360 - Helen De La Rosa: Defying the odds - Drummer's Resource: Conversations with the world's greatest drummers and music industry pros.
February 12, 2018

360 – Helen De La Rosa: Defying the odds

Helen De La Rosa in impressive by all standards. At a relatively young age she has already accomplished what many strive for their entire careers. The Dominican-born De La Rosa graduated from National Conservatory of Music of Santo Domingo then moved on to Berklee School of Music with under prestigious Presidential Scholarship. Not to mention that she won the Terri Lyne Carrington award while at Berklee –  twice! Showing no signs of slowing down she won the 2016 Hit Like a Girl contest and has performed with, Victor Wooten, has worked with famous musical duo Wendy & Lisa (who worked with Prince), with Grammy award winning producer Javier Limón, with Antonio Serrano (former harmonica player for Paco de Lucia) and played for Hillary Clinton, to name a few. She also participated as a Berklee student ambassador at India (Nov, 2015) were she gave several master classes in Mumbai and New Delhi and played with the virtuoso bass player Mohini Dey.

Helen De La Rosa talks about:

  • Starting as a classical guitar player before switching to drums
  • Early influences in the Dominican
  • Her days at the National Conservatory of Music of Santo Domingo
  • Winning the Presidential Scholarship from Berklee
  • What it’s like being a woman in a male-dominated field
  • Her thoughts on women drummers as a whole
  • Her issues with the term “hit like a girl”
  • Much more

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