ALAN DWORSKY
Until he was 40 years old, Al
Dworsky feared he would never be passionate about anything. Then he discovered
hand drumming. He was a lawyer at the time, married, with a three-year-old
daughter and a mortgage. One day he came home from work and had this pivotal
conversation with his wife:
“I want to quit my
job” he said. - “And?”
she said.
“And drum” - “And?”
“And I’ll figure out some way to make a living
at it or I’ll go back to working as a lawyer” he said.
- “OK,” she said. “Then go for it.”
It was too late for Al to
become a professional drummer, so he started work on an instructional book on
how to play conga drums. When his wife, Betsy Sansby, saw how much fun he was
having, she quit her job and joined him. The book they produced--Conga
Drumming--went on to sell tens of thousands of copies and win DRUM
Magazine’s Readers’ Poll for “Best Instructional Book.”
Al and Betsy went on to create
seven more books, including the bestsellers How to Play Djembe and Hip
Grooves for Hand Drums. To publish the books, Al created his company:
Dancing Hands Music. Al loved every aspect of the business, from writing the
books, to recording the audio tracks that went with them, to working with
artists on the covers and illustrators on the illustrations. He even loved
lugging the cartons of books into his garage to store them, but even more he
loved the trips to UPS to ship them out to Mel Bay, his distributor.
In the last 10 years, Al has
switched from producing books to producing videos. His free lessons on how to
play bongos on YouTube have attracted over 2 million views, which helped make
his video series Bongo
Grooves for Beginners a bestseller.
Al also started teaching a
weekly drum class for adults through his local community ed. This led to his
video series Gentle
Djembe for Beginners. It helps older beginners get the thrill of hand
drumming with little wear and tear on their hands.
Other recent instructional
videos from Al include Cajon Grooves for Beginners, Left-Handed Guitar for
Beginners and Cup Drumming for Kids.
What they all have in common is a deep appreciation for the beginner’s mind. “I
try to create my instructional works as soon as possible after I’ve learned to
play myself,” he says. “That way I’m sure not to lose touch with what the
student needs. My goal is to create just the right size steps and arrange them
in just the right order.
See All of Alan Dworsky's Dancing Hands Products Here