Drum students get real-life performance lesson

When Patrick Van Belle takes the stage with the Modern Jazz Trio at Cherry Hill's Red, Hot and Blue, he gets behind the drums, twirls the sticks for a moment or so, and then launches into an hour-long set of the blues and jazz that local fans have come to know and love.

After the last chord is struck, Van Belle exits stage right to raucous applause, and takes a seat in the crowd to watch the next performance.

It sounds like an ordinary night in the life of any professional musician, except the bands following the Modern Jazz Trio on the bill aren't always seasoned rock or blues acts. Sometimes, they're Van Belle's students.

A veteran musician turned drum instructor, Van Belle has been giving private lessons to students of all ages since 1987. About five years ago, after establishing his band as one of the main draws at Red, Hot and Blue, he decided to take some of his more promising students out of the studio and put them to the test with the lights on bright.

"Everybody thinks it's the coolest thing when they walk in and see a 12-year-old kid play 'Tom Sawyer' or a 14-year-old kid playing blues; they think it's wonderful," said Van Belle, 37. "They stand up and cheer."

The idea struck Van Belle while he was touring with Philadelphia blues legend Georgie Bonds.

"Whenever we were in the area, his nephews would come out, and they would sing and play the guitar," Van Belle said. "I said, 'Wow, that was a great idea.' "

The student and teacher performances take place roughly once every two months, and most students start off playing the drum portion of a song along with a recording of the track. Some of his more advanced students have bands of their own, and when Van Belle thinks they are ready, he lets their outfits share the stage with the Modern Jazz Trio.

"It's about exposing their bands and exposing their talents and getting them used to playing in front of a live crowd," he said.

While he began teaching immediately after high school, doling out lessons from the comfort of his parents' basement, Van Belle was also successful on the professional-music circuit for many years. He had stints throughout the 1990s with bands like the Zendogs and the Bastard Sons of Jazz, while his current crew landed a spot on the Virginia Jazz Festival in 2000.

Van Belle later scored a record deal with a rock outfit dubbed Love Saves the Day, fronted by platinum-selling singer-songwriter Dean Davidson, and whose first album was produced by Grammy-winner John Rollo. But just as the small-town rocker's star seemed to be on the rise, a national tragedy doomed the album's release date. Van Belle's label debut was slated for Sept. 11, 2001.

"I remember waking up that morning feeling good about the release," he said. "Then I turned on the TV."

Describing his lessons as a combination of the old and new schools, Van Belle focuses on basic hand techniques and more innovative methods involving muscle development and the way his drummers sit behind the set. He says the diversified lesson plans come from the talented, but at times one-dimensional, mentors who taught him when he was young.

"A lot of the guys that taught me were old jazz players, but if you ever asked them a question like 'How do I play this rock song?' they didn't know because they didn't listen to it," said Van Belle.

While Van Belle has met many musical icons in his career, his fondest brush with fame came before he ever picked up a drumstick. When he was 5, he was at the Latin Casino in Cherry Hill, where the famed Buddy Rich was performing. Rich made his way to the family's table after his performance and asked young Van Belle if he was a drummer.

"Not yet, but I'm going to be," he replied, and received Rich's drumsticks as a reward.

Five years ago, Van Belle picked one of his school's most talented students out of the crowd at Red, Hot and Blue. Ten-year-old Adam Crognale was watching the Modern Jazz Trio from the club floor, drumming away at a table top in time with Van Belle's beats.

Van Belle "said he had rhythm and he wanted to teach him," laughed Adam's mother, Tory Jensen.

Since then, Adam has played after the trio many times, and he thinks the live performances will help him launch his music career.

"I think it helps me to get ready for stuff that I might do when I grow up," Adam said. "If I get in a band or something . . . it helps me to get used to the crowd."

The student couldn't hide his admiration for his teacher.

"I don't know how he does some of his fills," Adam said. "They're, like, amazing."

Van Belle, who lives in Cherry Hill, has plenty of adult students as well. Andi Meltzer, 38, a stay-at-home mother with a taste for alternative rock, has been practicing with Van Belle for nearly three years.

While she was a relatively green drummer when she first met him, Meltzer is now a veteran of the Red, Hot and Blue stage, having played six times and twice sharing the stage with Van Belle and the trio.

"It's a really good opportunity to feel like you're part of a band. It's like a musical conversation," said Meltzer. "It's a unique opportunity in real time to work with other musicians, to do your thing, keep up your end of the bargain and let the other musicians do their thing, too."