Wellesley's Bach to Rock Drum Teacher a Blue Man Group 'Drum-Off' Finalist

Wellesley, MA – A drum teacher at Bach to Rock music school in Wellesley is one of five finalists to compete in this year's Blue Man Group Boston Drum-Off.

Alex McGillivray, a Peabody native and current instructor at the Linden Square music studio, was chosen from a pool of 35 competitors to perform July 16 at the Outside the Box festival.

Finalists were selected based on a solo jam video and a video accompanying a live band or recorded music, both up to two minutes in length.

In the semi-finals, McGillivray and 14 other competitors performed a live three-minute session and learned a piece of Blue Man Group music. Their performances were evaluated by a selection panel consisting of Boston Musicians and the Blue Men themselves.

Five finalists were then chosen by the selection panel.

"We had a great group of drummers try-out this year and these five definitely rose to the top," Jonathan Screnci, resident general manager of Blue Man Group Boston, said in a press release. "They will be rehearsing with us and the winner will perform a piece on drum kit with our band and Blue Men called Paintbone at this year's Drum-Off at the Outside the Box Festival. We’ve never done this before so we’re excited to see how these drummers learn and perform a new piece of music."

The finalists will perform a two-minute solo jam session at Outside the Box later this month; the Grand Prize winner will be awarded $6,000 in prizes from the Blue Man Group, DW, Sabian, Vic Firth and AT&T and receive the opportunity to perform a song alongside the Blue Man Group.

Watch Alex's video submission below:

Photo: Galeria de Léo Pinheiro - Picasa (Blue Man Group em São Paulo em 02/08/2009) via Wikimedia Commons