Ray Fransen - Professional drummer and drum teacher
Ray FransenĘĽs Drum Center
Ray Fransen is a New Orleans-based professional drummer and drum teacher, and is the proprietor of Ray Fransen’s Drum Center, a retail store that specializes in the sale of drums as well as private drum lessons.
In this Loyola University, New Orleans Music Industry Program Series, drummer Ray Fransen discusses his long career as a teacher and retail store owner. Topics include the challenges of teaching private lessons; maintaining a competitive edge against large retailers; and how the New Orleans music community has changed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
In this segment of a Loyola University, New Orleans Music Industry Program Series, drummer Ray Fransen talks about how the drums motivated him to become more physically active and express himself musically, and how the perception of the role of drummers began to change from “hired guns” to unique performers around the time he attended Loyola in the 1960s.
In this segment of a Loyola University, New Orleans Music Industry Program Series, drummer Ray Fransen explains why he decided to open a drum store after many years performing and teaching, and recounts the challenges he faced and how he overcame them.
In this segment of a Loyola University, New Orleans Music Industry Program Series, drummer Ray Fransen explains how he expanded his business teaching private lessons by offering them through his retail store, and addresses some of the challenges he faced in taking on a broader range of students than he had previously found exclusively through referrals.
In this segment of a Loyola University, New Orleans Music Industry Program Series, drum teacher Ray Fransen addresses the issues that private music teachers—particularly drummers—face in today’s cultural environment, where self-teaching books abound and parents dilute their children’s focus on music in the spirit of well-roundedness. He also offers advice on how teachers can help students cultivate a deeper interest in drums by developing their confidence as players.
In this segment of a Loyola University, New Orleans Music Industry Program Series, drum shop proprietor Ray Fransen makes a case for brick-and-mortar instrument retail, listing the many reasons why musicians would want to handle an instrument before purchasing it, and suggesting that people are inclined to accept the veracity of product information online without having sufficient proof of the retailer’s claims.
In this segment of a Loyola University, New Orleans Music Industry Program Series, drum shop proprietor Ray Fransen discusses the mutually beneficial relationship that flourished between his Drum Center and the New Orleans music community after Hurricane Katrina.
In this segment of a Loyola University, New Orleans Music Industry Program Series drum teacher and retailer Ray Fransen answers audience questions on a variety of subjects, including how he advises students to select their gear; the drawbacks to building your own drums; and the state of music instrument retail in New Orleans.
In this segment of a Loyola University, New Orleans Music Industry Program Series, drummer Ray Fransen offers advice to students seeking music careers in New Orleans, explaining why he thinks the attitudes within the music community there are on the brink of change and stressing the importance of balancing artistic goals with professional strategies.
