He was a one of a kind guy. An amazing educator and an ambassador for the instrument. His drummer interviews were the best. As a drummer himself he always knew the best question to ask, also he made the interviewees very comfortable
I had maybe 5 “masterclasses” with him in the late 80’s / early 90’s. About 15 years later I saw him, said “you probably don’t remem…” before he hugged me and said “Lee of course I remember! You, Mikey Dave would drive up from Philly…” totally blowing me away because he knew EVERYONE. “You know I was just talking with Mr. Steve Gadd about that very thing…” Not just a great drum teacher, a great teacher in general.
That's awesome, tbh he always seemed like that kind of guy, who loved what he did and loved those he met. If most people were like Dom the world would be a fkin great place. RIP Dom, beat the skins across the universe!
"When I'm gone, as long as all of my students are involved with music, I am part of their life." The drummer in my band took lessons with Dom for a long time so this made me emotional. RIP Dom
So unfair one of the greatest and the most jolly human beings in this community went away so soon. He is already missed so much. I hope they have a good drum kit and lots of sticks where you are Dom!
This was so great. Thanks yet again, Brandon and all at Drumeo. I remember waking up on the morning of what would be my first lesson with him. It was snowing hard outside and I hadn't been driving all that long. So I called him and said, "Man... I woke up to a blizzard. I think I might have to postpone, because I'm not sure it's safe to drive all the way to Long Island, but I don't want to miss our lesson. I don't know what to do." To which he replied, "I understand. it's totally up to you. But you're gonna have to decide if you want to be a viking or not. Are you gonna be a viking?" I got in the car, braved the whiteout, and it was a great lesson. Another time, he called my house to invite me to Jim Chapin's birthday party and got my mom. He said, "Hi, this is Dom Famularo and...." She cut him off immediately and good-naturedly said, "I know who you are!" To which he replied, "Oh...yes... thank you, thank you." 😂 I miss going out to his house, getting ripped on (great) Italian coffee (I needed the caffeine to keep up with him), and leaving empowered and inspired. Those were the days. Love ya forever, Dom.
Saw Dom in a music shop back in 1994 age 21. Pre RU-vid, Instagram etc. No phones filming just everyone focused on this giant of a drummer, teacher, motivator. I loved the guy.
I cry with this video. I never meet him or have the chance to see him live. But damn I love his philosophy and personality, and of course the inspiration of see it playing drums with that smile and passion... thanks for all don 💓🥁💓
The best lesson from his legacy is what he said about his parents and household that he grew up in a household that was open to people from different backgrounds whether religions, countries etc, something that is sadly no longer the reality. Sadly never got to meet the great man. What a beautiful soul
I was lucky to have honor to be a student of Doms in the late 80's. First lesson we didn't touch the drums!! Instead, he gave me the best motivational speech I've ever heard. Couldn't wait to get to my second lesson a week later. He had biggest personality of anyone I've net in this life. He will be missed!
I met Dom the first time at a clinic at the now defunct Wagstaff Music in Murray, UT. A couple years later, he was in town for something and came in to the same shop when I happened to be there. He walked in, greeted me BY NAME, shook my hand and said "How have you been?" What an amazing human being and ambassador for the instrument.
I am so moved by this man's passion for life, drumming, and people. I new Dom when I was a young teen growing up on Long Island. Always kind, funny, and just a lovely man. I also love how the Drumeo guys show their love and respect that he surely deserves. He is missed, but will always be remembered.
Im 63 years old. When i was in my mid teens Dom agreed to give me lessons, even though i was a little younger than his typical student. I've carried his lessons, on drums and on life with me ever since. He will be missed by many.❤❤
…gotta say my fondest memory of the “beforeTimes” was Drumeo 2020 where Dom Famularo held court as MC with some of the best drummers in the Biz - he’ll forever be ‘Motivator Extraordinaire’ & truly a Friend to all of us. Thanks for this Brandon, Long Live the Spirit of Dom!? 🙏🏽
Touched so deeply by this. Thanks for the great memory of Dom. To watch his joy was mind boggling for the 16 year old me.. Like how did he feel that joy so deep? Truly a special gentleman.
Nice tribute! I always loved reading anything I saw related to him in the drum magazines over the years, and all of his interviews on DRUMEO were the best!! Thanks for posting this, it was awesome!!
Thank you dom for passing your knowledge on to us and thanks drumeo and Brandon for helping inspire me to pick back up the sticks after many years of inactivity.
I found him later in my life. But, he was infectious with his passion. The idea that he wanted to pass what he learned to the next generation is what playing should be all about. I’m a nobody when it comes to the drumming world, but I’ve been asked from young kids to help them learn, and it’s the biggest reward I’ve had playing.
Thank you for this beautiful tribute! I lost count of how many times I heard and met Dom. I would leave the venue feeling alone on top of the world…and couldn’t get to my drums fast enough.
Thank you for this. It was beautiful. As you mentioned like so many others, he was the first drum set clinician I saw (early 90's). I always took the opportunity to say a quick, grateful hello during PASIC. His teaching and inspiration will forever resonate with us. Now, off to practice.
i haven't personally known dom, nor have i ever seen any videos of him before his passing, but now that i have, i wish i had earlier. the dude was such a fantastic guy and he will definitely be missed, even after 100 years. thanks for another fantastic vid, guys, and thanks to dom for everything he gave in his life, especially his passion for banging plastic with wood and for life itself.
