Pad Book

Anika Nilles is a German drummer, composer and instructor. She represents the new breed of 21st century drummers. She studied drums and music business at the Popakademie in Mannheim (Germany) with Udo Dahmen, Jost Nickel and Claus Hessler. Anika has appeared on stage with several artists and bands, and made her online debut in 2013 with her own YouTube channel, featuring videos of her unique compositions and inimitable playing style. With almost 20 million video views in recent years, she has made a name for herself as a much sought-after drummer and educator. To date, Anika has released two albums; Pikalar and For a Colorful Soul, and several singles. As a well-known clinician she has toured in Asia, North America, Australia and Europe, and participated in high profile drum events such as PASIC (USA), the LONDON DRUMSHOW (UK), the DRUMEO FESTIVAL (Canada), the RALPH ANGELILO DRUMFEST (Canada) and the BAG SHOW (France) and many more. For her work as a clinician and educator she has won numerous prestigious awards including: 2015 Modern Drummer Readers Poll for Up And Coming Artist, 2016 DRUM! Magazine No. 1 Rising Star 2017 UK Drummies Awards No. 3 Best Educator 2018 UK Musicradar No. 1 Best Clinician 2019 UK Musicradar No. 3 Best Clinician Anika teaches at the Popakademie – the University of Popular Music and Music Business – in Germany, and at the Nexus ICA (UK). She is also guest instructor at DRUMEO (Canada). In addition to her work as educator, clinician, author and composer, she regularly plays with her own band project NEVELL and is in high demand as a freelance drummer. As an author she writes workshops for several magazines like drums & percussion (Germany) and DRUM! (USA). Her PAD BOOK – published by Alfred Music – is her debut as a book author.

Credits:
"Anika definitely represents the new breed of 21st century drummers in many different ways. With this first book she opens the conceptual vault of how she organizes her practicing, creates drumset applications out of pad exercises, unfolding new possibilities to create musical vocabulary. And make no mistake: She really practices and uses all of them! I am proud to call her a long time alumni and see some of my input shimmer through and put towards different directions at the same time. Enjoy the journey, embrace the ideas and make them yours!"
CLAUS HESSLER (drummer, educator, author, and President of the German drummers community 'Percussion Creativ e.V.')

"It‘s rare that a drummer is both a world class educator and artist. Anika is the exception to the rule, she embodies both at the highest level. It has been an honour to work with her at Drumeo on multiple occasions and I‘m excited to experience how her contributions will continue to help millions of drummers for years to come."
JARED FALK (drumeo founder and CEO)

"Anika is like a sister to me, I remember the 1st time she came to my Drum Studio; Blew me away. She is so Dedicated, Methodical, Thoughtful, & VERY Tasteful. I’m proud of who she has become today."
CHRIS COLEMAN (drummer with Prince and Beck a.o.)

"When I met Anika she was my student. I am glad that she wrote this book so that I can learn from her now. She is one of my favorite drummers and I highly recommend digging into her book."
JOST NICKEL (drummer with Jan Delay, author and composer)

"With her book, Anika Nilles, using a variety of examples, closes an important gap for creative practice with the pad: Workouts and warm-ups, which serve selectively to develop the ears and the independence between right and left hand. Mental practice on the pad without a drumset speeds up the process of implementation on the set, especially when one of the most innovative drummers of the new generation makes their work routines accessible to the public. This book covers everything a standard workout has to deliver for all drummers."
PROF. UDO DAHMEN (Artistic Director and CEO of 'POPAKADEMIE – University of Popular Music and Music Business' (Germany), Vice President of 'German Music Council', drummer and author)