All I wanted to be….

…. Is be a drummer.

About Tom Snyder:

Currently, I have been playing with an especially fun and tight group of musicians in the form of “The Generators” under the direction of founder Bill J. And since April of 2020 I have been perform and recording with an original music project- the hard rockin’ Christian band “The Blameless Project”.

And it all began when I was gifted my first pair of sticks at the age of ten and I have yet to put them down. My early influences were watching parade drummers and catching Buddy Rich performances on the Tonight Show. During High School I had the opportunity to study with very great instructors, notably: Kevin Twigg, Stephen Payson, and Michael Parola. In my time at Mattituck High School I performed with all the different band and ensembles I could, including concert band, marching band, percussion ensemble and the jazz stage band, all under the direction of George Lester. In my senior year I was selected for the New York All State Concert Band and Suffolk County “All County” percussion ensemble with whom, while at the age of 17, myself and the rest of the ensemble performed Edgar Varese’s “Ionization”.  

That experience of performing such a luminary composition deeply moved and inspired me to pursue classical and contemporary percussion studies and I went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine-Arts degree in music performance from Purchase College (SUNY) and a Master of Music Degree in performance from Stony Brook University. While in those programs I studied strictly “legit percussion” with Metropolitan Opera timpani legend Richard Horowitz and contemporary music icon Raymond DesRoches. The contemporary music group at Stony Brook gave annual performances in New York City and always received praise from New York City reviewers. While at Stony Brook University, I was a graduate teaching assistant.

During completion of my master’s degree I was back behind the drum-kit and performing and recording with NYC’s late eighties famed indie rock, pop, funk group, “Kablamachunk! We played NYC’s famed clubs: The bitter End, CBGB’s Kenny’s Castaways and released the highly acclaimed EP: “Well…There It Is”. During this time, I tapped into the talented hands, feet and minds of drum set educators Dom Famularo and Michael Lauren.

In 1990, I also toured Scandinavia and Germany playing the percussion book with the original Broadway farewell tour of “A Chorus Line” and in 1991, playing drums set and percussion, on a national tour with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Song And Dance”.

While I was living on Long Island during this time through the Nineties, I performed in over twenty local and regional Musical Theatre productions at such production companies as “The Gateway Theatre” in Bellport, The “Southampton Players” at Southampton College and “Theatre Three” in Port Jefferson, NY. I also performed with the Nassau Symphony Orchestra, The Atlantic Wind Ensemble, the Suffolk County Community College Concert Band and The Sound Symphony. And I continued playing Blues, R&B and Classic Rock and Jazz with the bands, “The Hackensack Men and The Trenton Horns”, “The Thirteenth Hour”, “The Jim Ahrend Trio” and the “East End Beat”. I was also a drum set and percussion instructor at The Knox School, Cornet Music, Suffolk County Community College, and the East End Arts Council.

In the year 2001, I  relocated to Hartford, CT and quickly delved into the local music scene throughout CT and I have played in some of CT’s best club bands notably: “Shaky Ground, “Anuther Mule”, “The Troy T Blues Band”, “Monterey Collective” and some fill in gigs with “Gene Donaldson and the Sting Rays”,  “Blues Deluxe”, and “Erin Troy Danner”. In 2005, I continued my set studies travelling to New York City to study at the Drummer’s Collective with Frank Katz and I have been a member of “The Drum School”, an online drum school ran by master drummer Frank Briggs. While in Connecticut, I have offered private lessons and been an instructor at Windsor Music and Acme Music.

My drumming and musical influences form huge array of drumming luminaries and musical genres, in no particular order my upfront drumming influences are Jeff Porcaro, Danny Seraphine, Buddy Rich, Max Roach, Louis Bellson, Carmine Appice, Phil Collins, Tony Williams, Larnell Lewis, Frank Briggs, Matt Abtts, Levon Helm, Chris Coleman, Anika Nilles, Benny Greb, Ash Soan… the list is always growing!

2022 is rolling along nicely and I am a happy drumming man!