Faculty Spotlight: Kay Pritchard
What's your main instrument?
My main instrument is drums/percussion. I started drums at 13 because I wanted to be Tre Cool from Green Day more than anything.
What's your musical origin story? What lit the spark for you?
When I was 10 years old, I made this plan that I was going to start learning guitar, then bass, and finally learn drums, so I could be my own band. So I started off on guitar at 13 years old and really enjoyed it, but I started playing drums on an old drum kit at school and I instantly fell in love and never looked back. It was like something just clicked in my brain and I just knew that I was going to dedicate my life to music. I started my first band with a couple of my friends and I ended up being the band leader and main writer/composer for the band, and it just felt right. From then on, I took every opportunity to be involved in music. Being a musician was as natural to me as breathing, so I trusted my gut and have pursued music ever since.
Can you share a good gig story?
One time, the vocal jazz group and a few other music majors at my community college performed at a school in Hawaii. I didn't have any drums to play with them at the time, so I backed up the vocalists using a frog guiro. It was quite the show.
Tell us about your practice routine and share some practice tips.
My practice routine ebbs and flows from day to day. Some days I want to sit down and shed for hours at a time, and some days I make myself sit for at least 10-20 minutes and just do something with my instrument. Lately, I've been working on technique a lot, so everyday I play along with Tommy Igoe's "Great Hands for a Lifetime" exercises to warm up and have gone back to the basics with Stick Control, etc., and it's been really fun! I live by what one of my jazz professors in college (Dr. Greg Johnson) told me about practicing, and that's to pick up your instrument everyday and do something with it because you may sit down and have the intent to play something for a few minutes and that can turn into an hours if you just do that hardest part: starting.
What drew you to the Music House team?
I knew I wanted to teach drums, so that was my initial draw to Music House, but once I did my research and found out that it was so much more than just a place to take music lessons, I was really interested! Having grown up with my own band as a young teen, I would have been obsessed with a place like this and would have been elated to be in a band. Being in a band is one of the coolest & most fun things you can do, so I knew I wanted to work here after understanding what it was all about!
Anything else you'd like to add?
I've really enjoyed my time working here at Music House so far. If 13 year old Kay was told that she would get to teach rock bands and drum lessons, she would have lost her mind!
