Stewart began playing drums and orchestral percussion professionally when still a teenager, most notably with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the orchestras of the National Ballet of Canada and the Canadian Opera Company. He has recorded for CBC radio and television, backed headliners at Royal York’s Imperial Room, performed musicals at the Stratford Festival, Petrolia’s Victoria Playhouse and Toronto’s O’Keefe – now the Sony – Centre, and was a member of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Maracaibo in Venezuela and the orchestra of the Festival de Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy.
Stewart began studying drums, jazz vibraphone and percussion in Toronto, and continued his musical education in New York City with vibraphonist David Friedman. After attending the Institute of Advanced Musical Studies in Montreux, Switzerland, he studied percussion with Elden C. “Buster” Bailey at the Juilliard School, where he received his Bachelor and Master Degrees in Percussion.
Along with performing, Stewart has had a lifelong involvement in percussion education. He has taught drums, percussion and jazz vibraphone privately throughout his career and in 1987 received his Ontario teaching certificate. He subsequently taught junior high school and high school band programs for several years. Today, Stewart teaches percussion and directs the percussion ensemble at Crescent School in Toronto and teaches privately from his studio.
An interest in writing led Stewart to journalism studies at Toronto’s Ryerson University. His numerous feature articles on music and the arts have appeared in many of Canada’s leading periodicals, including the National Post, the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, Toronto Life magazine, Homemaker’s magazine, Performance magazine, and the Performance magazines for Roy Thomson Hall/Massey Hall, the Toronto Symphony and the Hummingbird Centre. A number of his articles appear on this site.
Stewart’s decades of experience as a percussionist, teacher and writer came together in the development of his new book, The Band Teacher’s Percussion Guide: Insights into Playing and Teaching Percussion (Oxford University Press).
The online version of Stewart’s The Band Teacher’s Percussion Guide: Insights into Playing and Teaching Percussion first appeared in 2007. A series of articles designed specifically to address the needs and answer the questions of band directors, the Website’s success led to the greatly expanded and much more comprehensive publication of the same name, released in March 2017.
An excellent lesson on ride cymbal technique from the great Peter Erskine. #MusicEducators and students should take note of his relaxed playing, and how to practise slowly while focusing on time and sound . . . #drumset #jazzdrumming
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYSFMeT4LxU
Just notified that November 28 is the last day to watch free stream of Never Too Late: The #DocSeverinsen Story. #trumpet #drums #MusicEducation #jazz #percussion https://watch.showandtell.film/watch/never-too-late-hso/b3809e28-2dd6-11eb-ad95-0fd73ad4e37d?fbclid=IwAR1yf2SdxbcjN9eIbAHQxCSJURm7TYegAVx9JpjY0cKocAPWFTU-n2kJ6Vo
Angela Hewitt plays Bach Goldberg Variations on her new Fazioli from the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/100768-000-A/angela-hewitt-plays-the-goldberg-variations/?fbclid=IwAR0Qsf-yuyFm_nP4Y2Mucd1ljF4gpxg9Fn5F_bG0RJlnbofB0BD8MiVGhdQ
Brilliant . . . with an unexpected ending.
The German Government's new #COVID19 campaign is very clever and, dare I say it, funny.
Music class during coronavirus: How the band plays on via @csmonitor https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2020/1027/Music-class-during-coronavirus-How-the-band-plays-on?cmpid=shared-twitter
The remarkable Warren Wolf playing vibes, drums AND piano!! Very exciting music. A bit of inspiration for your students (and for me too!!) . . .
A terrific ride cymbal lesson by the great Peter Erskine. Students should note how relaxed his playing is, and the importance of practising slowly while focusing on time and sound. As a followup, students can check out his playing with Weather Report and many other wonderful bands . . . www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYSFMeT4LxU
Peter Erskine - Ride Cymbal Technique Part 1 - YouTube
www.youtube.com
Being able to smoothly swing a beat on the ride cymbal is an essential skill for any jazz drummer. From the dynamic quality, to the rhythmic placement of each h...
In "Teaching Single Strokes for Snare Drum, Part 1", band teachers will discover an effective exercise that will direct students away from hammering into the drum and lead to a more controlled technique.
Teaching Percussion | Snare Drum | Drum Set | Stewart Hoffman Music
stewarthoffmanmusic.com
Videos on playing and teaching percussion as explained by Stewart Hoffman, author of The Band Teacher"s Percussion Guide: In sights into Playing and Teaching Percussion (Oxford University Press).
💙 Tony Williams Lifetime + V.S.O.P.“I study all the time.” Williams said. “It’s like being a doctor in a way. In music, you have to always keep learning, and I like learning. Right now, I am just trying to write as well as I can. I would like to be as good a composer as I think I am a drummer. I’d like to get it up to the same level as my playing. The people I like are mostly classical composers – Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Bartok, Edward Elgar, Aaron Copeland and a lot of nineteenth-century composers like Chopin and Grieg.” – Tony Williams ![]()
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Tony Williams poses for a portrait in 1979 in New York City, New York. ![]()
Photo © Deborah Feingold