you and your drum teacher

[plainsman]

hi all,

there are times when a drummer friend would confide in me about his drum teacher's inadequacies - be it technique or way of teaching. there will also be times when another drummer friend who has felt wronged by his student in what his original well-meaning intentions were.

although like any other relationship, be it friendship or otherwise, there will be occassions where its unresolvable and we have to move on, i believe there is still a lot we can think of to improve things.



for example, if you are a student, what can you think off that would help you and your drum teacher achieve better understanding and results?

often one of the best is to have a open teacher-student communication where you can talk to each other quite frankly most of the time. when he is not teaching you the way you want to teach him, at least you have the comfort zone of being able to talk to him about it, and see if you can both rectify the 'stuck' situation.

for the teacher, sometimes your student might be feeling uncomfortable, or not being able to absorb the way you are trying to teach.

what are the things softies/drummers can think of to help improve?

thanks for any input, i'm sure it helps the rest here!!

warm regards and good day

 

[Funkifized]

the last pseudo-teacher i had was actually reluctant to share licks n complex grooves. probably an ego thing but I feel that if you are a drum teacher, share as much as you can without harming your own career. The more you share, the more credible you appear to be, and more people will come looking for you. You can't just expect to say "hey hire me for drum lessons" and expect people to come. Give a sample or something at least.

when i had james chan for a teacher, he actually asked me about what i am, what i do besides drumming and what kind of music I liked. In essence he was trying to find out more about me and that helped in closing the 'gap' between people. I mean, usually when you talk to people you would leave a gap between yourself and the person you talk to right? unless you know the person very well, the gap should be rather large. So I guess narrowing this gap is the first step to a healthy teacher-student relationship.

I got an itchin' feeling to play "Hot for teacher" now, but that would be totally wrong.

 

[bryanlim]

hmm frankly i think, licks need not be taught. my guess was that they have went through many many excercises and picked those they like. although there are well known licks everywhere, but then its the personal style. i guess focusing on basics and techniques will help in the long run.

my 2 cents

 

[doublestrokesg]

I agree that it is not so much abt licks and stuff. With the right technique, a cultivated repertoire, and massive music exposure, you'll develop certain fills and feels for music and grooves.

When a teacher doesn't share wad he can do totally, it does not mean that he's purposely holding back for fear of losing the secret of his 'bread & butter' abilities. After all, you are financially engaging him/her to impart and be a coach to you.

Instead the teacher may want to work on technicalities that will affect your ability to replicate what he can do or even beyond that. Maybe the grip's wrong, stuff like timeliness, or even playing volume or coordination all come into play.

Some younger players tend to think their teachers are holding back because they feel they are capable of playing more complex stuff, whilst their teachers are still teaching them elementary exercises. I had the same naive thinking back when I first started out at 15. I was really humbled by my teacher who told me, 'you havn't even finish your drumming PSLE, and yet you want to go for O levels.'

And as I became more proficient and started doing rudiments around the kit, I was met with comments like, 'alot of people can just play like tt, but they can't fit it in to the band setting, or their repertoire.', or, 'looks gd, many strokes, but no colour to it. Just blablablabla around the kit'. At the end, I was made to work on my concept of rhythm instead of being too caught up with all the strokes.

So I guess teachers naturally mean well. Besides it's an accomplishment for them to be able to see your playing being enriched by their experience. Hope this helps!

 

[Funkifized]

Yeah I know, that's what they ALL say... focus on your basics, etc etc. Which is true.

BUT. after some time... you'll want to learn more things. More than just what you already know... also you want to get your money's worth lah haha.

After all, even james chan taught some special stuff like steve gadd rudimental grooves, though i admit that if you don't ask, you don't get.

Also, i must say that i learnt alot of complex stuff from hearing and attempting to emulate certain drummers, and the internet is the best tool for the job. perhaps drum teachers should introduce us to the best drummers out there, so that we can combine their influences to create our own individual sound. yeah, that would rock so hard.

 

[plainsman]

there are really times when as a student you realise that your teacher is not shifting you to 'maximum learning' gear. it may not be a straightforward situation where the teacher is simply unwilling to teach, rather even he/she may not be aware that his holding back due to his own subconscious insecurities/doubts.

many of us learn from teachers who are not at the top, but usually somewhere in-between, sometimes even not much better than us.

there's some truth in a comment steve smith made, which was to find the oldest teacher you can get, and one who has jazz background.

however, am sure some of us have encountered situation where we got an old fogey who is darn skillful, but so disconnected with young people that he keeps scolding and tekan-ing and drubbing self-confidence! :lol:

one of the things i really enjoy currently, is the free-flow exchange of ideas & experiences we have in this forum. i think this is very valuable and gives us insight to which we would have been deprived of before we had this internet (i am so nerdy...lol!)

not to say that it replaces a good (wise, open-minded, knows when to pull and push) teacher, they are different but both are also very important tools for self-development.

keep 'em coming :wink:

 

[mel80]

Personally, I think communication and being able to relate to your teacher is the most important in a student-teacher relationship.

Both must be able to communicate freely. The student must be able to relate to the teacher's style (musically and character-wise) and vice versa.

The teacher has to understand the kinda music his/her student is into. Or else the student will find it difficult to relate to his/her teacher. It'll be hard to reach the same level of understanding if the teacher doesn't understand what the student likes.

For me, I had a good relationship with my teacher (James Chan) because he asked me about my musical preferences. At the same time, he opened more doors for me to explore other types of music. It's all about communication

 

[bryanlim]

"however, am sure some of us have encountered situation where we got an old fogey who is darn skillful, but so disconnected with young people that he keeps scolding and tekan-ing and drubbing self-confidence!"

LOL!!

 

[drummar-buah]

i had a drum teacher before.

i was a begginer then. just started out drumming. decided to take begginner lessons. my parents weren't too happy la.. as in.. not that supportive.. but anyway they allowed me to take.
sooo off i go.. gallop gallop happily to the school every week
and everytime the teacher teaches me easy easy stuff according to the book that he made me buy. throughout that 6 months i spent with him.. i learnt very little drumming but alot of maturity in terms of drum learning.
that book was supposed to be finished at the end of the begginer course. but then after that 6months, i was at an intermediate course. then still using the same book.. so 2 months after i reached intermediate.. i quit.
after that i started to do massive massive research on the internet for free lessons. and i learnt more in 3months than i did at the school. sux man

i think the teachers should learn to gauge the learning pace of his student. and shouldn't hold back to wat he he can teach.

i believe it's not necessary to import to u all the grooves and licks that a teacher knows. cuz there will come a point of time when u have very smooth and developed techniques and feel. u will naturally stumble upon a groove that u created on ur own maybe by chance, maybe by feel. and then pple will want to learn from u how the WHOA groove is played.

 

[Vio]

i needed someone who is dedicated to telling me what i'm doing wrong.

everything else is a bonus.

 

[vx02]

+1 to that. haha.