Greg uses Vic Firth Sticks and Mallets, Zildjian Cymbals, Evans Drumheads, Ludwig Drums, and Rustic Percussion.
Shout-out to Greg’s dad and the rest of his family. Shout-out to Charlotte Mabrey.
You can follow Greg on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, and Tik Tok.
The song leading out of the interview is below.
