HE still regards himself as a student, but by anybody's book, Keith Caisey is a true master of his craft ? the language of the hand.

Mr. Caisey has been playing a drum of one sort or another for more than 40 years. In that time he's jetted from continent to continent sampling traditional rhythms, shared a stage with household names such as The Temptations and Gladys Knight, and helped rock legends The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin record ground-breaking albums.

Throughout his varied playing and recording career Mr. Caisey has always displayed one constant ? a willingness to learn. It's a characteristic that has enabled him to develop a broad understanding, not only of his instrument and the many languages it speaks, but of the broader power that music possesses over an audience.

It's also a characteristic that the Bermudian has striven to pass on to others. Having hosted hundreds of percussion workshops across the globe, this summer the veteran of more than 250 albums will be holding a summer camp for youngsters wanting to bang their own drum. Reporter GARETH FINIGHAN and photographer CHRIS BURVILLE met with Mr. Caisey to talk about his career.

Q: When did you become interested in music and percussion in particular?

A: My father played and so I took an interest at an early age, about 11 years old. That's where it's come from, from that point right up until now. This is all I've ever done. I'm a Jack of many, many trades ? instrument maker, songwriter, costume builder ? and I travel the world facilitating workshops. I've done many recording sessions throughout the world ? probably about 250 albums I've played on. Music just seems to have so many offshoots to it that I've never done anything else except make music. I was learning my craft here in Bermuda under my father when, at the age of about 14 or 15, the National Black Theatre made me an offer I couldn't refuse ? to go to New York and work with them. I jumped at the chance because, although I was in school I really wasn't learning. I wasn't paying attention. There's a calling and I didn't feel any connection at school ? I only got that calling when I heard the drums.

The National Black Theatre was my first experience of international performance. New York's the toughest place to get recognised musically. From there it was just small stepping stones ? Carnegie Hall, the Apollo Theatre, down to Atlanta, Georgia for the Congress of African People with people like Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan, people from the Black Panther Party.

At that young age it was a lot to take on and a lot to absorb and at the same time it was a little frightening. But all I wanted to do was go and play. I never had a fear of playing or presenting myself.

Q: You started touring at a young age. Why do you think that gave you an advantage in your career?

A: Playing with real musicians at an early age, I soon realised that I didn't know what I was doing with the drums. When you see masters playing you realise that you don't know everything. That makes you prepare yourself because it's a bit like being a gunslinger ? when you walk into a new town you don't pull your pistol unless you know you're real fast.

That's what I learned from being on the road. People might have warmed to me because I was very young but I was also very eager to learn. You then start to see that you're moving up the ladder and getting the better jobs, better jobs, better jobs. Then it got to the point where I was picking and choosing as opportunities kept coming.

Q: You've been able to make a career out of music, a career in which a lot of people fail. Was it easy for you? Was it luck?

A: Music has certainly afforded me a lifestyle where people might look at me and think, 'Well, I wish I could get that type of break', but then again it's a case of preparation meeting opportunity ? you have to prepare yourself.

There's a lot of hard work and we make a lot of sacrifices. There are times when people might think it's all fun and games when you're doing tours, partying and stuff but I think a lot of people fail to realise that, to get to that point, you spend eight hours a day practising.

And when you're on the road you have to practise even harder because you have to be on top of your game. You're playing a set format of music when you're touring but it doesn't end there ? you have to play every facet of music that is out there. It means that you have to study constantly, you have to hit the books.

Q: So how is your time spent now? Describe a typical year for you, if there is such a thing as a typical year. Are you still doing a lot of touring or recording?

A: Well, it's broken up. I will do six months from April to October at Hawkins Island. Once that is complete that's when I become airborne. I go to the parts of the world that I want to go to and I study, I become the student. I go to Brazil to study, I go to Africa to study, I go to Cuba to study. On top of that I still have endorsement contracts to facilitate a certain number of workshops during the course of a year. It's got to a point where I have to do six workshops a year and record at least three albums a year.

