jamie drake // perc+drums

So stoked for @torqpercussion’s premerie performance of “Invisible Cities”, for percussion quartet and orchestra, tomorrow afternoon with @niagarasymphonyorchestra and @bradleythachuk. Bonus: composer (and friend) @wijeratneworks is also here for the performance! This is my view from the stage, the only photo I had time to take today. As always, huge thanks to @yamahacanmusic @innovativepercussion @blackswamppercussion @dreamcymbals @remopercussion for helping to keep the TorQ train running! • • • #torqpercussion #percussionconcerto #percussionquartet #invisiblecities #dinukwijeratne #niagarasymphonyorchestra (at FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre - St. Catharines) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpqeSvxP1GL/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Fun times playing some Harry Potter scores with @kwsymphony this past weekend! @torqpercussion was also the soloist with the orchestra on Saturday afternoon for the “Good Vibrations” concert (wrote the script for that one), but we were too busy running around and setting up/moving/tearing down to get any good pictures from that one. 🤦‍♂️ . . . #percussionsetups #harrypotterorchestra #transrightsarehumanrights🌈 #orchestralpercussion #kitchenereaterloosymphony #torqpercussion #chambermusic #percussionmusic @kwsymphony @torqpercussion @centre_square https://www.instagram.com/p/Co5D9_8OGQS/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#TPS2022/Nova Scotia photo dump. (First 📸 by @ethdesouzamusic) • • • #pretendhomeprovince #thedinosaurwasactuallyinquebec https://www.instagram.com/p/Cfpb1R9pvtS/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Few better ways to spend a Friday night then playing Mahler’s Symphony 2 (“Resurrection”) with almost 200 other musicians. Huge thanks to a great section (Lori West, Richard Moore, John Brownell, Brennan Connolly and Ron Brown) and @kwsymphony for having me be part of it, and to Maestro @andrei_feher for a magical evening. https://www.instagram.com/p/CdQsEDJgieQ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Three choir concerts in 28 hours is a lot of choir, but thankfully I enjoy choral music (and I’m very very very grateful to be working again!). Setups for @torontochildrenschorus & @torontoyouthchoir, VOCA Chorus of Toronto and my choir home base of @hcclisten, respectively. Some of this might be overkill but one thing I love about choir gigs is the freedom I’m given to add colour and texture to different styles of music. (Not pictured: me looking exhausted by Sunday night after an out of town rehearsal after a concert.) • • • #percussionist #drummer #jamiedrake #setup #choir #hamiltonchildrenschoir #vocachorus #torontochildrenschorus #torontoyouthchoir #drums #handdrums #lovemyjob https://www.instagram.com/p/CdEOG8Bpx7S/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

I got to dive back in to some John Luther Adams, talking a bit about and playing the first movement of The Mathematics of Resonant Bodies today as part of The Space Between conference at McMaster University’s MAPLE Lab. Heard some great talks by Mark Adam, Gina Ryan, Jill Ball & Andrew Busch, Alex Fraga and Darrell Bueckert on everything rethinking a more inclusive percussion education to new ways of practicing Samba rhythms to making bell plates. Thanks to Fabrice Marandola and @michael.r.schutz for organizing and hosting! • • • #johnlutheradams #themathematicsofresonantbodies #solopercussion #thespacebetween #percussion #jamiedrake #burst https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc9IdHYtjwl/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

What a treat to be playing a @torqpercussion show with an orchestra again - I’ve missed this! Thanks @osmconcerts, @adamjohnson.live, @_manaldrissi and everyone behind the scenes who helped put this all together! (at Maison symphonique de Montréal) https://www.instagram.com/p/CbVomttJGTg/?utm_medium=tumblr

Always fun to be driving the bus a bit for Carmina Burana this past weekend - don’t think I will ever tire of playing that piece, and the timp part is especially enjoyable. Also played some Halley and @katgimon, all with @chorusniagara and @chorusniagarachildrens. Great to hang and play with Chris Hastings, @ljpino95 and Tim Francom (who was running off to teach a lesson when we took this extremely professional selfie). • • • #percussion #drums #carminaburana #chorusniagara #jamiedrake (at FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre) https://www.instagram.com/p/CazvrLorqFS/?utm_medium=tumblr

It’s pretty easy (at least for me) to feel overwhelmed at all the crappy stuff going in the world right now - continued pandemic, the state of Texas making trans kids lives miserable at best and unsafe at worst, and of course the attack on Ukraine. I think about all the negative things happening in the world and the people affected by them a lot, even though I don’t post about them much. But they have made me even more grateful for the privilege of getting to play music with other humans, and getting to play drums again for the one and only Ron Sexsmith with the @kwsymphony and Maestro @andrei_feher was a real treat. A beautiful couple of days of music making, very needed in the midst of a crazy week. 🙏 • • • #percussionist #drummer #jamiedrake #ronsexsmith #kwsymphony (at Centre In The Square) https://www.instagram.com/p/CadpoY6tYNK/?utm_medium=tumblr

