Founded in 1977, The Collective, was created by a small group of professional New York musicians who wanted to share what they knew with serious young students. For more than thirty years, this original concept has been the cornerstone of The Collective and has helped make it one of the world’s premier music schools. Having a faculty of active professionals, who have not only the desire, but also the ability to teach on the highest level, is what The Collective is all about. Some of the original faculty included: Lenny White, Narada Michael Walden, and Kenwood Dennard. In 1980 the Collective was taken over by two former students, Rob Wallis and Paul Siegel. It was during this period that Drummers Collective began to establish itself as the world's pre-eminent school devoted exclusively to the study of drumset.