How I Went from “Okay” to 7-Time Tenor Drum Champion (or The Value of Sharing What You Know)

March 27, 2024January 5, 2026 James Christian

James tells his story about growing up in a small town with a humble band program, studying with rudimental drumming master Rick Beckham, the value of investing in others’ lives by sharing what you know and love, and taking advantage of opportunities when they present themselves.

TRANSCRIPT

Hi, everybody. This is James Christian with RudimentalUniversity.com. And today’s video is entitled: “How I Went from ‘Okay’ to 7-Time Tenor Drum Champion.” So this is really just my story. I haven’t really told it before. So I wanted to let you know, because I thought some people might find it interesting and find some good inspiration from it.

My Story

So anyway, I grew up in a very small Texas town northeast of Dallas, and literally the town had one stoplight, so it was pretty small. The high school at the time Read more

A New Focus (or What Happened to The Percussion Circle?)

March 19, 2024March 5, 2025 James Christian

Wondering what’s been going on with the site lately? James gives you the latest update. This covers a wide range of topics—the effects of COVID on the music education industry, composing & arranging, James’ personal story of recent events, and a new focus for Rudimental University. You can watch the video or read the transcript below.

TRANSCRIPT

Hello, everybody. This is James Christian with RudimentalUniversity.com. And this video is entitled: “A New Focus (or What Happened to The Percussion Circle?)”

The Percussion Circle No Longer Being Made

Well, if you have followed this channel, you know that the videos more recently have corresponded with an online publication called The Percussion Circle magazine. And unfortunately, that magazine is currently not being released anymore.

And I’ll go into more on that in a little while. But basically, it was Read more “A New Focus (or What Happened to The Percussion Circle?)”