by Rob Patterson
"I look at the drum kit like it's a chess board," says drummer, author and instructor Nic Marcy. Drumming has also provided many possibilities, opportunities and learning experiences for Marcy throughout his life and more than 50-year professional music career: writing five instructional books, playing hundreds of performances and recording sessions, touring with a variety of band
s, and lessons from masterful teachers. Today he's an accomplished drum instructor with his own teaching studio in the Austin, TX area. Nic's playing as well mentoring as a teacher and author merge the best of master drum and percussion techniques with the art of creating music on the drum kit, just as he's done since his first gigs as a youngster and then as an journeyman musician playing rock, jazz, soul and pop. His well-taught chops learned from talents like Berklee College of Music jazz legend Alan Dawson and others were honed the dependable old school way: long nights of multiple sets to packed clubs and venues in top regional groups. His skills at transcribing and writing drum parts enable Marcy to illuminate how great drumming works and further educate drummers at every skill level. To wit, Modern Drummer dubbed him "a Frankenstein of your favorite drummers." Born in Queens, NY, Nic was exposed to the beat early on by an uncle who drummed as a weekend professional, and first played as a preschooler standing at the snare. After his family moved upstate to Endicott, NY, he was up on the drum stool and taking lessons at age seven, and gigging with a jazz trio by the next year. "I played professionally with other musicians before I was 10 years old," Marcy explains. "By the time I started doing other styles of music with different musicians, I really had a natural feel." Early rock'n'roll and Top 40 hit radio further fired Nic's musical passions, and by his teens he was drumming in a variety of groups and combos in the Triple Cities area of upstate New York where he lived. At 12 years old he started visiting New York City jazz clubs like the legendary Birdland to hear master drummers like Elvin Jones, Art Blakey and Max Roach. By the age of 14 he first hit the road to play clubs and nightspots throughout upstate. Nic studied while a teenaged working professional with Tony Montforte, the premier drum instructor in the Tri-Cities region. Later drum and percussion studies at Berklee with Dawson – who worked with such jazz giants as Lionel Hampton, Dave Brubeck, Sonny Rollins, Quincy Jones, Charles Mingus and Bill Evans, among others, and mentored future stars like Tony Williams – intermingled with gigging throughout New England. Over the years, Marcy had his share of brushes with the big time as he played with bands and worked on projects in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and the Midwest and recorded at top studios like The Record Plant. In 1971, his band Beggars Opera hit #1 on a number of upstate NY Top 40 radio stations with their single "Shady Rosie." He was a member of a band called Black Angus that became Franke & The Knockouts, later managed a recording studio in his hometown area, and after moving to Austin, TX drummed with blues guitar progeny and indie and major label recording artist Chris Thomas King. In 1994 Marcy opened Nic's Drum Studio in the Austin suburb of Round Rock to offer individualized one-on-one lessons in a creative space to drummers at every skill level, from beginners to working professionals. He also became friends with and took advanced lessons from contemporary drum icon Terry Bozzio, who was living in Austin at the time. And he began working on his long-held goal of sharing all the skills, techniques, insights and wisdom he gained over his many years as a professional drummer plus the many drum transcriptions he'd written through a series of instructional books. In 2002, Nic self-published his first book, "Exotic Coordinations," followed by "Exotic Interdependence," both positively reviewed in Modern Drummer as "educational texts outlining the modern drummers' need to be well-rounded and challenged." His next, "Solo Drumset," was praised by fellow drummer and author Elliot Fine praised as "a springboard for the drumset soloist." After authoring the guide "Drumset for Musicians (Who Don't Want to be Dummies)," Marcy wrote his newest book, "The Pulse of Jazz," for leading drum instruction publishers Wizdom Media. Hundreds of drummers have by now passed through Nic's Drum Studio to become better players. Marcy also happily shares his transcriptions, tips and video mini-lessons on the Internet to help foster drum education. And he continues to further discover and explore the limitless rhythmic and musical possibilities of drums and percussion.
