A drummer's challenge
So, what happens with your high set goals in drumming when you have reached the top of the music industry? And with that, when you are playing at that level for 30 years? Mark's answer is as easy and difficult as it gets: "You need to love the groove so much, that you can play that beat for 10, 15, 20 minutes and love every moment of it," as he explained in our article with him on The Most Important Drum Beat.

And that is where it all starts. In this last video in the series of eight articles published, Mark talks about his drive, and his core that is all about drumming. Spoiler: you need to be a student for life! Talking about developing his skills on the drumset Mark suddenly drops a major drum fact: he has studied and learned one of the most difficult songs Frank Zappa has ever written. More spoilers? Yes, it was The Black Page.

Mark's challenges continue to have a broad range and perspective. As he'll tell you below, he has worked on the Indian rhythm themes with Pete Lockett for his dvd 'A Day in the Recording Studio,' on which you can hear him play Lock it Pete! a song written for Mark by the British master percussionist himself. The video is added in the panel on the right.

He found more drum challenges with UK based drummer Andy Edwards, who wrote his own drum mix called Bollywood Drum Mania on a track from the Bollywood movie DevDas. Mark took it up and studied it. And trust us when we say that this is the heavier stuff to study on your drumset.

The Indian drum idiom
Only a few modern-day drummers have truly gone into the art of Indian rhythms in depth and incorporated it into their drumset repertoire. Besides Pete Lockett, artists like Steve Smith, Russ Miller, Dan Weis, Danny Carey and Benny Greb have studied this complex rhythmic system. Common to them all is their orchestration of the rhythmic syllables (Konnakol, Solkattu or Bols) on their instrument. Sarah Thawer is one of the newest Indian rhythm-ambassadors who can truly go free with this on the drumset.

For further challenges
For the ultimate relevance, we must mention John McLaughlin here, who led the Mahavishnu Orchestra for a long time and used Konnakol for many compositions of the band. And with that we have to name a virtuous player who could singly replace Ray Luzier with Korn only by playing his Kanjira: Selvaganesh. Only listening to all of these masters will give you plenty of new rhythmic challenges and ideas.

Mark Schulman's personal drum challenges


The Venice Studio Interview Series with Mark Schulman

• The Musician, the Speaker, the Author, the Dad... and his gear
  Mark Schulman - The Venice studio interviews with P!nk's drummer - #1
  
• Mark Schulman reveals the 3 P!nk snare drum sounds, soundcheck secrets and his drum tech
  "Your behaviour is what determines the consequences of your life."
  
• Mark Schulman about P!nk and the #BeautifulTrauma tour rehearsals
  Great insights in the complexity and magnitude of a P!nk tour
  
• Mark Schulman shares his biggest drum mistake and what a drummer's job really is about
  "I am here to be of service."
  
• The most important drum beat played and explained by Mark Schulman
  How to play a song for the 1000th time as powerful as you did the first time.
  
• Mark Schulman plays his favorite drum fills
  How to play a song for the 1000th time as powerful as you did the first time.
  
• Why Jeff, Vinnie and Buddy are the Top 3 of Mark Schulman's favorite drummers
  Part #7 of the Venice Studio Interview series with Pink's drummer.
  

Mark's Gretsch Cocktail kit on steroids
This is Mark his small front-stage kit that he lovingly calls his 'Cocktail Kit on Steroids'. Why? He explains it all in the video below from our second article where he also shares his snare sound secrets.

This photo is from Denise Nicolay from Mark's Twitter feed.

Mark Schulman reveals his live snare drum sounds, soundcheck secrets and his drum tech


Mark Schulman plays

• Gretsch drums
  
• Remo drumheads
  
• Vic Firth drumsticks
  
• Sabian cymbals
  
• Gibraltar hardware
  
• Toca Percussion
  
• Roland
  
• Sennheiser
  
• Apogee Electronics
  
• Cymbolt (Percussion Dynamics)
  
• Sledgepad
  
• Big Fat snares
  
• Jefferson Eyewear

On publication date, Mark Schulman is in Europe on tour with P!nk for her Beautiful Trauma World Tour 2019. They Kicked it off in Amsterdam on June 16, the ±120 people counting circus visited Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom, Belgium, Austria and Poland until August 11, playing their last concert of this tour in The Netherlands again. On October 5 the band can be seen again in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil where they will headline the forelast day of the famous Rock In Rio festival.

A quick Mark Schulman résumé
Mark Schulman has recorded and performed with too many arists to mention, Here are a few of them, or check the listing on the right with more references: Simple Minds, Billy Idol, Cher, Foreigner, Velvet Revolver, Sheryl Crow, Stevie Nicks, Richard Marx, Frank Gambale, Ekichi Yazawa, Udo Lindenberg, Dave Koz, Tina Turner, The O'Jays and Amy Grant.

With special thanks to Pete Lockett for his input on the Indian rhythms.

Plane crash update
Just the day before this publication a plane carrying six to ten members of Pink's crew and her manager burst into flames after landing in Denmark Monday night. Pink was not on board the aircraft and there were no casualties.

Mark confirmed this to Drummerszone.com during his regular contact with us during the tour:

"Everybody is fine and safe. I was on a tour bus. Some burnt luggage and a few charred phones and computers. All replaceable. People are not and they are alive and grateful as we all are!"

Pink's promoter in Norway, Kristin Svendsen, to the Norwegian newspaper VG:

"P!nk was not personally on board, but her manager and several other members on the tour were, but it all turned out OK."