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I’m teaching a very talented and hard working young woman of early high school age. We’re spending the summer working on jazz drum set, since there are no auditions, band concerts, or other required musical activities that need attention. One of the first things we will be doing is listening to music. Much of my earliest playing experience was with a commercial quartet that played standards at various private parties, weddings, dance clubs, etc. This was during the late 1960’s an early 1970’s, when people of a certain age still listened and danced to “swing” or “standards”.

I usually need to make a list of jazz CD’s to acquaint young students with the sound and feel of jazz, since they don’t listen to it on their computers or mp3 players. Outlets such as radio or television seldom have jazz in play, for all kinds of reasons. There are school jazz ensembles, competitions and the like, but there are not so many places where a high school age person can hear the music regularly outside of the academic environment, something that I regret, as do many jazz musicians and educators who are well known in both jazz and popular music circles. All the technique in the world will not help if you have no understanding of the sound, and more importantly, the feel of the music.

We often forget that a lot of the earliest “Rock” drummers on recordings were gifted jazz drummers who made a living in the studio. It pays to listen to all sorts of music, particularly if you aren’t surrounded by it every day….

Happy 4th of July, and keep drumming!

I often feel that I need more time, or maybe fewer things to do. I know that I should be putting in an hour or two a day on a practice pad, and the drums, and the marimba, and learning those changes on vibes, not to mention other instruments…

It’s really a good problem to have, although when I’m trying to learn a part for a fast approaching gig, not so much…

Time management (not the time we get from the metronome!) is really important for a free lancer, private teacher, or for that matter, a busy high school or college student juggling multiple priorities. In an earlier post (Rehearsing…), I discussed the benefits of short, focused rehearsal, and how it can help us to make good progress in a small amount of time.

Managing the time that we do have is at least as important. How much time do I waste trying to find something in a disorganized rehearsal space or practice room? Do I have a plan for what I want to rehearse for the next day, week or month? If I’m preparing for an audition, do I have a three month, one month, two week, one week, and “day before” plan to master the audition material and to prepare mentally for the audition day? If it’s an audition for a band, do you know which tunes on the rehearsal CD are the ones that the band members really want to hear?

All basic stuff, but it helps to keep time and space organized so that we can concentrate on what it is that we want to do… make music.

Most of the time we percussionists are working as performers or teachers, and further, we hope to get paid by the institution that hired us. In my case, local clubs, churches, colleges and public schools have been the main sources of my income. Recently I had an opportunity to put myself out of a job. I rented equipment to a local church and taught the musicians that would be playing for the service. I was already booked for the same date, and could not make the schedules work to play both gigs. Since one of the players was a former (now a current) student, it was enjoyable and rewarding. I worked with my student so he could get through the timpani parts (he hadn’t played timpani for several years), moved equipment, and finally, got a check for my efforts.

The long term goal of my studio is to teach students who then go on to play for the rest of their lives. I would love for all of them to become professional percussionists/drummers who make their living from playing drums and percussion instruments. The reality is that this profession, like many others has always been competitive, but is even more so now. I have a number of students who excel at mathematics, computer science, chemistry, and engineering as well as being accomplished percussionists and drummers. Those individuals will make their living at another discipline, while continuing to play. I would be extremely happy to see my students play for their churches, local clubs and all the places that I currently play, mostly because the point of learning these instruments is so that we can play them!

So yes, I’m working myself out of a job…but enjoying the results!