Meet Cameron Stewart-Mathews
Owner of Drummers Link
What's the name of your teaching studio?
What inspired you to start Drummers Link?
I started Drummers Link as a way to connect my private students with one another so they could make friends with other drummers and experience a more enjoyable and social musical journey, rather than feeling like it was a solo mission!
What instruments do you teach?
At the moment we solely teach drums.
What ages do you teach?
We teach from the age of 4 with no upper age limit!
Who's a favourite musician/band that's inspired you?
I have two main musicians/bands that inspired my playing. As a teenager I was obsessed with Travis Barker (Blink 182) - his drumming and the music in general really struck a chord with me in my adolescent years and inspired me to really push my playing! I’m also a big fan of Stewart Copeland (The Police) - I think his explosive energy and musical creativity is incredible and really exciting to watch
How is Drummers Link different from how you learned as a beginner?
Drummers Link provides a different service to the way that I was taught drums. Whilst it’s similar in as much as students still learn on a 1-2-1 basis, the difference is that we have created a social element with our private FB Group and we hold group events so students can meet and talk to each other.
What's something about your music school you're really proud of?
Throughout 2020/21 we’ve experienced some really tough times with lockdowns etc. so we had to adapt our teaching style quickly to online sessions so students could continue learning. It made me really proud to see all of the students adapting so well and applying their focus to music, reaching their goals and doing something positive for themselves!
What advice do you give to parents looking for a great teacher for their child?
My advice to anyone looking for a great teacher is to find somebody you/your child can connect with and feel comfortable and at ease with in a learning environment. It’s always worth checking out testimonials from other students/parents too and if you like what you see then book a trial session!
What's something you see successful students doing that new students need to know?
The greatest tool for success is consistency. If you consistently practise and schedule in your sessions each week, then you’ll definitely see progress. Also keep a diary of what went well and what you struggled with, so you can reflect on that in your next practise session/lesson. If you’re not sure how you can improve your practise sessions, then film yourself and show your teacher so they can offer some pointers.
What opportunities does Drummers Link offer students beyond lessons?
Beyond just having lessons, Drummers Link offers social events, live performances and video recordings when you finish learning songs! This helps give students something to work towards and look forward to.
What's the big vision for Drummers Link? Where are you headed in the next few years?
The big dream is to open a school with facilities to hold multiple lessons with all kinds of instrument types and be able to hear loads of music being made and see a whole bunch of happy faces from people who are excited about learning music!
In the next few years we hope to diversify our lesson formats to be able to offer group lessons, as well as bringing in more teachers to offer lessons for other instruments. We also plan to keep building our annual activities so there are lots of things for students to look forward to outside of the lessons.
