Jeff does not wait for opportunity to knock. He celebrates and seizes opportunities when they come his way but he does not rely on them to sustain his career as a percussionist. On any given day you could find him doing drum circle demonstration with students in schools, playing rock and roll with a tribute band on a cruise ship, recording as a studio session player or teaching privately out of his studio. Jeff attributes much of his success as an artist to diversifying his skill set and not relying on one genre in the drumming world to sustain him.
In Jeff’s book, Finding Success As An Individual Artist he addresses many of the challenges that artists come up against on their journey to carve out a career for themselves. He uses a collection of personal stories and accounts to magnify how he has managed to work consistently as an artist and still love what he does. I got so much out of this book and highly recommend you pick yourself up a copy. One section in the book spoke to me in particular:
“ Please get off the couch and go meet some musicians, including ones who play the same instrument as you. I know it’s competitive, but if you click with someone, you might end up getting a gig out of a wonderful relationship……If you want to stay busy, support your peers. I made it a point when I was 19 years old to meet five musicians every week. Whether they were flakes, posers, or the next big thing, I was out there networking and getting to know them.”
Jeff Salem: Finding Success As An Individual Artist
A little about Jeff:
Jeff Salem is an internationally recognized freelance percussionist from Toronto. Jeff has toured in over 70 countries with artists from Lee Aaron, Randy Bachman, Rob Tardik, Saints & Sinner’s to jazz pianist Diana Krall. He has recorded on over 50 CD’s including artist from Canadian Idol winners, Sean Desmond to Bon Jovi. Jeff has also recorded on the number one selling CD single for Canadian Idol artist Kalan Porter.
He has several instructional books and DVD’s published through Hudson music and are available globally as well as his latest book titled “Finding Success as an Individual Artist”
Jeff is an active percussion educator performing workshops and drum circles for schools and corporate clients. He is the founding member of the group Enviro Drum which perform many shows in schools and theatres.
Currently, he is touring with jazz artist Rob Tardik and the international Journey tribute “Absolute Journey”.
Jeff endorses Yamaha drums, Sabian cymbals, Vic Firth drumsticks, Evans drumheads & LP ( Latin Percussion)
Buy Jeff’s book!- Finding Success As An Individual Artist
Follow Jeff!
Instagram- @salemdrum
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/salem.jeff
For more information please visit his websites:
http://drumsinu.com
Enviro Drum-www.envirodrum.org
Private Lessons-www.jsmusicstudio.com
Drum Clinics- www.salemdrum.com
Instructional Videos- www.drumkitmethod.com
Hot Sauces- www.salemslotthotsauces.com
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