Camper Testimonials

Hey Steve, this is Andres from Colombia.

I just wanted to thank you again so much for that wonderful experience. It really touched me in some many ways, I still can't believe it!!!

We all saw how you, your wife and your hole family worked so hard during the camp, and how badly you wanted all to go so well, AND IT DID!! So thanx to you all!! Please pass on my deepest and most sincere gratitude to everyone involved in the camp, from the bus driver, to the people at Seton Hall, the other instructors, and of course Steve, Dave and Horacio!!

Take care, and give my regards to everyone!


Hi Steve,

This is Leroy. Remember, the guy whose plane got delayed? My mom called you a few times.

Anyway, I would just like to say that drumfantasy 07 was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life as a drummer. Thank you. I look forward to checking out drumfantasy 08! Please keep me posted.


Hi Steve,

It was a great time and I had a lot of fun! I signed up for one day but next year, I’d like to stay the entire weekend.

Be well.


Howdy Steve,

Great camp, great fun, great job. I enjoyed each and very moment.

Please let the instructors know that I appreciated how hard they worked. They worked all day without a moments break and remained engaged the entire time. That is hard to do. They were very positive and you could tell they were having a really great time.

I look forward to next year.


It was great meeting you and your family (great to see everyone helping and supporting you). Please include my email or keeping in touch with the campers.

I can't believe that most everyone there I had never met before. We were all getting along like old friends. It must be that common bond of drummers (and I guess all musicians).


Thanks for all that you, Stefanie, Dave, Steve, Jason and Horacio (and everyone else that I forgot) did on the weekend. It was the experience of a lifetime.


Thank you all for a wonderful time. Everything exceeded all expectations and was handled in a professional manner. I can't wait till next year. 


Thank you so very much for organizing such an incredible event. my playing has improved immensely because of it. I just finished playing 6 gigs in four days and feel as though the lessons i was taught are already shining through in my playing. It really was a fantastic vibe. Please add me to the list and contact me whenever you have solidified next years camp.

Thanks again.


Hi Steve and the rest of the gang!

I'm still pumped from the drum camp, and overflowing with new creativity. On the flight back home to South Carolina, with the jet turbines in the background, I kept thinking about all I had learned from all the instructors, and what the cumulative sound would be if I combined the different influences. 


Thank you so much for a once in a life time opportunity at drum fantasy camp.  You guys did a great job and worked very hard and it showed.  The experience was well worth the investment and the memories will last forever.  I learned a ton and am now motivated to dive back into my music after all these years. 


Hey Steve!

Dude, I had the best time and look forward to staying in touch. You are most welcome to share my email address.

You did such a great job with the camp, thank you! Not only that, but I thought you were a great guy, just as inspiring as the instructors.


Hey Steve,

The pleasure was all mine. The fantasy camp has literally changed me as a person.

The most valuable part of the camp was not the actual information from the instructors, but existing on the same level as the instructors and viewing them as an equal (of the kit) rather than a superhuman. This experience is what made the information presented really hit home, and as I right this, it is not the same person as the person who was at the camp.

Of all the clinicians though, believe it or not, you had one of the biggest effects on me. I had never thought in a strategic kind of way in regards to my band and career. It's almost as if that one word had clicked on an ability I never knew I had. The train home was just a purge of idea's that my band is implementing right now and I credit a lot of that to you.


Steve,
     You and the wife should win an award for accomplishing such a task as putting on the drum fantasy camp 07.   You guys are the best.  To be able to take classes with Dave Weckl, Steve Smith and Jason Bittner and Horacio Hernandez and be able to talk one on one with them after the classes is the rarest of opportunities.  If you love drumming as we all do, that were there, you will remember this past weekend forever.
     The sound, and marketing classes and the classes with you and Dennis Moody and also from the Drummer's Collective teachers couldn't have been better.  To top all that and then be able to play with Baron Browne and Vinny Valentino, and be accompanied w/Horacio Hernandez on congas is the icing on the cake.  What a pleasure to be able to play with best in the industry.
      Hopefully, you will have these every year, as I'm sure you will have repeat businees from all the attendees that were there. I know I'll be on the list.   Thank you and your wife, Stefanie, and all who helped with this grand endeavor.  Will see you next year.

