Edge 7.0 featuring Peter Erskine & Alex Acuña here - Drum Workshop

93681275410Latin StyleBorn in peru and raised on a healthydiet of traditional bebop and latinrhythms, he’s one of drumming’strue multi-taskersAlex Acuñaphotos by Tony BarberaEDGE: You come from a very musical family.How did that influence your drumming?Alex Acuña: From the very beginning, mybrothers took lessons from my father. My fatherwas a music teacher, and I observed thenuances and different ways he taught mybrothers. He never used the same methodbecause he was able to understand that everybodywas different and had a differentunderstanding. So he treated them differently,and he taught them differently. I thought,“Wow, that’s a great thing.”EDGE: Were you all playing music?AA: Yeah, all six brothers.EDGE: And were you all playing percussion?AA: No, my father was a high school musicteacher, so he was able to teach themguitar, saxophone and trumpet. He playedevery instrument including percussion,but he didn’t want to teach me because mymother told him not to teach me music. Shedidn’t want me to be a musician. I was theyoungest of six, and she wanted to me to bea mechanic or carpenter, something differentthan my brothers, so I’d always have ajob. Ironically, I’m the one who became themusician in the family. I really learned frommy brothers and how they approached myfather’s lessons. Some of them were veryperseverant about studying and being preparedfor my father. The ones with more talentdidn’t need to study as much. They justthought, “Oh, I can get it, no problem.” Andmy father was serious about that. He said,“You have to respect this. You wanted to bea musician, I’m going to teach you, and youbetter practice.” So I learned those thingsfrom the family, especially how to read musicand how to formally play music. At avery early age, I got a sense of that from mybrothers. They loved music and they playedfor the love of the music, not just for money.I learned that from them.EDGE: Did you get formal musical trainingfrom your father, too?AA: No, I played on my own. My brotherswere the ones who were teaching me. I alsoused to play trumpet when I was a kid, butmy brothers taught me, not my father. Notto mention, I always had an incredible lovefor listening to music, and my passion is stilllistening to music. I choose percussion becauserhythm was, and still is, a mystery. Idon’t say a mystery in that it’s difficult ormysterious. I say mystery because it’s stillbeing discovered: more and more and morerhythms. Plus, the sound of the congas andthe bongos and timbales, the drums, thecymbals and cowbells all fascinate me. Sinceday one, I’ve enjoyed playing both percussionand drums. I don’t knowif I have mastered both, butI truly love it.EDGE: Didn’t you haveformal musical trainingat some point?AA: Later on,when I cameto San Juan,PuertoRico, I gotmarried,and mydaughterwas born.At thattime, I wasalready workingand playing inbig bands. I alreadyknew how to readtrumpet and followthe chart. Then, whenmy oldest daughterwas born, I said, “I’dbetter take this seriously,”so I went tothe conservatory. Asit turns out, I onlywent to 5th grade because at a very earlyage, I also needed to support my mother.My father was there, but he was like a singlefather. So when I was 12 years old, I had toquit school to be the head of the house. Eventhough I was the youngest one of the wholefamily, my brothers got married at a veryearly age, so they left to the city. So I wastaking care of family. I have always takencare of family. That helped me musicallybecause I always had to gig a lot to pay thebills. When I was 10, I had to make money.Even though I was pursuing the money orpursuing the job, the music was never leftout.Set-up Specs:Collector’s Series® Maple Drums with Natural Lacquer overRedwood Burl Exotic and Chrome Hardware18x20” Bass Drum5x14” Snare Drum9x12”, 14x16” Tom-Toms9000 Single Pedal6500 Hi-Hat Stand6300 Snare Drum Stand6710 Straight Cymbal Stand9100 Standard Drum Throne[EDGE 7.0] 57