Near the beginning, producer Ken Deans says this in response to the question, “What does it take to be a great drummer?”

You just want to play honest. If you’re a great Ringo Starr-type player, don’t try and be Neil Peart. And if you’re a Neil Peart player, don’t pretend that you’re going to be Charlie Watts. Do what you do.

The Institute of Contemporary Music Performance was recently the proud host to the 2008 drum scholarship finals, with the standard of performances the best that ICMP has ever seen!

The eight drum finalists were competing for one full and one partial scholarship (worth £4,950 and £2,500 respectively) onto the Institute’s world renowned Higher Diploma. The Higher Diploma is a specialist one-year full-time course, developed by the Institute to train and develop students of guitar, bass, drums and vocals for a career in the music industry. It was the first full-time course of its kind ever developed in the UK and achieving a place on the course continues to be an aspirational goal for young musicians. Institute alumni can be found throughout today’s music industry, working with artists of the calibre of Babyshambles, Lemar, Radiohead, Eric Clapton, Keane and KT Tunstall.
Each finalist underwent a short interview before taking to the stage to give a performance in front of a panel of specially invited judges, including Mapex’s Pete Harvard and senior ICMP tutors. The standard of all of the finalists was extremely high, so after some very difficult deliberations the panel awarded the full drum scholarship, sponsored by Mapex/Paiste and Drummer Magazine, to Minco De Bruin, and the partial scholarship to Justin Shaw.

Every year the Institute and our industry partners provide Scholarships worth in excess of £30,000, representing a fantastic opportunity for deserving students to access world class training and tuition at one of the world’s leading schools of contemporary music. Watch out for news of the 2009 Scholarships and for your chance to join us!

Dixon Drums is giving one Grand Prize winner a trip to Hollywood, CA to perform at Westlake Studios and be filmed performing and discussing drumming and music with top A&R executives. The feature will be broadcast on The A&R Channel on television! Five additional talented, inspiring drummers will get free gear from Dixon! Here’s how it works:

1. Visit your local Dixon retailer.

2. Have a friend film you playing the DEMON kit while you play your best 2-minute drum solo.

3. Upload it to
http://youtube.com/user/DixonDrums
and share your link with friends who will vote for you!

Dixon will pick the top 6 entries to be submitted to an A&R panel in Hollywood who will declare a Grand Prize winner. The Grand Prize winner will win a 3-day/2-night trip for two to Hollywood, CA and perform with studio musicians live in front of an A&R panel at a major recording studio!!

The performance will be filmed and featured on the A&R Channel on television!

In addition, Dixon will present the Grand Prize winner with a
Dixon Outlaw Series 7-piece drum set and a full complement of hardware (ARV: Grand Prize $10,000). The five runner-ups will each receive a Dixon snare drum (ARV: $300). Be sure to check out the full contest rules so your video is submitted properly and gets posted for voting.

All entries must be completed and submitted by 11:59:59 p.m. ET on September 27, 2008, to be eligible for public voting and the final judging.

Now stop reading, and go whack a Demon.

• The contest is open to unsigned and independent label recording acts from the United States, U.K., Canada, Spain, Germany, France, and Japan.
• Entries will be accepted from May 1 to May 31, 2008.
• Your band must submit an original song as an MP3.
• The content of your song submission apparently “cannot be obscene or offensive, endorse any form of hate or hate group or promote any activities that may appear unsafe or dangerous,” which most likely means that no remotely interesting bands can participate.

[via Drummer Talk]

• The contest is open from April 1 to May 23.
• You’ve got to be an undiscovered band (i.e., Next Great American Band finalists need not apply).
• You must submit three original songs in the MP3 format, a video, and a brief bio about your band.
• The winning group will be announced July 1.