The best way to understand Marvin, is to listen to his own words......

I started playing drums at age 2 and in that time I studied with all of the great master drummers: Max Roach, Elvin Jones, Philly Joe Jones, Roy Hayes, Art Taylor, and my brother Earl "Buster" Smith.  My out look on music is without end. Right now what I'm doing is teaching young people, to understand how the master drummers got there power on the drums. Understanding the basic foundation of the drums.  Teaching them that it was used for communication,  a way to talk to people. So with this understanding of the drums, we can go to an even deeper level of understanding.  My way of playing the drums is to PUT THE TIME FIRST, before the technical side.  Right now, I honestly feel we have the very best drum school AND a lesson program online.

Master the flow with a real master of jazz drumming.

Learn to play the drums just like the masters, learn all of the secrets, of the great jazz drum masters.

Masters like Max Roach, Elvin Jones, Philly Joe Jones.

 Study with the best and the best is Marvin Bugalu Smith, master drummer.

“Marvin will guide you step by step so you can master, the flow in the time And start to sound like all of your favorite drummers,

understanding this great secret makes drumming fun, fun, fun thanks to the GREAT masters we can all get there to the wonderful art

of drumming. “ thanks Marvin! “Your students”   Andrew G.    &    Kesai R.
 

(left)          Marvin Bugalu Smith talking to the people at the terrace jam session.  Every Tuesday night from 7:30 pm. To 9:30 pm, you can see Marvin play with New York's top jazz musicians @ The Terrace Lounge in Newburgh, New York.            Marvin Bugalu Smith has been working and teaching jazz drumming for the last 50 years he has worked and lived in Italy for over 25 years teaching and playing and becoming part of the Italian jazz scene.  Marvin has worked with over 500 hundred students from around the world !!

Advanced Study

Besides the technical aspects of learning the drums, Marvin's advanced study includes the following:

Advanced studies on the motion in nature
Void motion   --------------------------------- space
Wind motion
Fire motion
Water motion
Earth motion
“Playing the moment in time"
Sound
Space  ------------------------  void
Gravity   -------------------------------------- resistance
Motionless ( time)
Non- action
Atmosphere  ------------------------------------ all around you
Void   --------------------------------------------   space
Capacity
Vibration  --------------------------------   what you generate inside yourself the true Entity OF LIFE
Emotion & Feelings
Sensitivity  ---------------------------------   inside feelings
 

Here are testimonials from two of Marvin's Advanced Students

 I had never studied with anyone like Marvin before in my life. It was the first time I had interacted with a true master. I thought he was going to be like any other teacher I had had in the past, conventional and status quo. But I was mistaken. “Marvin is a man who has journeyed deep within himself to find his hidden treasures“, he's done this through the vehicle of the drum. I thought my desire and determination to play the drums was going to be enough to get over. Marvin wanted much more than just superficial flights of fancy, he wanted real hardcore work and sacrifice because that's what he had when he was learning the drum set. When I first was studying with Marvin I was going to college at S.U.N.Y. New Paltz and studying with the resident drum teacher there. I would always put Marvin's teachings secondary to my school work because I felt passing was more important. It's not that I didn't respect what Marvin was teaching me but my attitude towards it was arrogant and naive. I didn't understand that the stuff Marvin was showing me was what was really needed on the bandstand and what really made the music happen. I was stuck in this academic-stiff-square learning head. I was approaching the playing from a mental, left-brain state of mind. Because of this I was resisting Marvin and what he was trying to show me all along thinking that I was really studying. My own ignorance and delusion kept me from truly learning what Marvin was showing me. And I think of myself as an open minded individual but when I was confronted with someone who is truly open-minded I reacted like an ostrich with it's head in the sand. Close-minded. This perplexed Marvin to no end. Here's a guy who's saying he wants to play the drums and be a master drummer but when he's confronted with a master drummer he closes up. I was and still am a victim of convention and if something doesn't fit my ideas or ideals I either try to make them fit or discard them. Obviously I wasn't intentionally doing this, I really wanted to learn what Marvin was teaching me but I had to throw out my predisposed ideas about drumming. Marvin's lessons aren't just about the drums and playing, they're also about opening yourself up and opening up to the world. Everyone wants to do this, I know I do, but not everyone wants to do the work that's involved. When Marvin saw that I was "fighting" him and his knowledge he wanted to figure why I was like this. So he asked if he could visit my mother in NYC. He thought by seeing where I grew up he could piece together why I was resisting his teachings.  When Marvin came to my mom's house he noticed that my father wasn't around. I told him my dad left when I was still a baby. Marvin instantly figured out that I had a trust problem specifically with men. Not knowing my father made me subconsciously resent and mistrust a lot of the older male figures in my life. Once Marvin realized this he was able to better understand where I was coming from and why I was blocking him. Afterwards he did things to gain my trust. For instance he told us that after I played St. Nick's pub in NYC and handled my business down there that I would have no problem playing anywhere else. The man was absolutely right, after I burnt it up down in St. Nick's my confidence was high and I felt more relaxed about my drumming. Marvin took me from a green, non-playing drummer to where I am today and he continues to do the same thing no questions asked. If it weren't for him my playing would be in the garbage and I would still be trying to figure out how to play. Through compassion and sincere intent Marvin has opened up my eyes to a bigger and more profound world. Not only with drumming but with everything. If he can do this for me he can definitely do this for you.   Marvin Bu-Ga-Lu Smith is unlike any other drummer I've seen play. He not only possesses a vast understanding of technique but more importantly an understanding of time. Most drummers get hung up on how fast they can move around the set but that's only a piece of the puzzle. The true technique comes from the time and the flow. Marvin has taken this knowledge to the point where it's super-natural. He has delved so deep into the time and flow that he himself has become a force of nature. When Marvin plays he can have the power of a tsunami or the subtlety of a light breeze. It is truly phenomenal when I think of what this man can do on the drum set. Marvin expresses the inner workings of the universe when he plays.  About a year ago I was waiting for Marvin at a jam session in Saugerties, NY. Before he arrived the atmosphere of the place was bland and flat. The music was good but lacked that creative spark or holy ghost that musicians seek. I was worried that Marvin wasn't coming so I gave him a call to make sure he was on his way. When I spoke to him he assured me that he was on his way and would be there momentarily. As soon as he walked through the door the energy of the club became lively and more positive. People all around became jovial and more open. When Marvin got on to the bandstand and played the music went to a higher level and reached the holy ghost or spirit. After this I was convinced that Marvin was capable of changing his environment just by his mere presence.        -  Kesai Riddick studying with Bugalu for 8 years

