Every clinician is different and every teacher brings their own methods to their masterclasses. “I’m very interactive with the audience,” Halpern explains. “One of the big things for me is, if I’m doing a clinic it’s not just me going up there, playing a bunch of songs and reading off a chart, saying ‘Here’s the right way to do things.’ I really try to provide information that the crowd can take with them and apply to their own playing afterwards. So everything I try to get across is something that they can think about and internalise and be creative with themselves, rather than giving them a sheet of music. I try to do something that’s encouraging creativity.”
Halpern also makes sure he takes the time to take pictures, sign stuff, answer questions – whatever the audience wants. “To really know the audience and the fans that come out – that’s really my goal.” He likes to really work with the audience, encouraging them to ask him questions during the clinic and to make sure they get what they want out of the experience as drummers. For these clinics, one of the main topics will be the use of dynamics. “It’s something a lot of drummers ask me about all the time,” Halpern says. “There are so many ways to do it, and one of my goals for these clinics is to give them examples of the ways I do things, then give them some examples of ways they can use dynamics in their playing, wherever they are as a player, whether beginner, intermediate or advanced. The things I’ll show them, they can run with and use to help them develop their style further from there. A guy like Virgil Donati is a great example of the kind of guy that can teach something that not just a drummer can take away from. And that’s what I try to do. It’s not just for drummers. It’s for musicians in general. I try to give more information than just stuff for technical drummers, per se.”
When Lamb Of God’s Chris Adler decided he wanted to work on his fusion and hand chops, he called Halpern. “Chris has come up to where I live and sat down with me to get advice on different things. I’ve given him my perspective on certain areas of playing. There were things he was looking to improve on, things that came more naturally to me, so I gave him some tips that hopefully helped him with some insights. But what’s amazing about Chris is, he’s so well-liked, well-respected, well-known as a drummer and as a musician, a businessman, and he still strives to get better at everything he does. Just as he learned from me in that lesson, I learned a lot from him. It was a humble experience. You’re never too good to say you don’t need to get better.”
Halpern’s kit – much smaller than most progressive drummers – includes a Yamaha Custom Oak drum set including a 18″X22″ kick drum, a 6.5″X14″ wood snare drum, two floor toms (a 14″X16″ and a 16″X18″). He also uses a Stage Custom kit, and on his next US tour he’ll be using Yamaha’s new Live Custom kit, which is also an oak kit but with a few variations in hardware and enforcement rings. Cymbals are from the Meinl Byzance line: 13″ hi hats, a few different 18″ or 19″ crashes, a 20″ china, 22″ ride and a stack with an 18″ china and a 16″ crash layered on top of each other for a trashy sound. “They’re darker-sounding cymbals, more dynamic. They’re not always just loud and in your face. They’re tones you can really build with: you can push hard to get a loud sound or pull back and get a lighter-in-volume but darker-in-tone sound, if you know what I mean.”
Aside from his drums, another thing that’s close to Halpern’s heart is Bandhappy, a hub for students and educators to connect. “We launched a little over a year ago and we’ve learned a lot about our business. We’re really excited to push it to the next level, get some marketing dollars behind it and get it in front of the right people to really expand it. For example, I’m doing a clinic in Melbourne (at Garry Hyde’s new store GH Music in Flemington) then I’m also doing a masterclass before that which is being booked through Bandhappy. If anyone wants to they can visit my Bandhappy profile and reserve a spot there for that masterclass. I’m also doing another masterclass in Perth through Bandhappy. So I’m not only the founder, I’m also a member and I use it often for lessons. I stand behind my product. It’s been useful for me and useful for a lot of other people.”
One last question: where are Periphery at with their next album? “We’re writing right now, but nothing too crazy. We have a lot of material – quite a bit of stuff already – but we aren’t really demoing anything in the studio. Just at our home studios right now. Really rough stuff at the moment, nothing too crazy. But when the time comes, after our current touring and album cycle, we’ll have a tonne of stuff to pick through. Right now we have somewhere between 30 to 50 demos and tracks that are all just really rough that we need to pick from, mix and match, see what works, look for a theme and go from there!”
BY PETER HODGSON
