Mario Roy is a professional drummer from Montreal with a major in percussions earned at the Université de Montreal. He has been teaching and playing drums and percussions since his early years.



A complete musician, Mario is a singer, a guitar and bass player, a composer and song arranger. He's been on many professional recordings. Now working on his instructionnal DVD, Mario is always active in the Montreal music scene and his sponsored by Taye drums, Sabian cymbals and Vic Firth sticks.



He has played at the Montreal Drum Fest in 1996 and in 2003. Mario has done two master classes, one at the Université de Montréal and one at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQUAM). Two of his active bands are Perfect Match, a band of live improvisations, and Caribbean Report, a latin-jazz project.



If you’ve seen his video, you’ll know there is something a little different in Mario Roy’s approach to drumming. Mario reveals how, by harnessing motion, you can gain the grace of a dancer, or, as Mario puts it, “a dancer sitting down!”



When studying drums, instead of hitting a wall, it is possible to arrive at a calm place wherein you no longer need to wonder if your hands and feet are doing it right.



Rather, says Mario, who was guided in this by mentor Efrain Toro, you free yourself from this concentration and adopt a deeper focus on the flow of music. You feel a pulse that underscores styles. If you can submit to it, and to the motion, you can rid yourself of needless nervous second-guessing. You gain fluidity in any style. Henceforth you will hear yourself objectively, while you’re playing, and making instant decisions regarding your sound, dynamics, feel, and drum/cymbal balance.

Mario will ask consenting members of the audience to clap, beat their chests or maybe their torsos—we’re not sure exactly but we’re told it’s all legal—and join him on a journey to a place where striking 3 beats atop 2 is a breeze.