Today we’d like to introduce you to Kevin Katich
Hi Kevin, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My name is Kevin Katich and I am a working drummer and drum teacher in Los Angeles. I have my own teaching business, Kevin Katich Lessons located in a lockout space at 1950 Cotner Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90025. I teach students ages seven and older, ranging from total beginners to advanced drummers to fellow professional drummers who want to clean up their technique. I am currently teaching on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday afternoon/evenings by appointment only. To reach out to me to book a lesson, please use the contact form at www.kevinkatichlessons.com and I will be in touch shortly!
I am a working drummer and percussionist. I have been playing since age 7, professionally since my teens and teaching freelance since I was 19 years old (I’m now 35). I also worked part time at School of Rock West LA for eleven of those years in addition to freelance teaching. Up to about age 30, I treated teaching as a side hustle to support my music career. I’ve worked as a session drummer/percussionist, been a full-time member of many bands and have worked as an audio engineer off and on. During lockdown, teaching became a main priority, as during that time I was able to pick up students all over the country and world over zoom. Prior to lockdown, I would teach at the student’s home. Nearly two years ago, I opened my teaching studio, where local students come to me (and I still teach online to students out of the city/state/country).
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The journey to getting to this point has been long, unpredictable and filled with some tough life lessons. I’ve been a full-time member of many bands over the years, I’ve worked as a session musician many times, and I’ve sporadically worked as an audio engineer. While all three of those occupations have moments that are extremely exciting and rewarding, the lifestyle is not as grand as I believe the public perceives it to be. The work consistency is unpredictable, and thus, so is the pay, which can be super frustrating. Working as a session musician comes with its frustrations, as it’s very rarely an artistically satisfying venture. Being a full time member of a band can certainly be a blast filled with incredible, high flying moments, but they’re balanced out with tremendous expenses, artistic compromise and loads of arguments; not to mention that your fate in that scenario is determined just as much by the work ethic, cohesiveness and functionality of your bandmates as much as your own. It puts you in a position of having to rely on those around you for success, which is an extremely difficult situation to be in more often than not. I reached a point where I’d rather generate my own consistent income on my terms without having to rely on anyone else, hence why the teaching business started to become the priority around age 30, and a shift towards treating music as an art and form of self-expression rather than an economic necessity to survive began to occur.
I never would have envisioned that the path to financial freedom would be through freelance teaching, but it has been incredibly rewarding and liberating. It has also been putting me in touch with my younger self and the reason I even began pursuing music in the first place. I’m back to writing my own music and plan to hire the right musicians for the recording sessions (and eventually shows if there is enough demand for it), which is a more artistically fulfilling venture than anything else I’ve done musically up to this point. In order to create my reality in such a way that I’m always around music and always creating is by teaching others to do the same. I’m most proud that I’ve been able to build a stable business with consistent and growing income around my passion. It really is fantastic and I’m grateful for the lessons I’ve learned along the way that brought me to this point.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
My teaching philosophy is centered around ergonomics and efficiency and allowing the sticks and pedals to handle the majority of the work. I specialize in Moeller technique and French technique for the hands, slide and heel-toe techniques for the feet, as well as posture, balance and breath work. Fellow professionals, including jazz legend Marvin Smitty Smith and touring metal drummer, Greg Amentt have come to me while on tour or in between tours for me to help clean up their technique and undo bad habits, which is just as rewarding as starting someone on their musical journey or taking a drummer from one level to another.
I keep the lessons fun, engaging and goal-centered. The whole point of learning an instrument is to have fun and express yourself. Once a beginner student has developed enough of a foundation on the kit (usually after the fifth or sixth song we tackle), I cater lessons to their personal tastes and goals. As far as genres are concerned, I’m most passionate about playing/teaching rock, metal and reggae. However, I come from a jazz background and love to teach jazz, soul, funk and various world genres as well. I combine my knowledge of ergonomics and body mechanics with a conventional approach to learning grooves, rudiments and phrasing, while also using the songs my students are tackling to back-engineer concepts. The combination of those three elements leads to incredibly rapid growth. I also make it a point to develop proper drum tone early on, as students are way more excited when they can not only execute parts and ideas, but tonally sound great due to having consistent control over their attack, tone and dynamics.
If you have any interest in starting your drumming journey or are an advanced drummer looking to undo some bad habits you’ve developed along the way and want to become more fluid and efficient with less physical effort while playing/performing, then don’t hesitate to reach out to me via the contact form at www.kevinkatichlessons.com Allow me to help you! Through nearly seventeen years of teaching experience and revising my methods with more information I learn through teaching each student, I have a method that works and will get you there quickly and efficiently if you put in the work between lessons. I guarantee it!
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
A Youtube Channel called Spectre Sound Studios is a fantastic resource when it comes to audio engineering. Glenn, the host, is super knowledgeable and his presentation is hilarious! I’ve been tuning in there a lot lately. I tune into Rick Beato’s Youtube channel here and there when I have the time, he puts out some great long-form content related to the music industry and music history. Become The Knight is another great long-form content Youtube channel on music too!
Pricing:
- $75/hour lesson
- $55/45-minute lesson
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kevinkatichlessons.com
- Instagram: lucid_drummer
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@kevinkatich7413
