Issue 10 - Sarah Thawer - October 2019

Sarah Thawer
Was your mom a musician as well?
My mom is not a musician, she’s an
electrical engineer. She has an incredible
work ethic, discipline and this constant
desire to learn in every area of her
life. She inspires me to practice, work
hard and her motto is, “Never leave a
page unturned”.
Tell us about your drumming journey, and
how growing up in a traditional Indian
household influenced that?
My parents did not want me to become
a drummer because they never wanted
me to suffer and they cared for my
well-being. Their reasoning was the life
of a musician/drummer can be unpredictable
and not consistent or reliable
and it includes staying up late nights,
carrying gear and on top of that, drummers
are always at the back and that no
one cares about drummers. They said
if I wanted to be in music I should become
a singer/songwriter and pianist,
so that I will always be at the front of
the stage since I am the ‘artist’, and that
I will not get treated poorly, and make
more money.
As a result, they enrolled me in western
classical piano lessons for over 10
years, as well as Indian classical singing
and pop singing for over 10 years.
At the time I hated it but was forced to
attend these weekly lessons and practice
piano and singing daily. However,
they quickly noticed that all I cared
about was playing drums and how hard
I worked towards being a drummer.
So they told me to take the mindset of
being an artist and translate it to the
drums and become a “drummer-artist”
and have a name for myself.
I feel so fortunate that my parents
have been incredibly supportive towards
my music journey for as long as
I can remember. Since I was a little kid
I asked for them to buy me so many instruments,
and they would never say
no. They bought me over three drum
kits growing up, over 20 percussion instruments,
pianos, guitar, you name it.
They always encouraged me to practice,
to keep learning and getting better. My
parents, especially my mom and grandfather
believed in getting educated at
the post-secondary level. I wasn’t sure
if I wanted to go to university for music,
I just wanted to play. She forced me
to go to university and told me that the
condition was that they would continue
to support me after high school only
if I went to university and got a degree.
So I went to study at York University in
Toronto to study jazz and world music
performance, was awarded the Oscar
Peterson Scholarship, and graduated
with the Summa Cum Laude distinction.
I thank her almost everyday that
she forced me to go to university. University
exposed me to so many genres
of music and exposed me to so much
that I did not know was out there.
Can you tell us more about your piano education
and training and how it affected
your perception of music, your thinking
and performance on a kit?
My parents forced to take piano classes
weekly for over 10 years. I studied
western classical piano under the Royal
Conservatory of Music program, and
completed until grade 9 (which was the
second last grade for the program). Then
in university I took harmony, counterpoint,
jazz theory, harmony and composition
also. Understanding theory
and playing piano is so important. It
has helped me see music from various
angles and helped me understand what
is happening in the music, so I don’t always
have to respond to rhythms— so
that I can respond to chords and melody.
I love listening to music without any
drum kit and I especially love listening
to ballads. My theory and piano education
connected me emotionally to melody
and harmony. I feel so emotionally
invested in chord changes, melody and
can respond with an emotional connection
on the drums.
You told your parents that if they supported
your drumming career you would
give over a 100% and it’s evident that you
did seeing as you received the Oscar Peterson
Scholarship as well as graduating
with the Summa Cum Laude distinction.
Have you always been a hard worker? Or
was this you you proving as point?
To be honest, I don’t think I work hard
enough. The thing is that I love what I
do, and because I enjoy it so much, I can’t
tell if I am working hard— i’m just having
fun and enjoying the journey. It’s
funny because when I am doing laundry
I feel like I have worked extremely
hard and need a reward and a break.
But when I practice three hours on the
drum kit on an average day, I just want
to keep going and I know there’s still so
much to learn and do.
Do you feel there were benefits to growing
up in Canada, Toronto, with regards
to the music scene, culture etc?
Most definitely. Toronto is extremely
diverse in regards to the culture and
especially music. You can listen to any
genre of music and you can find a venue
that will suit that genre. One of the
main reasons I love living in Toronto is
because I get to play at least three different
genres of music weekly. Every Sunday
I play gospel music at a church (this
will be the fourth year since I started
playing there), then I’ll have a straightahead
jazz gig at The Rex Hotel and
Blues Bar, then the following day I’ll be
playing Cuban music at Lula Lounge,
then some R’nB and hiphop at Poetry
Jazz Cafe, then some middle eastern
music at the DROM, and then I’ll play
some Indian music at a festival. By the
way, this is just scratching the surface!
You strongly advocate taking Indian
rhythms and applying them to the drums
in a modern way. How do you go about
translating or interpreting these ideas?
A simple example of interpreting for
instance the tabla on the kit would be
to take the bass of the tabla (Baiyan) and
assign it’s pattern to the kick and take
the high pitch sound of the tabla and
assign it to the snare, and the hi hats
would be emulating the ghost notes
that are played in between the accents
on the tabla, which really helps with
the feel. To go another step further, the
28 | SA DRUMMER | September 2019
PHOTOGRAPHY: PEPO HERRERA