www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHXMX4eKNfA

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOWpZ0sKwo8

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHkucr1jJpQ

Peart’s drumming skill and technique is well-regarded by fans, fellow musicians, and magazines. His influences are eclectic, ranging from Jon Thomas, John Bonham, Michael Giles, Ginger Baker, Phil Collins, Steve Gadd, and Keith Moon, to fusion and jazz drummers Billy Cobham, Buddy Rich, Bill Bruford and Gene Krupa. The Who was the first group that inspired him to write songs and play the drums. Peart is distinguished for playing “butt-end out”, reversing stick orientation for greater impact and increased rimshot capacity. “When I was starting out”, Peart said, “if I broke the tips off my sticks I couldn’t afford to buy new ones, so I would just turn them around and use the other end. I got used to it, and continue to use the heavy end of lighter sticks – it gives me a solid impact, but with less ‘dead weight’ to sling around.”
Peart had long played matched grip, but shifted to traditional as part of his style reinvention in the mid-1990s under the tutelage of jazz coach Freddie Gruber. Shortly after the filming of his first instructional DVD A Work in Progress, Peart went back to using primarily matched, though he does switch to traditional when playing songs from Test for Echo and during moments when he feels traditional grip is more appropriate, such as the rudimentary snare drum section of his drum solo. He discusses the details of these switches in the DVD Anatomy of a Drum Solo.

With Rush, Peart has played Slingerland, Tama, Ludwig, and Drum Workshop drums, in that order.
Peart played Zildjian A-series cymbals and Wuhan china cymbals until the early 2000s when he switched to Paragon, a line created for him by Sabian. In concert, Peart uses an elaborate 360-degree drum kit, with a large acoustic set in front and electronic drums to the rear.

During the late 1970s, Peart augmented his acoustic setup with diverse percussion instruments including orchestra bells, tubular bells, wind chimes, crotales, timbales, timpani, gong, temple blocks, bell tree, triangle, and melodic cowbells. Since the mid-1980s, Peart has replaced several of these pieces with MIDI trigger pads. This was done in order to trigger sounds sampled from various pieces of acoustic percussion that would otherwise consume far too much stage area. Some purely electronic non-instrumental sounds are also used. One classic MIDI pad used is the Malletkat Express which is a two-octave electronic MIDI device that resembles a xylophone or piano. The Malletkat Express is composed of rubber pads for the “keys” so that any stick can be used. Beginning with 1984′s Grace Under Pressure, he used Simmons electronic drums in conjunction with Akai digital samplers. Peart has performed several songs primarily using the electronic portion of his drum kit. (e.g. “Red Sector A”, “Closer to the Heart” on A Show of Hands (video) and “Mystic Rhythms” on R30.) Peart’s drum solos also feature sections performed primarily on the electronic portion of his kit.
Shortly after making the choice to include electronic drums and triggers, Peart added what has become another trademark of his kit: a rotating drum riser. During live Rush shows the riser allows Peart to swap the prominent portions of the kit (traditional acoustic in front, electronic in back). A staple of Peart’s live drum solos has been the in-performance rotation-and-swap of the front and back kits as part of the solo itself. This special effect provides both a symbolic transition of drum styles within the solo and a visual treat for the audience.
In the early 2000s, Peart began taking full advantage of the advances in electronic drum technology, primarily incorporating Roland V-Drums and continued use of samplers with his existing set of acoustic percussion. His digitally-sampled library of both traditional and exotic sounds has expanded over the years with his music. [wikipedia]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9069E443513B1429

it has been covered by a number of artists:

joan baez

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJeNPS2tLdA

galija - kad me pogledas

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd__SZeM_qQ

gregorian

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rzU1de8Fec

club for five

www.youtube.com/watch?v=g55JlxWYo8Q

northern kings

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFp5s-UWP8Q

nina person

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhjH8sQi26k

metallica

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsKREdCoezg

original version

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGpwKQo5_Z0

www.youtube.com/watch?v=11595607BEA93D06

Usually thought of as a middle-of-the-road popular singer, Françoise Hardy — at the beginning of her career, at least — covered more stylistic ground and owed more debts to pop/rock than she’s given credit for. Immensely popular in her native France, the chanteuse first displayed her breathy, measured vocals in the early and mid-’60s. Her (mostly self-penned) recordings from that era draw from French pop traditions, lightweight ’50s teen idol rock, girl groups, and sultry jazz and blues — sometimes in the same song. The material is perhaps too unreservedly sentimental for some (in the French tradition), but the songs are invariably catchy and the production, arrangements, and near-operatic backup harmonies excellent, at times almost Spector-esque. Fans of Marianne Faithfull’s mid-’60s work can find something of a French equivalent here, though Hardy’s material was stronger and her delivery more confident. [allmusic]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=40AFA6E0BF9C2054

www.youtube.com/watch?v=57E2E969A3E54FC8

“our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.”
-ralph waldo emerson

“it’s not that i’m so smart, it’s just that i stay with problems longer.”
-albert einstein

“it does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.”
-confucius

“keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. i never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down.”
-charles f. kettering

“never consider the possibility of failure; as long as you persist, you will be successful.”
-brian tracy

“perseverance is a great element of success. If you knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.”
-henry wadsworth longfellow

www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0B2BCBC25AF3E8B

screamin jay hawkins

Jalacy Hawkins (July 18, 1929, Cleveland, Ohio – February 12, 2000, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France), best known as Screamin’ Jay Hawkins was an American musician, singer, and actor. Famed chiefly for his powerful, operatic vocal delivery and wildly theatrical performances of songs such as “I Put a Spell on You”, Hawkins sometimes used macabre props onstage, making him one of the few early shock rockers. [wikipedia]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF396E9FA844415E

Ayreon is a project by Dutch composer and musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen. Ayreon’s musical style derives mostly from heavy metal and progressive rock, but combines them with genres like folk, classical and electronica. The majority of Ayreon’s albums are dubbed “rock operas” because the albums contain complex storylines featuring a host of characters, usually with each one being represented by a unique vocalist.

ayreon

Ayreon’s music is characterized by the use of traditional instruments in rock music (guitars, bass guitar, drums, synthesizers, electric organs) mixed with instruments more native to folk and classical music (e.g. mandolins, violins, violas, celli, flutes, sitars and didgeridoo). Lucassen writes the music and the lyrics, sings and plays instruments on all of the Ayreon albums, alongside many guest musicians. His regular drummer is Ed Warby. [wikipedia]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=41FBC6694855D58A