The WHAT, the HOW, the WHY (good drum teachers and the not-so-good)...

Whilst inherently subjective , I am often dismayed at the generally poor standards of drum teaching I witness on an almost daily basis. Now, I'll never be the kinda guy that pushes the need for formal qualification, but it does mean that anyone with a desire to, can set themselves up to teach and often the 'unsuspecting' student or parent can be none the wiser. And, it has to be said, I have come across many 'qualified' teachers who are down right awful too.

Something I often encounter is the "well, I may not be that experienced but I'm only teaching beginners" brigade. Well, I've got news for you clowns: THAT"S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!! It is at this crucial stage that all the core fundamentals need to be laid down. True, it's good for me as I pick up students later needing my help because they can't progress due to being horribly let down by their previous teacher, but that's not the point.

When I was growing up, a 'teacher' was somebody who was an expert in their chosen field, had bags of experience and knew how to not only help the student to learn the subject, but had a deep understanding of it and why it is important to apply it well. And there's the key point. Most teachers can show WHAT to do; some can occasionally show you HOW, but it is a very rare thing indeed to find one who can demonstrate WHY.

Why does that matter? Because it means the student can develop a full understanding of the art and how to apply it. In the case of drummers, that means using the 'tools' we develop to create a musical and dynamic approach to support the music around us.