STICK IT TO YA— Professional drummer and instructor Thomas Lang of Westlake Village leads his students during the first day of the Thomas Lang Drumming Boot Camp on Jan. 27. Lang, who hosts the camp each year at locations around the world, was once voted “World’s Best Drummer” by readers of Rhythm magazine. WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers As a roomful of wide-eyed musicians looks on, Thomas Lang demonstrates the signature techniques that have made him one of the most highly regarded drummers in the world.

The rhythm he creates with his drumstick is quick and spiked with faster ripples. Two students leave their drum sets to record Lang’s hands and feet with their phones.

“Sick,” a student in the back of the room says about the sound. “That’s ridiculous.”

Lang’s pupils are no beginners themselves. They were in Newbury Park last weekend from places like Japan, Mexico, Canada and Peru to hone their percussion skills at the drum master’s annual boot camp. They range in age from early 20s to 61.

RHYTHM SECTION—Boot camp participants Martin Hernandez, center, of Mexico, and Louis Vassallo, right, of Nashville, Tenn., watch and record Lang’s foot and hand work. WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers Lang, a Westlake Village resident, hosted the Thomas Lang Drumming Boot Camp Jan. 27 to 29 at the Hampton Inn on Ventu Park Road in Newbury Park.

Lang has been voted the best studio, pop and all-around drummer in the world by numerous magazines. When he’s not touring with well-known singers or performing with his band, stOrk, the drummer leads about 10 intensive skill-building workshops around the world every year.

In 2011, his itinerary included Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Italy, Germany and Austria. Local guest drummers, including Curt Bisquera, who has played with Seal, Elton John and Paul McCartney, also stop by the camp to share advice or give an hourlong lesson.

For eight hours a day, students hold sticks in both hands, hit beats in unison and slam feet on pedals.

During one exercise on Friday, Lang asks the group to play as hard and loud as they can for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds, then repeat.

“Don’t think about what you’re playing, don’t think about precision,” Lang tells them. “I want you guys to exhaust yourselves as quickly as possible.”

By the end of the exercise, students are panting.

“Can you feel that?” Lang asks. “It’s high-impact cardio training.”

Good drummers need stamina, the teacher explains.

“It has nothing to do with music,” he says. “(The drum) is a very physical instrument. In order to master certain techniques, you have to develop fitness.”

Lang’s class is different from a typical drumming lesson, he said. Other camps don’t have practice kits set up. Here, everyone plays along with the musician.

And students learn more than new techniques. They learn how to train.

Many musicians never learn how to practice, Lang says, so he gives his students practice rules and recommends maintaining a log.

“Most of these guys have never practiced for eight hours a day in their life,” he said. “This is the first time they’re sitting here and doing something repetitively . . . which is what it takes to be a world-class musician.”

The camp’s small class size of 20 students creates an “interesting dynamic,” Lang said.

“If one student is not as great a player he still gets dragged along by the energy and input of the other students in the room,” he said.

The benefit of this “guerillastyle” and intimate instruction is immediate, Lang said.

“They leave with results and realize that what it takes to make this immense progress is simply putting in the time and effort, discipline and working out hard,” he said.

The progress has people coming back.

Some campers are here for the third or fourth time, as all the classes are different. Lang creates a different curriculum for each camp based on student requests.

Eddie Livingston, 61, has traveled to the camp from Palm Beach, Fla., every year since it began in 2009.

“He is the best drummer in the world,” said Livingston, who played in a band in the 1960s. “He’s the nicest, most courteous person. A gentleman in the music business.

“They threw out the mold with him.”

Student Louis Vassallo, who traveled from Nashville, Tenn., called the camp a “highlight” in his 20-year drumming career.

“If you see some of the stuff he’s done, he’s done some superhuman things,” Vassallo said about Lang. “He has innovated drumming to a different level than anyone who’s ever lived before.”

“ The training method of pushing yourself to the limit really works,” added Vassallo, an attorney who once owned a drumming school. “ What I learned (in a few hours), is supposed to take years to be able to get.”

Percussion pro

Lang, who has toured with artists such as Tina Turner, Rod Stewart, Robbie Williams and the Commodores, started teaching 20 years ago to fill gaps in his performance schedule.

Fans would follow his touring map and send him messages on Facebook asking for private lessons. At one point, students in Asia asked to come in a group to share the cost of classes.

“That’s how this idea was born,” Lang said.

The married father of 7-year-old identical twin boys loves his role as teacher.

“For me, it’s very inspiring to see how quickly you can develop if you have the right information and inspiration from somebody,” he said. “It’s infectious to see their excitement.

But Lang’s passion is still for the stage.

“(Teaching) is a great way to give back to the community of drummers, share ideas and develop, (but) I’m really all about performing and expressing myself that way,” he said.

As a boy growing up in Vienna, Austria, he saw a drummer on TV and was hooked.

“I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I just had to try it.” He was 5 when he took his first lesson.

Now recording a new album with his band set for release in the spring, Lang’s advice for musicians honing their craft reflects his class philosophy.

“Practice makes perfect. It’s all about putting that time in. And while you’re doing it try to have fun. Make sure it’s something you enjoy doing,” he said.