Andy Ziker

Andy Ziker is a 38-year drumming veteran, who has devoted his life to performing, teaching, and enticing others to join the ranks.

During a trip to New Orleans at 13 years old, Andy was so impressed with the rich musical atmosphere of Bourbon Street and a one-man-band street musician playing a set of junk drums that he began taking drum lessons on his first kit, an old pieced-together Slingerland.

Andy studied with Billy "Stix" Nicks, and at the age of 14 began to play drums professionally. He enrolled in the music programs at Arizona State University and Mesa Community College and graduated with a degree in music in 1991.

In 1989 Andy began teaching lessons at Linton-Milano Music in Mesa, Arizona, and teaching privately has remained a constant in his life for 27 years. He earned a master's degree in Elementary Education in 1995.

Andy has published articles in Drum! Magazine and Modern Drummer, and on the Drummer Cafe and OnlineDrummer websites, and worked as an associate editor for Drum! Magazine. He has published six method books, including Drumcraft, Drum Aerobics, Daily Drum Warm-Ups, Drumset for Preschoolers, The Jazz Waltz, and Play Like Keith Moon; a series of e-books, including Funk Up Your Hi-Hat, Funk Up Your Snare, Funk Up Your Ride, Funk Up Your Toms, Creative Boxes, and Two Surface Learning; and three children's books: Nobody Sounds Like You: Devan Plays The Drums, Nobody Sounds Like You: Steve Strums His Six-String, and People Really Do Trust Ziker. He also invented two types of music stands for drummers: Manhasset 53D and Manhasset 53DH.

Andy currently performs with Jed's A Millionaire (LA) and Spun (Bay Area), teaches Zoom/Skype and in-person lessons at The Rhythm Academy Of San Jose, and offers after-school bucket drumming classes called Bucketeers to 3- to 10-year-olds.