Thank you so much for this video! I thought you guys were going to come up with something special about Dom, but didn't expect it to be so good and so inspiring! ❤
My first time hearing of Dom. His energy is infectious. I don't think I stopped smiling while watching him. I wish I had known of him while he was still with us in person but I'm glad that I was introduced to his spirit on here. Good vibes all around.
Thank you so much for sharing this video. What an absolute force of nature Dom was! The amount of of students, amount of travel to reach people, the impact on the drumming community, incredible. I also loved the anecdote of Jim Chapin, a master at his craft, still working on his weaker hand on his last day.
That’s classic Jim Chaplin at hospital hours left to live. Wailing away on his pad. Met Chaplin at his clinic in ‘86. He actually showed me his Moeller whip. Never met Dom. Dom was always so cheerful and loving in all his videos. Intense energy in his playing huge fan of the both.
This was a wonderful, heartwarming tribute to an extraordinary human being. Of course, it was also inspirational, which is the essence of Famularo's energy. Dom is no longer here in a recognizable human form, but as long as people embrace their best selves, strive to express themselves in a creative fashion, show kindness, enthusiasm, and joy for both drumming and living, Dom will ALWAYS be with us. He truly was one of the most warm, generous, authentic, and engaging souls I ever met.
He was a fountain of connectivity and inspiration to me and made me jealous that the drumming community had people like that tying everyone together with love and positivity. Other instrumental communities don't have enough of that. The music world will miss him. He was BRILLIANT.
Omg. I just joined drumeo discovering some of his videos and feeling the passion all over. Just got to know that he passed away. That is really sad! But seems lile he made the best out of his life! RIP !
Dom was and still is a huge inspiration to my self any others. He visited my schools music program I think around 1979 and gave band program a drum clinic and played with the jazz band. This was on Long and I did get study with Dom a few different times, I had initial lesson when I was I H.S. and then later in mid twenties for a period of about six months. I saw several of his clinics in NY. I recently wrote to him shortly before his illness and asked about studying again with him, but unfortunately it didn't happen. He was always a top notch class act and I am forever grateful to have known him!
With a Heartfelt Thank you Brandon and Drumeo, Dom was so full of life a man I wished I could have met in person and not just over Facebook, I had a lump in my throat and fighting back a tear, Thank you Dom you taught to world the language of Drums Rest easy and fly high
One of the people I’ll never get to meet and that’s really sad to me because he is just one of the best. Rest in peace Dom - you’re up there playing with Neil Peart, Jason Bonnum, and the other greats!
It’s really great seeing all of these nice comments. Dad use to love reading every comment on his videos. Really brought him joy. Sure enough it would inspire him to aspire and that was his cycle. Huge
Your dad was a mentor and hero to all of us here at Drumeo. It’s up to all of us to keep his legacy alive and keep pushing forward to spread the love of music like he always did. We miss him everyday! - Brandon
So dearly missed! We are blessed to have captured Dom's legacy on video so that his inspiration can be passed along in a way that we couldn't only a few generations ago.
Arguably the most positive attitude??? Nobody was as positive as Dom Nobody!! He was awesome on a level unseen by anyone! I was very close to Dom and was his friend and student for over 16 yrs! I spent some time with him at his 70th birthday party (Aug 2023) and it turned out to be the last time I would see him, as he passed in late Sept 2023, but did speak to him just a few days before he passed! Even facing his end he was positive and encouraged me to carry on teaching, learning and being a positive and supportive person overall! I miss him intensely, Rip Dom 😢
I had the pleasure of meeting him in a “medical treatment facility” several years ago here on Long Island. I had mentioned that I wanted to start building drums and he was so interested in helping me get started and seemed like such a genuine sweet person. I’d always hoped that I would meet him again.
For me, I was in junior high school and watched the school band march in to the assembly to the cadence of the drummers. At that moment, I wanted to be a drummer. I am 73 years old and still play my beloved drums.
Verlo en vivo era espectacular, transmitía mucha alegría, y era un baterista con un golpeo muy potente, tuve la suerte de conocerlo, un tipo fenomenal.
I found Dom on a Sabian website when I got back into drumming in 2000 after a 20+ year hiatus. I took the initiative to email Dom after watching some of his drums drumshed videos. We communicated back and forth off and on. I was only a couple of years older than him. His encouragement and EXPLOSIVE energy really had an impact on my drumming. I bought one of his books: It's Your Move. Great investment. I'm 73 and still playing. Feels like I lost a friend
Everyone should watch this be you drummer, musician, or regular joe. If this doesn’t inspire you to get the most out of life nothing will. Great video Drumeo.
R.I.P Dom thank you for inspiring many generation of drummers every drummer looks up to you as there teacher you have own the song eye of the tiger everytime people here the song we think of you 🕊❤
I wish I discovered this guy earlier and had him as my teacher! He was certainly alot more kinder and brighter than some of the old farts who practically didn't give a crap about your progress and your mental health! Its important to make sure students feel welcome and take time with them and patience as much as possible. You will definitely be missed! ❤
Dom was a great guy to talk to and hangout with. I went to a drum scene live clinic in Adelaide cos that's where I'm from, it had I reckon it was Virgil, Todd and Dom, Dom took the time to communicate and shake every person in the room that I edmire to this day. When I heard when that Dom was having health issues I put that on my Instagram story wishing him a full recovery and a few hours later he followed me and I texted him saying thanks for the follow etc and I didn't know that was the last time and thing I would say to him I got home from my high school and my dad told me the news that Dom passed and I was shocked almost broke down in tears and my drum teacher Pete Barter were friends with him as well, and I miss him every day but his legacy will live on for us drummers Love ya Dom❤🤘