Hello everyone,

My name is Derya. I’m a first time contestant from Turkey. I am a data scientist working in finance and also a second year master’s student in mathematics. It is been 10 months since I started to take drumming lessons and now it is more than a hobby for me. I love to exercise drumming after work or school. Sometimes, when available, I go to the drum class where I take my courses to work on the acoustic set. Otherwise I exercise stick control with my training pad at home.

I am a big fan of live music and I try to catch every show of my favorite artists. One day I’d love to play drums live with my favorite musicians. That’s is one of my biggest motivations.

My favorite band is “mor ve ötesi”, an alternative rock band based on  Turkey. Their drummer Kerem Kabadayı has a huge influence on my drumming. He is an idol for a lot of young drummers in Turkey.

I also enjoy listening 80’s pop-funk. In this genre Earth, Wind&Fire is my favorite. I love their up-tempo, groovy sound. Their drum partitions are really fun to play. That’s is why I chose to cover their song “Boogie Wonderland”. I hope you enjoy my performance. 🪩🥁

Special thanks to my drum tutor for motivating and supporting me always.

I am really happy to be a part of HLAG community. I wish luck to all the drummers. 💕

-Derya