Recently I was thinking about the great benefits I have received from studying with my good friend and teacher, Marvin ‘Bugalu’ Smith. I decided to write this to share some experiences I have had studying with Marvin and I would like to encourage any students of music to study with him and check out his music. I first met Marvin when I was going to college in New Paltz, NY in the winter of 2001. I saw him play several times with Robert Kopec who ran the Jazz night at the Oasis Café every Tuesday. It was some of the most energetic and jubilant music I had ever heard. When Marvin played it lifted the whole atmosphere of the club and everyone in it. I could hear the music but I could also feel Marvin’s life force and everyone could feel the music in their bodies. It was the same power I could feel from John Coltrane’s music. I was Inspired by Marvin’s spirit and became determined to learn what he knew about the music and the time. When I first spoke with Marvin I felt timid because I had never met anyone who could play like that before.   He invited me to take a lesson from him and he didn’t ask for any money at first. At this point I had been studying the drums for a while and could play rock and popular styles ok but I felt I was at an impasse when it came to jazz and being able to swing. I didn’t know what to practice or who to play with to help me get it and my practice started to become like a painful austerity. I took me a while to take Marvin up on his offer but after school was out, we made an appointment. At the first lesson, Marvin pointed out something very important that I had neglected for years; I didn’t know how to ‘feather’ the bass drum (playing very light quarter notes on the bass drum underneath the jazz cymbal time)  It took me a while to put down my guard with Marvin because he is so intense and his playing is on such a high level. From this moment on I felt I could learn a lot from Marvin. What followed was what Marvin calls the dojo. We did private lessons in which Marvin would put me through various drills and taught me new concepts. It’s really like being in a dojo or the Shoaling Temple. Marvin was very generous with his time because he could see I had a genuine interest and often our lessons went for 3 or 4 hours or even all day. After a while I realized that Marvin’s true intent was to help me get better and open up my own creative potential. The other half of the teaching is the practical application, the jazz jam session. The jam session is a big part of the jazz tradition that I had neglected up until this point. As a musician it’s where you can ‘cut your teeth’ by learning the tunes (jazz standards). repertoire). If you don’t play what fits with the music at the session, people will let you know either by telling you or by their attitude toward you. All of this was very intimidating for me at that time. I didn’t know when to play the shuffle, when to play half time feel, when to leave space, when to accent, where to make the breaks, and most of all, I didn’t know any tunes. Although my lessons are different now, we have kept this same formula for years, jam session and private study. It’s the perfect combination because I can use what Marvin taught me in the lesson the next time I’m on the bandstand. I was forced to put myself into situations that were very uncomfortable and challenging and often I felt defeated and I felt like I couldn’t play anything. But I learned that defeat and being defeated are two very different things. I kept going back no matter how bad I felt. I was particularly afraid of going to more “hard core” jam sessions like the one at St Nick’s pub in Harlem. The level was higher there and people were more blunt about telling you if you fucked up. Eventually St. Nick’s was fun for me and I try to play the ‘St. Nick’s’ level whenever I sat down at the drums. As we did this for years I started learning the tunes and became more confident about playing. This has been the greatest learning tool for me. I learned to always strive for the highest level from Marvin’s example. He always studies the music and tries to make each next time the best. When we make video recordings every week, Marvin studies the tapes for hours. I believe it is this seeking spirit and hard work that is the mark of a true master and this was Marvin’s greatest teaching for me.  I am leaving a lot of details out which I can share later, but I wanted to share this with other drummers that would like to study with Marvin. I highly recommend him as a teacher and everyone should check out his music! It feels great to study with someone who is in the line with the great masters of time... PEACE   -  Andrew Greeney,  student of 8 years