Jan 20, 2019
In January 2017, when Drum! Magazine published “10 Drumming Educators Share Their Number One Piece Of Advice For Students,” they talked with a veritable who’s who of those at the very top of their field. Among them, today’s most honored guest, Ed Soph, whose work as a professional drummer, clinician, and ground-breaking college professor has made him one of the most respected people in drumming today.
Soph enjoyed a career playing with such greats as Stan Kenton and the Woody Herman band. You may have even played along with him as the drummer on a number of the Jamey Abersold play-along records. In 1987, after twenty years on the East coast, Ed and his wife returned to his alma mater, the University of North Texas, where he eventually became the first tenured professor of drumset at any public university in the US. Some of Ed’s students have become famous in their own right, including Jazz drummer Ari Hoenig, LA-based Jason Sutter, and the legendary Dave Weckyl.
Born in California and raised in Houston, Ed—like so many of the drummers we’ve talked with in this series, began at age four or five, when his father, who enjoyed playing ragtime piano, came home with a wood block and encouraged Ed to play along. Drum lessons soon followed with teacher Elder Mori. Soon Ed was playing gigs and learning from the older, more experienced member of the band.
Recently retired from UNT, students still learn from his books and YouTube videos, including a series of Quick Tips he made for Evans. A new series of videos is coming soon to The Drum Channel.