Xander van der Ploeg is all about preserving the drumming traditions. Especially with the Basler Trommelen and Rudimental Drumming Xander has a close bond.
As a 5-year-old he learned to play the drums with the DHH drum band from Hoogmade, and then became acquainted with Swiss drumming through Concordia Leiden during his secondary school years. The interest in this art of drumming resulted in taking lessons from Rob Verhagen, who then took him to Basel (CH) for the first time in 1992 to experience the traditional Basler Fasnacht. Inspired by this, Xander started teaching, became a percussion instructor at DVS Katwijk and Floraband Rijnsburg and founded Trommelgroep West-Nederland, where he is still an instructor. As a soloist, Xander was the first “foreigner” to receive an honorable mention at the Swiss championships in 2014. And in August 2015 he gave a masterclass Basler drumming to the snare drummers of The Old Guard and the US Drum and Bugle Corps “Commandant's Own”. With these experiences, Xander is a worthy ambassador of traditional drum techniques.
In addition to traditional drumming, Xander has been active as a percussionist with Brass Band Schoonhoven A, and is currently conductor with Showband '75 Leidschendam and Marchingband Thalita Vlaardingen.