An Interview with Kyle Harris: BDL Instructor Profile
Kyle is the brains and brawn behind Boston Drum Lessons. Beyond teaching and running the business, Kyle’s schedule is packed with recording sessions, music production, and playing shows. Thankfully, he made some time to answer a few questions about his background and experiences as a professional drummer.
BDL: When did you start playing the drums? What inspired you to take up drumming?
I started playing drums when I was 8. A friend of mine had a drumset and I was completely mesmerized by it. I don’t know entirely why I was attracted to it so much but for as long as I can remember I just wanted to play the drums. As a kid it was a great way for me to make a lot of noise and get all my energy out. My parents signed me up for lessons and a year after that got me my first drum set!
BDL: Who are some of your early music/drumming influences? Who are some current influences?
My first major drumming influence was Buddy Rich. When I started drum lessons my teacher had me get two books: Stick Control and Buddy Rich’s Snare Drum Rudiments. He was my idol for a while and I learned a ton from his playing. At the same time I was listening to a lot of 90’s rock. When I entered middle school my music interests shifted to pop punk, and rap rock (no shame hah), then heavier music genres like hardcore and metal core. Bands like Between The Buried and Me and drummer Blake Richardson, Unearth, As I Lay Dying, Avenged Sevenfold, Chiodos, Circa Survive, Four Year Strong, and more all became obsessions for me. Growing up in central Massachusetts there was a really strong local DIY music scene too. A lot of my influences came from local bands that would play underground shows at any venue kids could organize at. This was before internet promotion so you had to just know other kids tapped into the scene and then show up at places like Roller Kingdom in Hudson, MA. My biggest drive in high school was to try and make it in “the scene” with my band. It was super fun and the shows could get really intense. I definitely feel grateful to have had that experience so young.
BDL: You have a solid amount of drumline experience. How has your background with drumline impacted your drum set playing and approach?
Drumline really gave me a foundation for technique, rudimental drumming and rhythmic theory. Still to this day playing in drumlines meant playing the most amount of individual notes I’ve ever used musically and we had to play that in unison as an ensemble of 20-30 people. There’s a massive amount of definition required for each note's dynamic, velocity, and required technique to be able to get that many people to play together. So, it really taught me how to be analytical and detail oriented with my drumming. More than anything this influenced how I practice. Moving back to drumset after drumline I felt I could make faster progress because of the drumline mindset. Competitive drumline circuits like DCI (Drum Corps International) and WGI (Winter Guard International) is its own genre of drumming that takes influence from western european rudimental drumming and world rhythms from Indian, Brazilian and African drumming styles. I think anytime you study a genre for a while its vocabulary naturally finds its way into your playing. So my approach is often applying the drumline vocab onto the drums in a way that sounds tasteful.
BDL: What are your favorite kinds of music to play?
I like playing rock, hip-hop, math-rock, and post-rock the most.
BDL: Describe your experience playing with Blue Man Group and traveling around the world with the touring show.
I started playing with Blue Man Group in 2016 and it’s been an incredible experience. Also, my first theater experience. Blue Man is like nothing else I do musically because I have to be a drummer, a foley artist and a sound designer all in one, each show. There’s a massive amount of improvisation between the drumset player and the Blue Men. That “space” musically and theatrically means that every show will be a little different and that each performer is on the limit each show. That risk is rarely known by the audience but I truly believe you can feel when a band/ensemble are taking risks in a show. It’s a more intense energy.
Also, I get to play a really really big drum set which is super cool :)
In 2018 I left on a year and a half experience playing on the Blue Man World Tour. We went to Russia, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Amsterdam, Finland, and China. It was a life changing experience for me and I got to experience so many fascinating cultures and meet incredible people!
BDL: What's the most memorable show you've ever played?
Opening night of the Blue Man World Tour in Moscow. We started the show and realized that the whole band had no sound monitored through our in-ears. We couldn’t hear each other because the monitor mixer crashed minutes before the start of the show. We played the whole show with no sound! We were on fire and visually communicating transitions. That was really hard because on the tour there were two lofts with two band members in each loft but separated by a fifteen foot gap. I was on drumset and trying my best to signal changes any way I could. We did a great job and our music director didn’t even notice anything was wrong. We pulled it off!
BDL: Beyond just playing the drums, you've gone down the rabbit hole of sound design and audio production. What are some of the challenges you face as a composer and producer?
The exciting thing about electronic music production is it can be absolutely anything you want. But the limitlessness of that often can make it hard to feel progress if the vision is too open ended. I think having a clear concept with limitations is necessary but can be really tough to establish sometimes. I wrote a piece called Flood a few years ago where the limitation I gave myself was trying to write a piece using violin samples and water sounds. That really helped make fast progress because of the commitment to the idea, but it’s not always easy to get that clarity of idea.
The other challenge is time. It takes so much work to complete a musical production and you’re constantly learning as you go. Some days I’ve spent 8-10 hours working on a musical idea or designing sounds only to realize it’s not as good as I hoped or the idea in my head didn’t translate into the DAW and I scrap it. It can be frustrating but it’s worth it because when you make something that is powerful and exciting there’s no feeling like it. At the very least you learned something and that’s great.
BDL: What motivated you to launch Boston Drum Lessons?
Shortly after college I realized that I wanted to do something related to music and drumming for my career. I’ve always been really focused on self-improvement and personal growth and I figured I could share that passion with others who are looking to experience the same thing. I genuinely never expected it would grow to this point. I just built a website, pushed it live, and waited to see what happened. People started showing up for lessons and they’ve continued to since 2015! I’m really proud to say we’ve helped hundreds of drummers experience some form of musical and personal growth.
BDL: How do you balance your teaching schedule, Blue Man Group schedule, gigs, recording sessions, business management, music production, and practice? That's a lot going on!
Ughhh, great question! I’m still trying to figure it out. I’ve really limited the scope of what I can accomplish in each of these categories. For instance, I don’t play gigs anymore outside of Blue Man or my original music. I’ll just say no. But it requires triaging daily based on what’s needed most across all those categories. Some things get faster and less time consuming like recording session prep, or Blue Man practice maintenance but truth is I wish I could get more hours.
BDL: What do you most enjoy about teaching people to play the drums?
I love it when someone can feel empowered to express themselves through the instrument. My favorite thing to teach is improvisation and composition. I think, often, people assume they can’t create until they are at a certain level. That’s just false! Improvising and writing is always intimidating and uncertain but it’s the only way to get to a point of figuring out your own style and voice on the instrument. And with that comes the most amount of personal growth, in my opinion. So, when I teach someone the basics of beat making or rudiments, I’ll try and create a writing scenario where there are clear limitations and a structure they can use to make their own variation. Seeing my students feel excited and accomplished after they’ve made something themselves is so rewarding!
BDL: What are some other hobbies/interests of yours outside of drumming and music?
Surfing is by far my favorite hobby. My dream is to get tubed in my lifetime hah. I also love Formula 1 and am a huge fan of the drivers and teams. I also have a deep passion for bagels.
BDL: Any advice you'd like to offer up to beginners or anyone looking to get started?
Not comparing ourselves to others, working on consistency, and staying present is key! If we focus on how far we are from getting to an expert level we miss all the excitement of the new knowledge and ability gained. So I’d like to encourage all our students and people to just try and focus on how you’ve improved since last week. But, also recognize that that will not happen without consistency of practice and time investment. If you are short on time then try not to be critical of that. At different points in your life you’ll have more time available to make the gains you want. Be patient, try to stay consistent and focus on short term progress.
BDL: Where can people listen to your music and projects you're involved with?