Just $32,000 worth of vintage mics over this vibraphone, no pressure. 😲😬 • So very nice to be back in a proper (and beautiful sounding) studio, playing this beautiful instrument and some marimba with my @torqpercussion brothers. Some neat chamber music by @monicampearce coming soon! https://www.instagram.com/p/CVLTUaxgBY6/?utm_medium=tumblr

Definitely one of the more unusual theatre gigs I’ve done: “Into the Woods”...in the woods (Springwater Provincial Park to be exact). I re-orchestrated the percussion book to make it sound a little bit more folk-y/organic (and also because I had to move all the gear into place every show, so the xylo, timps, chimes, crotales all got cut). The cast was fantastic, and it’s always a treat to work with musical director and good friend @wayneofgwillimbury (who is also theatre’s most stylish electric unicyclist). The weather gods smiled upon us and we even got a nice write up in the Globe from @jkelly028b. It was SO NICE TO PLAYING A MUSICAL WITH REAL LIVE HUMANS (yes I’m shouting because I feel very strongly about it). Now I just need to fill up my calendar for the rest of the year... #musicaltheatre #percussion #intothewoods #outdoortheatre #myofficethisweek https://www.instagram.com/p/CS3EYgJNv8L/?utm_medium=tumblr

Very exciting to get back to my “real job” of hitting things in time with other people. Got to record some newish music for percussion and toy pianos by @monicampearce along with the brilliant @danmorphy @shenwesley and Joseph Ferretti, with @cthornrun2 and @soundsgreat78 in the control room. Vibraphone and @blackswamppercussion castanets, a classic combo. Good times! • • • #percussioning #backatit #castanetduet #whatdoyoumeantheresnoclicktrack (at Revolution Recording) https://www.instagram.com/p/CQsIY2pNWCn/?utm_medium=tumblr

I’ve been doing a bunch of recording these last couple of weeks for various projects (drum set, hand percussion, concert percussion mallets), which is always fun. Got lots of instruments, a solid selection of mics (@sennheiser 57s and 421s, @electrovoiceofficial RE-20, @royerlabs R10s, @vanguardaudiolabs V1s and V4s, and @josephson.engineering C42s), great plugins (@uaudio @thehouseofkush @tokyodawnrecords @valhalladsp @oeksound @wavesaudio) and 12 channels of mic pres from @audientworld. Oh, and (if I do say so myself) a pretty good set of ears. Maybe you need some percussion or drums recorded for a project? Drop me a line! I’d be happy to help. • • • #percussion #drums #recording #torontopercussion #lookingforwardtolivemusicagainbutthisisalsofun #percussionstudio #newtorontosound #opus32design https://www.instagram.com/p/CPO_4cmtVqw/?utm_medium=tumblr

I made a thing! ⚓️⚓️⚓️⚓️⚓️ HCC has their annual spring concert premiering this afternoon at 2pm (PWYC at hamiltonchildrenschoir.com, free is totally acceptable!) and I don’t think I’ve ever worked harder on one project. (Side note: ever stayed up and worked on something for 40 hours straight with no sleep? I have! Not recommended!) I put together all the video, recorded percussion , mixed about half of the audio, wrote an arrangement, composed and played a bunch of incidental music. I am really proud of this project - even in the midst of this dumb pandemic we’ve managed to make something that looks and sounds beautiful (if I do say so myself). Huge huge huge thanks to @meandmymarguerites for being an amazing collaborator, Kevin Wong for writing an amazing piece that was a joy to arrange and teach, @kirk_starkey for helping out with audio and cello, and @justingraybass, Adam Diderrich, Lily Ling and @mayakilltron for all contributing. As always endless thanks to my @hcclisten colleagues for all their work. I CANNOT WAIT to go back to live rehearsal and performance but if we’re gonna make virtual concerts, can’t think of a better group of people to do it with, all under the artistic leadership of @polozzimfira. (Also just grateful to still be employed!) And now I think I might go back to sleep. https://www.instagram.com/p/CO5VafYNzcB/?igshid=1zr4tzpnfou

It was so so so nice to be back at @ypttoronto, one of my favourite theatres, performing (briefly) with some of my favourite people and musicians: @sharronmatthews and @thom_allison (who DID NOT let the band know that there was a sequin dress code) and @jasonchesworth on guitar, music director @jjestadt on piano and @russ_boswell_bass (who I hadn’t played with before but is, unsurprisingly, a great bass player). What a treat. Special shoutout to the staff at YPT (Allen, @joshuahind, Shanna, Mike and Taylor) who continue to be some of the hardest working and also friendliest crew with whom I ever have the pleasure of working. https://www.instagram.com/p/CNEMpBRAU1R/?igshid=e9137lankfgb

Making music in my basement/studio for a @torqpercussion project. C’mon hands, you still know how to do this, right? https://www.instagram.com/p/CMIIEhwg9dV/?igshid=kpwory3ns1j7

When you’re a cat, the world is your oyster, and any drum case can be your new bed. There is nothing that cannot be yours. • • • #houselion #catsofinstagram #themostusethiscasehashadinmonths https://www.instagram.com/p/CIwQb7hAKWd/?igshid=foqd7c1j64yc