eddypierce
Senior Member
I just wanted to alert everyone about two books concerning Stick Control author George Lawrence Stone that recently came out. One is called “Drum Lessons with George Lawrence Stone,” by former Stone student Barry James, co-written by Joe Morello (he had been working with James on the book before he passed away). It details some of Stone’s teachings, and the bulk of the book is made up of exercises from Stone’s “Technique of Percussion” column which ran in International musician Magazine. The second Stone book is actually a compilation of (I believe) ALL the columns that Stone wrote for International Musician—it’s called “Technique of Percussion: Columns by George Lawrence Stone for International Musician Magazine 1946--1963.” I’m about thirty pages into the latter and it’s very interesting stuff, containing not just exercises, but also a lot of percussive wisdom and information that is of historical interest (he makes reference to his friendship and correspondence with drummers like Charley Wilcoxon, J. Burns Moore, James P. Noonan, Gene Krupa, et al). For those just interested in exercises, I would recommend the first book; the second book is most valuable for those interested in the text.