Many of the world's great drummers credit their skills in part to Jim Chapin's teaching and his book Advanced Techniques for the Modern Drummer. First released in 1948, the style outlined in his book is now standard among drummers. He is one of the foremost exponents of the Moeller Method, which he demonstrates in his DCI music video Speed, Power, Control and Endurance.
James Forbes "Jim" Chapin is a New Yorker born and bred. He was a relatively late comer to the drums, taking them up at eighteen after two inconclusive years of college. Jim left William and Mary in early 1938 after having cut classes regularly in order to obey a massive compulsion to batter a set of drums that a classmate had left set up in the gymnasium. Thanks to understanding parents he was allowed to buy a set that spring and in June was fortunate enough to get a summer job in the mountains with an eight piece band called the "Georgia Dons" at the "Purling Palace", a night club. Schedule: seven nights a week, 8 p.m. to 3 a.m., salary $6.00 per week, room and board. That fall, a golden opportunity presented itself, a steady job at a night club in Yonkers called the Red Cap. Here the salary was a magnificent $9.00 per week, hours 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. weekdays, 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. One had to learn something on jobs like these, if only general survival procedure.
Jim Chapin was lucky enough to have excellent instruction almost from the outset. He studied first.....
