T Mike Miller

T Mike Miller is a Spokane County native, and grew up just blocks from the campus of Eastern Washington University. Born into a musical family, the expectation was to learn piano at a young age, however Mike had an early fascination with the drums. Starting around age 4, Mike started breaking toy drum sets with paper heads jamming out.

After going through a couple toy sets and lots of pots and pans in between, Mike was given a real drum set, with the condition that piano lessons would continue.. Soon thereafter, he wandered into the music building on campus looking for lessons and was introduced to the longtime professor, Marty Zyskowski. From that point on, Mike was connected with lots of fantastic percussionists to learn and study with while growing up in small-town Cheney. By age 13, he was playing paid gigs around town with rock bands and began studying jazz and big band drumming.

Throughout the high school years, Mike received numerous awards and became recognized as one of the best up and coming players in the area. Upon graduation from high school, he was recruited to play professionally with the US ARMY BAND. After Basic Training in South Carolina, Mike traveled to Norfolk, VA and studied at the Armed Forces School of Music. He then returned to Washington where he served at Fort Lewis in the 56th Army Band.

Next, T Mike worked as a freelance artist for several years; including work as a show-band drummer with the cruise lines, original projects, and ‘on call’ work in a variety of settings. He began to study music business and became a first call player in the Seattle area before returning to Spokane.

After returning to Spokane, Mike completed an AA in Business from SFCC, which focused on entertainment business. He then completed a BA in Business Management at EWU. He has continued to be a first call drum coach for local pros and performed across a huge variety of musical styles.

Currently, T Mike is the band leader of Showband Spokane, a Las Vegas style Variety Band. He is also a drummer with Blue Wave Band in Seattle, and is a local Jazz Artist.

Drum Set

Basics, Technique, Styles, Fills, Coordination, Reading, Sight Reading, Dynamics, Control, Footwork, More…