I am a 19 year old Italy-based drummer and have been playing the drums since the age of 9.

I started out with drum lessons for about 2 years and a half, was taught by a jazz-educated drummer who was also really influenced by rock and metal music.

He never really focused on sight-reading, meaning that he made me concentrate on the hearing as the first interactive tool with any type of sounds. It really helped me in gaining a certain awareness when it comes to learning about new pieces, artists or even whole genres.

 

I remember growing up listening to all kinds of rock music, ranging from progressive, to alternative, to hard rock and much more, with bands such as Genesis, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, Deep Purple, Queen and many more. Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath have shaped my metal music “journey” leading towards Iron Maiden, Metallica, Children of Bodom, Dimmu Borgir and many more.

 

Though it is a genre I still rarely listen to, it will always remain my favourite, also being the one that started everything for me and my musical journey; classical music.

Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” introduced me to the very first organised sounds I ever listened to, making me transition to Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Dvorak and so on. To this day, I feel very influenced by all these different genres, and I like incorporating different elements of theirs in my original music.