Back in 1995 , Rona put an ad in some local papers, notes on bulletin boards at music stores and a few ads in drum magazines to find female drummers in her area. She was looking for someone to practice with if possible or just correspond with to give and get encouragement. She knew male drummers but no female ones. Within a week of placing the ad in Modern Drummer letters started pouring in! It was amazing! Within 6 months she had received letters from over 200 female drummers from all over the world and started FDN. There weren't any close by for her to practice with, but she had a great time hearing from everyone.
In 1997 she got the web site up thanks to Gary Barnett over at Baseline Sound and Graphics. The web site is now maintained by Rona and JAS Software ( her husband Jerome's company). A few years back Rona encouraged me to learn to play the drum set. It was something I always wanted to do but was always afraid. After seeing all the female drummers out there and hearing their stories I decided to try. (she finally got some one to practice with too!) That was my first set in the picture.
Since then I have enjoyed playing and Rona and I would get together every morning and have coffee and spend at least an hour playing drums. I also love being part of FDN and one of over 350 female drummers on the mailing list. This is a great forum to write into and talk about what ever you want to regarding drum and music related issues. I encourage everyone to take advantage of this and send in your stories! ~Marie~
No comments:
Post a Comment