Because of my moving around I've taken to filming documentaries while I'm travelling and studying, documenting all the different drum styles around the world. I'm compiling an audio visual encyclopaedia. The rest of my time is spent catching up with drummer friends of mine and trying to squeeze a vacation in.

Q: Which artists have you worked with?

A: The Rolling Stones, INXS, Sherbert, Led Zeppelin, the Funkadelics, people like Marsha Hines, Collision, Demis Roussos, Johnny Halliday, I've been to a whole lot of places doing a whole lot of things.

Yeah, I would say so. To say they're normal people would be an understatement but I was treated just like one of the guys, one of the members of the band. Keith Moon and I got on great and Charlie Watts too.

My first time with the Stones was playing at Mick Jagger's wedding to Bianca in the south of France in the early '70s. Since then I've had the pleasure of being around a lot of great musicians and a lot of great people.

Sometimes you would be in the right place at the right time and you'd find yourself sitting next to Omar Sharif or Brigitte Bardot. Before you know it you strike up a friendship with these people and you find yourself around them all the time. That's when you realise that they're just normal people like you and I.

You can't be in total awe of what's going on around you, you have to take it as if it's just another day in the park. That's what I've done throughout my career, although there are some experiences that stand out more than others, experiences that you really cherish. For me it's the people that you meet and the people that you work with and the way they really embrace you.

I can't say this was the best gig or that was the best gig . . . actually I can say that playing at the opening ceremony of the 2000 Olympics in Australia ? that has to be one of the highlights that I'm very fond to remember.

Then there are some gigs where you wish you had never got on board. I actually felt like that after playing with Led Zeppelin ? not so much because of the lunacy but because of the volume side of it. If you want to last in this business you have to protect your ears. They were great people but you have to start being selective.

Q: You certainly seem to have packed in a lot in your life.

A: Well, that's life on the road ? you pack it in. You live in suitcases and at airports. You're in one country in the morning and another in the evening. There was a point in my life when I was never two days in the one country. You'd be in Spain one night and then your flying straight out to Amsterdam, then you're back in England.

Just from being in the studio doing sessions you become like a snap-on tool. They snap you on and when it's over they snap you off and you're off somewhere else. I never looked at playing with one band as a long-term job.

I always wanted to diversify the music. Basically, I was a freelance musician for 30 years. You're doing gigs in the evening and then you're in the studio during the day. You live a lot and you experience a lot.

Q: Let's talk about your plans for the summer. Have you organised summer camps before?

A: Internationally, I've facilitated a whole host of summer camps. They're enjoyable for people of all ages, not just children. I've also run Rhythm Nation in Dockyard for the past couple of summers where we brought children in and trained them but this will probably be the first one off the mainland on an island. Well, we think that if there were 100 kids we could take them, but realistically we're looking at about 40 children. It'll be a three-hour workshop and will run once a week for eight weeks from June to August. The children will get the chance to learn how to play the languages of the drums, whether it be African or Latin or Brazilian. We're going to take them through the paces and make sure that they retain the information that we've given to them.

We'll talk a lot about the things that interest children ? the basic construction of drums, the materials used, and how you can make drums without spending a lot of money. We'll also be talking about costumes.

I hope we will get around to the students making their own drums but the first step will be to introduce them to the drums and show them what the language of the hand is. That's the important thing to remember about playing the drums ? it's a language and it's hand drums that we will be dealing with. I think they'll walk away from the first day knowing how to play something. The idea is to make it easy.

Q: Recent research suggests that students can gain other benefits from learning a musical instrument which supposedly helps with their overall mental development and behaviour. Are you aware of any benefits apart from the straightforward acquisition of a skill?

A: Yes, I did a lot of early childhood development courses at university in Australia. The first thing that I notice with children is that, just like adults, there's a calming, healing process that's going on. With music your mind is not idle but there's certain sounds that will affect them with a feeling of well-being.

I think, depending on the instrument that they're learning, the genre of instrument that we're talking about has a traditional base and that has a strong effect. The skill behind teaching them is to wake up that sleeping giant because with drums you can call and respond.

