Kristian Dluzewski
Kristian started playing drums at the age of 10, after a year of learning the basics he knew that this was the instrument for him and continued to press forward in his quest for learning involving himself in the middle school orchestra, completing his grade one and winning the Young Drummer of the Year award, all within 18 months.
Kristian recalls the early days;
“All I wanted to do was play, I knew my passion for drums was serious when I swapped my TV & Playstation for a record player. I would work through all my parents LPs playing along with all the classics and discovering new genres, building up my influences and helping to develop a sense of style”
As Kristian progressed through his school years he continued to immerse himself within music, learning many different styles from Latin to Jazz, Funk, Rock, Fusion and more, applying them within different musical settings both in and outside of school. In 2001 he passed his grade 8 examination with Rockschool.
After completing my grade 8 I found myself wanting new challenges within my drumming career, part of this I found in passing on my skills to a younger generation
Whilst studying A levels in music, music technology & media Kristian began teaching beginners in his local area.
Having never taught before I just called upon my own learning experiences and it worked.
Within a year Kristian had taken his first group of students through grades 1 & 2 all passing with great success.
This gave me a positive confidence boost and showed me that tuition could a very feasible career option, it also felt great to be passing my skills on.
After completing his A levels Kristian went on to further his study at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford under the excellent tutoring of Mike Sturgis and Pete Riley, where he came away with a BA degree in Popular Music Performance & Music Law and Business as well as an even greater knowledge of the drums. While studying in Guildford Kristian also marched in a local Drum Corps, competing at a high level in the UK Championships
Since 2007 Kristian has been teaching at Percussion Works alongside Simon Mellish. His work is divided between teaching drum kit Steel Pans, Brazilian Samba and African drum workshops at various schools during the day, whilst the afternoons and evenings see him privately teaching at Percussion Works drum teaching studios. Kristian has a number of students studying for grades from 1-8 from both Trinity Guildhall and Rockschool syllabuses, all with a 100% pass rate. Kristian also uses the Drumsense Teaching method created by Colin Woolway.
I feel like my passion for playing should be reflected in each lesson. The results from the Drumsense teaching programme are fairly quick and the students can see their progress after each lesson, which gives them encouragement along with myself.
In September 2008 Kristian teaching career took on new challenge when he began working at Beaucroft School. The school specialises in physically and mentally disabled children with specific learning requirements.
This presented a whole new plateau for me to work on, not only did I have to redefine my teaching methods but I also had to reconsider the targets and goals which I would normally set for myself and the students.
In the short space of a year the teaching hours at Beaucroft increased from 2 hours up to 9 hours per week, so the results speak for themselves.
On a playing level Kristian has recently graced the stage with artists such as Ian Matthews of Kasabian, Darrin Mooney from Primal Scream and Derrick Mckenzie & Sola Akingbola of Jamiroquai to name a few. Kristian has also been working hard on the session circuit developing his studio experience with various recording artists and has recently been working with Weymouth based fuction band Mr Bucket www.myspace.com/mrbucketmusic . DrumnBass, Electro, Dub Step band Transend whose eagerly awaited EP is out soon on iTunes, and is currently in sessions with recording artist Giles Halski.