Steve:

Our thanks go out to you for providing us the opportunity to experience the best weekend ever! All the teachers were great! Steve, Horacio, Dave and Jason were as expected, but Pat (Petrillo) and Jason (Gianni) were certainly a welcomed surprise to this collection of Great Drumming Minds.

You and your family did an excellent job with the whole affair and look forward to more from you in the near future as well. Please thank ALL of the instructors for their kindness and consideration throughout the weekend.


Hey Steve!
 
I just wanted to tell you again how much I enjoyed the drum camp. It was truly a dream come true and I learned a lot--now I'm re-energized, inspired and motivated to work hard and get better! Everyone was so cool and fun to be with--from the instructors to the staff and students. You and Stephanie did a great job!
 
It would be great if you could share your list of student's contact information with the group so we can keep in touch with each other. Thanks again for an unforgettable experience--I sure hope you will put together another one for next year! 

Steve,

Just wanted to send you a note thanking you and your wife and the staff for a great time at camp. It was inspirational and educational and something I'll remember for the rest of my days.

I also wanted to send a huge thank you out to your dad. He gave me a lift back to the hotel to get my car when I was leaving on Sunday. What a wonderful, engaging gentleman he is! I wish I could have spent more time with him, he's a very generous and funny man. Please extend him my thanks and gratitude when you see him next.

I'd like to thank you and Stephanie and the staff again for making the whole thing happen and for all of you being so gracious and attentive. I had a great time and I hope to be back next year.

Thank you!


Hi Steve:

Well, now that a few weeks have passed since the DFC08 I thought I would drop you a note to say thanks to you and all the staff, all the great drummers and the Jam Night Band for making the experience on that I will never forget.

Every one of the instructors were open, friendly, approachable and more than willing to share their knowledge with us mere mortal drummers and every single one of them had some nuggets of information that will positively make me a better drummer...even if I am just a "weekend warrior"...

There is definitely a brotherhood among drummers that is unlike any other group of musicians I've ever been around...that was especially obvious during the jam nights when every one was respectful and supportive of each drummer as they took their turn with the group...that feeling of support alone was a tremendous thrill for me. Getting to play with that band, even for just one tune, was the experience of a lifetime (and it didn't hurt that Dave Weckl was standing right next to me playing timbales!!)!

Best always...

Jim


First of all I want to THANK YOU again for all the hard work and wonderful CARE that you have put into the event.
I had the BEST time as a parent!
I adored the masters improvising together - I will never forget that sound....

I loved the fact that you ran the whole thing like a family rather than a business. Of course it also IS business, but it was clear that your main care lay somewhere else.

The age range was impressive as was the range of all levels of percussion that we could hear and experience... as was the dedication of the band.

I ADORED to be surrounded by musicians and drummers, to suck in the friendliness of so many gorgeous people.
I LOVED the build-up of collective energy which rose with each hour.

I have deepest respect for Dave who played for two nights on the cow bells - I will also never forget that quality of sound, precision, musicality at the deepest level.
So often during my days I remember so clearly that sound...
And of course all the other great musicians who joined in the jam sessions :-))

There was also a spirit of generosity which enabled the students-and Selim- to step out of the shadow and approach the masters that he had cherished for years and finally could meet, hear, talk to and be heard by.

Selim has taken home so much motivation - it has changed many things for him. He works on his drums whenever he can in a busy college life - he plays nearly every day now :-))

The most important inner lesson though is the one he was told several times: to be humble and work, even if the conditions are not ideal we all have to. It made him grow...
He said that he wanted to save some of his pocket and birthday money to come back next year.

It was also impressive to hear Steve Smith and the new genre of modern music that he has created in merging Ganesh's ancient art and the drum set as such.

You do a wonderful job, - CONGRATULATIONS TO IT ALL!!!
 


Steve -

I wanted to thank you for a job well done on this year's camp. Ana had the greatest time of her life, and I sincerely believe that she will never, ever, EVER forget it!

- David

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testimonials