That's the easiest way to teach someone who has never played the drums. I can play something to you and teach you what the response is. The minute you get into the habit of responding to what I'm saying to you, you're learning the language.

Q: Some people will insist that they are not musical at all. Can anyone learn to play an instrument? Does each and every one of us have some musical ability?

A: Yes, most definitely. It's finding the attunement, the key to attune you to what wakes you up. A lot of people don't understand that ? they will say they've got two left feet, they can't do it. But if someone can coax you into it very subtly, then before you know it you're doing it with your own interpretation of what you're hearing and what you're feeling. I would never say that some people just don't have rhythm, no, everybody has their own movement, their own way of perceiving things and of learning things. I would say they do. Because of our geographic location, we are influenced by a lot of things. Children grew up listening to the Gombeys so they have this rhythmic thing that falls on them almost like a birthright. They learn to dance to a particular style of drumming.

As they get older they start going to clubs and, of course, there's all the imported music that they are influenced by. While some people have no musical ability with instruments they will still be able to go out and spin records or whatever. I think music is a natural gift that most people have.

Q: You talk about the language of the hand but a lot of people might argue that the drum isn't really a 'proper' instrument like say the piano or guitar or whatever. How would you respond to that?

A: Well, the drum was the first instrument ? apart from the voice, of course. Throughout the centuries the drum has served a purpose within any social structure, for ceremonies, funerals, weddings, the whole business. Most people might say that it's not a melodic instrument but they're wrong again. We have ensembles with different drums. We are sitting here surrounded by drums ? there's four different drums here which means you've got four different voices.

Put those four drums together and you get chords. If you know the language of the hand and you apply the language of the hand to the language of the drum, you get melody.

Let's say we're looking at Latin American music or Cuban music. They have two sticks they hit together, the clave. They have rhythms that work within the time frame of the clave. You have a whole lot of melody within that one language.

Wherever you go you find these rhythms come in houses or blocks ? it just keeps on going. The melodic structure of the drum has been there since the beginning of time. You'll find that, when the European orchestras were brought into play, they never incorporated the hand drum. As time moved on, the military began using drums, for example to call the advance and the retreat. As music got to a point they took certain instruments from the military such as the cymbals and the snare drum and the bass drum and formed the drum kit. That was the birth of the drum kit but it wasn't the birth of drums or the birth of melody. The birth of melody, came from drums ? all different drums put together and speaking a language in harmony. Western music has melody and harmony as do the drums.

Q: What's the one thing you want your students to take away with them after attending your camp this summer?

A: Camaraderie. To be able to say 'I went out with a bunch of people I didn't know and yet I'm walking away feeling like I've known them all my life'. That's what the drums will give them, it's going to bring them all together. I think that sums up my own career ? I have comrades all around the world. There are people that I may have met 30 years ago ? I go back now and the door is still open. There's a camaraderie that takes place with the round table of drummers. When you get around these people you become empowered and I'm lucky to have spent a lot of time with some real masters.

Well, yes, over the years your knowledge becomes encyclopaedic. Most of the guys I studied with were masters and perhaps they regard me now as being on the same level as themselves. I have students who keep coming back to me.

A friend of mine who's the musical director for the Manhattans, Justice Butler, every time he comes here he studies with me. He's a conventional drummer but I teach him traditional drumming styles.

People do hold me in high regard but I think of myself as a student. I wake up every day and there's always a challenge. There's not a day goes by when I get up and think that I don't have to spend four hours on my drums. If I can't do it in the morning then I come home at night and play for four hours. After about four hours I'm beginning to feel good. If I do that every day then I should be able to walk on stage and explode into what people want to see from you.

There's new styles and rhythms coming out every day ? it's a lifetime's work but I will endeavour to learn. Then there's the offshoots, learning about the drums and how to make the instruments ? and at the end of it all you become a well-rounded person.

The kids who come to these summer camps? That's what will happen to them when they walk away at the end of it ? they're going to be well-rounded people. This summer is going to be a really nice experience.