Q & A | with Keelan Tobia
I sat down with my longtime friend, Keelan Tobia, to ask and answer questions we've both received in the past. Keelan is a multiple-time I&E champion, world-class drummer, and an all-around great human. Below the video I've included a short hand transcript of our talking points.
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- What was your 1st BD audition like?
Keelan describes some errors he had made his first Blue Devils audition. Whether it's grids, fundamentals, foot timing etc. his words of advice are to never count yourself out. You can't predict what the staff is thinking and from Keelan's 2009 experience, he made up for a rough 1st impression by killing his visual audition. Then sealing the deal as a member of the 2009 world champion Blue Devils snareline.
- Scariest audition experience?
Keelan made the mistake of returning in 2010 to Blue Devils' auditions without learning their audition piece, "Wildcard". He talks me through how nervous he was because Scott Johnson had the full drumline play through individually. The result of which was an eye-opening experience where Scott told Keelan one-on-one that, "you're better than that".
- Cleanest drumline you've ever heard?
We were both in full agreement that 2006 Phantom Regiment holds a special place as the cleanest line we ever heard live.
Closing
We hope you enjoyed this short and goofy interview. To see more content like this in the future, check out these videos.