Just Sitting Here

Wow, do I ever waste time online. Some of it's productive. I learned more rock n' roll history, specifically about Skiffle and it's grand daddy, Lonnie Donegan. It made me wonder if a poor economy might do wonders for musical talent and ingenuity. Skiffle musicians played tea-chest basses made of broom handles and string. Guitars were hard to come by. Teens formed bands trying to imitate American rock and roll and they did it: in the streets, schools, garden parties, almost anywhere they could grab an audience (even better if there were cute girls to impress). John Lennon's group "The Quarrymen", was a Skiffle band. There was a hunger, I think, to make music any way they could. Is there the same hunger today? Is it easier to play Rock Band and guitar Hero and pretend you're a musician? Here I go sounding like an old fogey, but there didn't seem as much competition for my time when I was a teen as there is now. We didn't have cable TV, there was no internet, and video game consoles were limited to pong (but not until later in high school). Many of my students have plenty to keep them away from drum practice: video games galore, YouTube, Facebook, MSN, etc. However, there has to be a hunger to play drums in order to progress in a substantial way. I really don't think today's situation hampers a student's progress any more than 30 or 40 years ago. If the desire is there, they will find a way to excel.

When it rains, it pours

Did an audition last night for www.barrelhouse.ca and got the gig today. Two hours later, SoundCheck call and ask me to sub for their drummer on their upcoming New Year's gig. So all of a sudden I'm busy!

Barrelhouse is an 8 piece group of superb musicians. We sailed through an entire side of "Abbey Road" (my daughter said "Side? My CD has only one side") without a hitch. It sounded gorgeous. Our first gig is January 31 at Greenfield pub in Barrhaven.

Looks like I gotta buy a second drum set :-(

Those damn drum solos!

This past Friday and Saturday night my Beatles tribute band played the Ottawa Carleton racetrack. I was given an open solo for the final song, "Birthday". In Ringo's solo, he plays eighth notes for 8 bars and that's it. I thought "screw authenticity" and went for a "David Cronkite" drum solo. Trouble is, I don't think I'm a very good soloist. The audience digs it, but in secret, I'm shouting "Man, that was crap!" However, I learned long ago you shouldn't say such a thing to someone who compliments you on your efforts. I remark "thank-you very much", but I want to say "Aw, you gotta be kidding, that was so lame. I screwed up that triplet sixteenth part, nothing I played was original, the solo didn't actually go anywhere, and most of it was just bullshit anyway." I don't mind saying this to another musician so much, but a non-musician audience member, NO WAY! If they enjoyed it, why ruin it for them? Imagine if I complimented an actor on their performance in a play and they shot back "Are you kidding? That was not my best stuff at all...I sucked something awful tonight!" I would walk away feeling pretty embarrassed.

Anyway, I'm an OK soloist; it's not a skill I excel at. I always think the audience is bored so I get nervous and move on to some other lick without taking the time or having the faith to stick with an idea and work it. Next solo, I won't worry about the audience. I'm going to relax, think, and create something that makes sense and ends with a bang. Oh yeah, and lots and lots of solo practice before I go on :-)

The house was burnt!

Yah, the group was awesome this afternoon. I taught them all the parts and everything fell into place. Best of all, they were totally inspired and excited about how good they sounded so easily. Their music teacher was bopping about and we had an audience of about 25 grade 7s for the last few minutes of rehearsal. Unfortunately, it's still me singing the tune, but it may have to do :-( Actually, I love singing but I'm not David Byrne.

The freeehand technique is coming along rather rapidly. As I was making dinner tonight I practiced on the counter tops. My students also thought it was a cool technique; I hope they try it.

Beatles are playing this weekend at the Ottawa racetrack, my least fave Beatle gig. Security is a pain in the arse and we play 4 sets for 2 nights for the least amount of money this band makes. Not complaining however, this band makes very good $. I just hope it can stay together for *&%&%^$ sakes!

Freehand technique + Burning Down the House

I saw Johnny Rabb on YouTube drumming with Marco M. and Thomas Lang and I was struck by the cool stuff Rabb was doing with 2 snares and small cymbals. So I bought his freehand technique book yesterday and am trying. Normally, I don't go in for specialty stuff like that, but this looks pretty cool and useful.

On an unrelated note, I'm going to introduce "Burning Down the House" to my percussion ensemble today. I volunteer teach drummers at WEJ elementary down the road (my 4th year). Rather than slogging through a written chart, it'll be fun to get them improvising to a cool tune that they probably don't know, but should. There are 3 major chords in the song so I've tuned my acoustic guitar to an open chord and I'm just going to bar them ('cause I can't play guitar). My son Max, who is in the ensemble, will play bass (his normal instrument), Lucas on kit, Katie on piano (also her normal instrument) and the rest on percussion. I'll have to sing a verse or two, yikes, but I'm hoping someone in the school who can sing better than me (shouldn't be difficult) will step up to the plate.

I'll let you know how it goes...

So Much To Teach!

A student is asked to play double strokes and you realize that...they're so slow! Oh no, we have to spend far more time on double strokes. So off you go on double stroke practice; studies that focus on double strokes, technique lessons (the bounce double), etc. After all that effort, your student can play faster, cleaner double strokes, but his/her rock beat is lopsided :-(

OK, there are several essential skills I believe all of my students should have and they are as follows: reading, sight-reading, technique, musicality. That's a pretty general list and a bit of a no-brainer until you have to break it down. How good of a reader should they be? Is sight-reading going to be a big priority? What about technique? How much emphasis do they need? Will rudiments be a huge focus and if so, which ones (there are over 40)? How much time will be spent on speed? Finally, musicality...what defines it? Which styles will we focus on, rock and pop mostly? There's world music (tons of challenging beats to be learned in this category), jazz (ditto), funk....the list goes on.

Now there's the student. Is it someone who's a real keener, born to play drums? Frankly, they make up 5% of my student population. Or is it someone that doesn't play in the school band and just wants to be a rock star? Perhaps he or she doesn't care a lot for reading and thinks jazz is a four letter word. Will they be forced to work on things they don't want to learn, possibly turning them away or off drums for good?

My wife Karen took piano lessons for a few years when she was a teenager. She doesn't play anymore, but has a fond memory of her lessons and the woman who taught her. Perhaps her teacher realized that serious piano playing wasn't in the cards for Karen and so didn't scold her for not practicing the necessary material, etc. Some educators would see this as a teacher-failure, arguing that these teachers only demean the profession and take people's money. That does happen, but something else is true: many teachers gear the material to where the student's interests and strengths lie, thereby providing the student with a positive learning experience. There is quite possibly a transference of skills from music lessons to other aspects of life; I'd like to think there may be some, but I'd like to see some hard evidence. And don't tell me learning music helps you in math. Working on your math does a much better job. Conversely, being an A math student doesn't make you an A musician.

My point is this: there is a vast amount of skills to be considered when teaching a drum student. You have to look at their natural abilities, their age, their goals, and their interest level (the teacher can play a role in that one, certainly). Maybe they want to play some solid rock beats, cool fills and join a garage band with their friends and THAT"S IT. So I say, teach them the skills that will accomplish that goal. Give them the chance to feel successful relatively soon, and they just might come back for bigger stuff.