Currently John Powell plays drumset with Jimmy and the Mustangs. They play all over town and recently played a concert in California. Their latest album is to be released Summer 2015. He plays vibraphone every Saturday night at Mother's Cafe and Garden.

 

John uses various sticking exercises and rudiments to help the student gain facility in playing the snare drum. In drumset instruction he helps the student learn howto hear the drum part on a recording, and teaches reading drum charts and percussion parts from concert band repertoire. His main goal is to show how much fun playing drums or percussion can be. He also teaches mallet instruments, such as marimba and vibraphone. In these, there are scales and chords to learn, as well as reading. Learning Conga drums involves studying how to get the proper tone, and playing the right part with songs.