By Page H. Gifford
Correspondent
Opening the 2024-2025 season at Carysbrook Performing Arts Center on Sept. 14, at 7 p.m. will be percussionist Tom Teasley, who will lure the audience with his unique musical sounds and sound effects. He will perform with Charlie Chaplin’s “The Adventurer” and Buster Keaton’s “Sherlock, Jr.”
“The physical nature of the films blends perfectly with the American jazz percussion,” he said. He will also discuss the ideas he used to create these soundtracks and have a question-and-answer session after the concert.
Tom Teasley’s passion for drumming spans cultures and styles. His fascination with drums and drumming began when he was very young and attended a Revolutionary War reenactment with his parents at Mt. Vernon in Alexandria, Virginia.
“Part of that experience was hearing the traditional rudimental drumming performed on the rope drums of that time. I was hooked. Soon after, I experienced the Beatles and the whole rock and roll craze, and there was no turning back,” he said. After seeing the Revolutionary War drumming he found one broken drumstick in the school playground. He then combined it with a block of wood to create an instrument that allowed him to begin experimenting with his natural rhythm. As his interest in percussion increased and he progressed, he acquired a practice pad, a snare drum, and a complete drum set. He began performing professionally when he was 12. Today, his house is loaded with drums from around the world.
He was a cultural envoy for the U.S. Department of State, which took him around the world many times. He has performed in the Middle East, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Oman, Europe, Korea, New Zealand, China and South America.
“Each of these cultures adds to the tapestry that influences my music. I mix all of these with the American musical genre of jazz to create what I hope is a compelling and unique offering.”
Depending on what kind of performance he is presenting, he plays a wide array of drums from various cultures worldwide and sometimes focuses on those instruments. In addition, he uses electronics and digital looping, which allows him to record himself in real time and use that to create virtual performances. For his performances of classic silent movie era icons like Chaplin and Keaton, he makes a unique sound show.
“For these performances of movies by Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, I am mainly returning to traditional American jazz drum kit to fit the action of American physical comedy,” he said. “I will augment this with a hand pan and orchestra bells to incorporate a melodic element. I’ll also use a variety of ‘secret sound EFX’ for car horns, scary scenes, and water.”
He has performed live sound design for theater productions for decades.
“During these collaborations, I would create a sound effect to enhance the action on stage. The interaction of live music and action was very compelling to me,” he said. “As a result, I started adding various movie soundtracks to my repertoire. I have five American physical comedies by Charlie Chaplin and various German Expressionist movies.”
He approaches learning and mastering new rhythms and sounds to incorporate them into a movie soundtrack, as well as the timing and precision of the synchronization of the music and the movie.
“Since I have traveled extensively, I have a large vocabulary of rhythms and sounds. Creating a long rhythmic phrase within which the action occurs is essential. I conceive of the movie as a jazz tune where important punctuations occur. The fun is to find the specific action I want to punctuate without disrupting the flow of my rhythmic line.”
He spends countless hours every day exploring jazz rhythms, African rhythms, and the rhythms and music from many different cultures to keep his skills strong.
“Each movie scene has a variety of emotional scenes that I need to incorporate. Going from a fast chase scene to a tender moment in the bat of an eye is challenging, and I work extensively on shifting gears with dynamics and expression in my practice sessions.”
He doesn’t settle on one particular genre of music but said he “thinks of genres of music much like people.”
“Each one has something unique and special to offer. My goal with my music is to incorporate several genres into one performance. Drumming is a means of communication used for centuries to express emotions that the human voice is incapable of,” he said. “I plan to bring the totality of my music experience to my performance at Carysbrook Performing Arts Center and I hope people will enjoy it and hang around after the performance to chat and get to know me. I am very passionate about my work and love to share it.”
