I recently had the pleasure of meeting Kenny Aronoff and attending his Tama drum workshop. Kenny is one of my favourite drummers. Kenny had lots of great stories about his career, from seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan all the way through to where he’s at today. He offered up a 7-step plan for success in music, and in life. He had stories and anecdotes from his personal experience to illustrate each one. I won’t recount each one here, but I’ll share a quick rundown of what he had to say.

1. Discipline
He talked a lot about practising 8 hours a day. It’s a recurring theme for him.

2. Hard Work. Show up, be prepared, know your stuff.

3. Create a plan that you execute. Don’t take no for an answer, find a way around obstacles, keep pushing forward. Lots of stories to illustrate what he means.

4. Team Communication Skills. Get everyone working together, be a problem solver.

5. RPS. Repetition is Preparation for Success. (see #1 and #2)

6. Healthy Life is a Wealthy Life. Kenny’s recipe for health, in this order, is
– weight training
– cardio
– stretching
– diet (mostly what you DON’T eat, like sugar and white flour)
– supplements (take your vitamins)
– water (drink lots)
– sleep
– meditation

7. Stay focused and relevant. The music biz changes, you better too. Don’t waste time.

And he asked what is the #1 purpose of a drummer? Kenny’s answer: get the song on the radio, make it #1.

If you get a chance to catch a Kenny Aronoff workshop, don’t miss it, even if you’re not a drummer. Oh, and bring ear plugs because they don’t call him the hardest hitting man in show business for nothing!