Zoé Marti

Which musician has influenced you the most? 
Thelonious Monk for thinking outside of the box and being very creative with rhythm and playfulness, and Terri Lyne Carrington for her involvement regarding equity in the Jazz scene.

What can you teach me about your instruments different than any other teacher?
Creativity with rudiments. I love taking a “technique first” aspect of drumming that is rudiments, and to transform it into a fun little musical snippet that we can play around with. Getting rid of the “metronome fright” is also very dear to my heart, by incorporating it in every lesson in different forms every time (with a track, isolating instruments, click only, randomizing it, etc…).

How did you learn to play your instrument?
I took drum lessons from a very young age, but I did not practice at all for the first five years.  What really pushed me to "play" the drums and not just try to learn it was to create a band with some friends. Suddenly, all the 5 years of barely touching my instrument made sense, and I finally understood why people love to play music. The communication without words was what made me want to actively learn how to play the drums, also because I heard a lot of stuff that I couldn't play, and that pushed me to practice to be able to communicate with my drumming.

How do you go about writing a song or composing a piece yourself?
It is hard to answer, because I use a different writing method for every song. For example, I wrote one using the 12tone technique for all aspects, or wrote another one where I recorded myself singing a simple melody and built a song around it. 

What they all have in common is that I play them on the piano at some point, sing the different parts, and repeat that for hours. If I still enjoy playing it after that much time, then I keep it.

On what equipment do you play today?
For the drumset, I play on whatever the gigs supply. If they have none, I usually bring a suitcase-drumset I built, which offers amazing portability and is a great conversation starter.

I also make some cymbals myself for fun, and love to try them out and tweak them to see what happens. I was never confident enough to bring one of my own to a professional gig though...

For the rest, I value versatility the most, so most of what I use works great in all styles and conditions. 

The main things I use are the Vater 5a "Fusion" sticks because they are unplayable without proper technique, the Sabian Artisan Elite 20" and the Sabian Vault 22" (4 rivets) rides for their amazing all-roundedness and feel. For the hi-hat, I have a 1960's 13" Zanchi top, which sounds surprisingly modern and is very dry, and a 13” Paiste Alpha bottom into which I drilled holes to bring out a better “chick”.

Last but not least, I use the Vic Firth Heritage Brushes because they are purple and match my purple Harcase cymbal case (I love purple).

What personal trait has helped you the most when it comes to practicing?
Being kind to myself, so that I could leave some of the internal shame of not being able to play something, which then leads to me actually enjoying the process of practicing that exact thing.

The ability to stay focused for a long time on one groove only, in order to enter a meditative state while practicing, also helps me a lot to go really deep and zoom into every separate aspect.

What does your instrument have that others don't?
You get to hit it with sticks, what's more fun than that?

What do you pay special attention to when you teach?
Creating a Safer Space for learning, Fun, Creativity, Confidence and Time(/form) feeling. If all of this is not present in the lessons, it means I am not teaching it right and have to find a new approach to the subject we are working on, since they are foundational to making music.

How do you build up your music lessons?
I am very flexible and think that it is essential to adapt the program depending on your learning style, energy level and mood.

Unplanned questions are also very welcome!

For drums, here is my usual go-to plan that I start with my students, which I then adapt based on your learning style/goals/age :

We start with a check-in so that I know how you are feeling, and also know more about what you did with your instrument between the lessons. I also ask if there are any questions or wishes, and I adapt the lesson content based on all of that.

Warmups! Usually a body percussion game first, and then a drumset warmup with the rudiment of the month.

Expanding on the rudiment of the month to develop grooves/fills/coordination.

Theory time! We go over a new style, listen to some music to understand how it is built, or we explore a new concept.

Playing a tune. We work on a song you would like to play (and if you don't know, I will help you figure that out).

Trading! We do short solos back and forth, with a different underlying concept/focus each time.

We go over what to work on at home, because it is very important that you don't feel lost when you're out of the lesson.

Check out. How do you feel now? 

How does your approach differ when teaching children? 
The younger they are, the more playful I try to make the whole lesson in order to keep their attention. 

I do more body-percussion, rhythm games, playing a soundtrack to videos or pictures (and graphic scores), and playing to tracks.

What was your greatest experience as a musician so far?
One of the earliest concerts I played was with a rock cover-band. We played in a Highway tunnel for the construction workers that were celebrating the “Sainte-Barbe”, the saint for all professions dealing with fire or explosives.

We had to play very quietly because of the huge reverb (quite ironic for rock), but playing in this unusual and inaccessible space brought me a lot of joy.

What was the largest stage that you've performed on?
It was for the SRF in Zurich. It was not that big, about 200 people attending, but it was very fun and cool to see how fancy and new all the equipment was compared to most places.

Which musician would you like to play with?
Quite a lot, but if I had to pick one, it would be Willow Smith. I’d love to collaborate with a major Pop artist, and it feels like we could also connect personally on many subjects, which leads to great music.

Which record would you bring to a desert island?
Nate Smith – Kinfolk: Postcards From Everywhere. It makes me feel so happy and good, I figure if I’m alone on an island I could use that.

On which stage do you prefer to perform?
I’d love to do a tinydesk concert. I really like how unique and human each performance is (and who knows, after seeing the Domi & JDBeck one where they filled the whole studio with flowers and sat on a toilet, maybe I could top that, I already have a couple of ideas).

Besides music, what else is important in your life?
As a trans woman, TINFA* and minorities rights! Part of my political work about that subject includes working as the diversity advisor of the jazz school / jazz club / jazz association AMR in Geneva.

Otherwise, I love raw-milk cheese (so much so that I wrote two songs about it).