Sanford A. Moeller
Sanford Augustus " Gus" Moeller (* 1879 in Albany, New York, † 1961) was an American drummer, music educator and writer. He made the so-called " Moeller Method" or " Moeller technique" known to concentrate in the drummer to play the snare drum.
Life and work
Moeller started his education at the piano before he moved to the drums where it August Helmicke taught, one of the drummers from John Philip Sousa's orchestra. After his military service, he moved to New York, where he performed in vaudeville shows along with George M. Cohen, with whom he went on concert tours since 1925. Again and again he watched other drummer and summarized their techniques as Moeller technique together. In 1918 he published his drummer textbook that emphasized the technique of the rudiment of the game and the eponymous technique presented. Besides musical basic research and (few) It contains instructions on the techniques of the old army drummer the whole camp duty of the U.S. Army as well as a selection of known rudiment pieces. Moeller put a lot of emphasis on maintaining the rudiments and their interpretation in the original form. In the late 1920s he established himself as a music teacher. He also played at the Metropolitan Opera. Less well known is that Moeller was also an expert in the construction of drums. As a teacher, he had a strong influence on early jazz drummers such as Gene Krupa and Jim Chapin. Even drummers including Jojo Mayer and Claus Hessler are influenced in their game by the Moeller technique.