Master class by Mikhail Kraev

April 15, 2006 in the showroom of the Musical Arsenal store, the exclusive distributor of Mapex in Russia, which is located at St. Petersburg, Bolshoy Prospekt Vasilievsky Island, 80 ( www.mapex.spb.ru ), a master class was held by Mapex endorser, drummer of the Zveri band - Mikhail Kraev.

Most had a preconceived notion of him as a drummer due to his involvement with the Beasts, but Mikhail changed his attitude towards himself already at the warm-up before the master class. Participation in a popular project made itself felt. There were a lot of people in the showroom. The Musical Arsenal provided a Mapex Deep Forest drum kit for the master class, which has a unique sound.

Mikhail performed solo in various tempos and styles. The energy that emanated from his game was amazing. Misha often remarked that he has to play the same patterns, but with different dynamics, as the band performs both in huge stadiums and in small venues. There was a lot of drive, Mikhail perfectly "pumped" a small hall. Fast and pleasant to the ear fills were replaced by drawings in complex sizes. By themselves, from the lips of the Mapex endorser, the words sounded: "We must play simply, but tasty and musically. You can play a lot of breaks, complex patterns, but if you approach this as an opportunity show how cool you are, then this will cause bewilderment in the listener - your group will like it, that you play such difficult things, but the listener will not understand you, because from the musical side you are not interesting."

The master class for a few minutes turned into a discussion of the Animals group and other similar projects. "I'm quite satisfied with the band, since then I've gained a lot of experience working on big stages, recording in the studio. I understand that many people do not like the band, but I work in a professional team and I like it."

Misha Kraev owns many styles, but like many professional musicians, he cannot apply them anywhere. One of the idols of the musician is Dave Weckl, he studied all his schools. He works out 3-4 hours a day, and this gives a result - it was seen and heard by all the visitors of this event.

At the end of the meeting, Mikhail noted that everything played by Dave Weckl, Dennis Chambers and many other drummers, consists of the simplest elements - single strikes, deuces and so on, if all this is combined, then beautiful fillings and "tasty" drawings are obtained.

"It's very simple! You just have to practice! I'm absolutely sure that if you want to become a drummer, then you will definitely become one, you have to believe in yourself, practice, practice again, and your dream will come true!

Prepared by Sergey Kolmakov, (www.drumnet.ru)