No one loves drums more than Dorothea. She started her music appreciation by taking piano lessons at age 8, for six years. By the time she was 13, even though she knew that girls were not normally seen playing drums, she knew she was born to be a drummer. So, she decided to be brave and joined a local Drum and Bugle Corps in her hometown in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. She received her rudimental training and practice discipline by marching with them for six years.
By the time she graduated from high school she was ready to get into her first band. It was a dance band that played Polkas and Waltzes five nights a week! She moved on to other bands where she realized that she wanted to be a drummer for the rest of her life. Besides playing drums, Dorothea plays congas, bongos, djembe, ukulele, hammered dulcimer, and guitar, and has been the organist at her church for the past 40 years.
Dorothea has played a variety of different music genres in many different bands including dixieland, jazz, blues, broadway musicals, symphonic, church cantatas and classic rock. She has done it all.
She started being a drum instructor for many drum lines including Drum Corps and middle and high school lines for the last 40 years. Dorothea has been giving private drum lessons for the past 40 years and has been teaching virtually since the Covid pandemic.
Dorothea is currently a Drumeo coach. Drumeo is an online drum school with great opportunities for students to learn how to play the drums correctly. She teaches drum students of all ages, from all over the world.