In October of 1949, at 10 years of age, Dick Demers began taking drum lessons from Lou Barrett. Lou was a great rudimental teacher and Dick continued with him for seven and a half years. Dick started playing in bands in 1954. By 1960 he was playing 6 nights a week with some the best musicians in the area, as well as teaching full time. On weekends he was playing Jazz with some of Maine's finest.
In the mid 60's he started developing a new approach in creating exercises by applying hundreds of different ways of playing a couple pages, concentrating more on an independence barrier than a reading barrier. The first printing of his book "The Beginning of No End to Control" was in 1980. This book has gained national attention and is being used by drum teachers across the country.
Over the course of his career, Dick has taught in several schools in central Maine, including the University of Maine at Augusta. After 50 years of teaching, he still enjoys it as much as he did in the beginning.
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