What I Wish Every Young Percussionist Knew

This post is has been moved to my website. Click to read this post http://keithdrums.com/what-i-wish-every-young-percussionist-knew/

It takes a village, Part 1 of 2

Guest blogger Emily Sorensen*, former Play Music Educational Studios administrator, takes a look at the parent's role and perspective in getting the most out of private lessons for your student. 

As a parent it can be difficult to know how to interface with your student’s private music teacher. This is part one of a two part series with some tips and suggestions to help you team up with your student and his/her music teacher to increase your student’s success.

As a parent you can expect a short list of characteristics from your student’s teacher regardless of his/her background. Some of these characteristics include:

• Professionalism

Many of us associate professionalism with the corporate industries and, more often than not, associate beatnik and hippie stereotypes with the music industry and aren’t sure what to expect with music instructors. So many of the things in this category seem like common sense, but because of the aforementioned stereotypes, it bears repeating. 

• Personal grooming and good hygiene: A professional music teacher should appear to care about personal grooming and hygiene. Something as simple as showing up in clean clothing in good repair can make a big difference in your student’s ability to focus during lesson time. 
• Punctuality: The teacher should be punctual. Being on time and organized prior to your student’s lesson allows your student maximum time to get through material and both teacher and student are able to concentrate. 
• Legitimate skill set, instrument knowledge and current industry experience: In a previous post I wrote about knowing how you are getting a good deal for the money you spend and a big part of professionalism is having a legitimate skill set and knowledge of the instrument they are teaching as well as current experience playing their instrument.  
• Interest in your student’s progress: One of the biggest professional qualities your teacher should have is caring about your student’s progress and skill development. In a hard economy many people who played in junior high and high school or took lessons for a while and need to make a little extra money might start teaching lessons. Often times those can be, “my personal music history,” lessons and not much by way of progress for your student. Yes, a teacher needs to have experience and be able to relate to your student’s current experience, but the overall goal needs to be about your student.

• Communication

The importance of good communication cannot be over emphasized. Everyone’s experience in music lessons is enhanced when good communication is expected and practiced. Sometimes that means being willing to say something that seems common sense or seems like it could go unsaid. Again, communication should be professional and tactful at all times. As a parent, never feel bad about asking a question or expressing a concern. You should feel comfortable expressing yourself and expecting your teacher to be clear with you and your student.

• Clear Expectations and agreements

This goes hand in hand with communication, but is worth pointing out specifically. You should be able to expect a clear list of expectations for your student and you. This often will include expectations about payments, practicing, attendance, rescheduling and make-up lessons, personal emergencies, studio group activities and suggested memberships and such. However, don’t expect the list of student/parent expectations to be all inclusive. There is not a way, nor should it be required, to account for every possible scenario. More often than not you will find that professional teachers who are willing to communicate their expectations for you and your student are willing to listen and work with you as long as you don’t try to take advantage of them.

In addition to a list of expectations for you and your student, a list of clear expectations and agreements about your teacher’s behavior should be part of your lesson experience. Teachers should communicate with you how and what to expect as far as their policies, personal emergencies, rescheduling and make-up lessons, holidays or no lesson weeks and how they handle the non-lesson elements of their business (payments, credits, statements, receipts, referrals, etc.) Again, the list can’t possibly include every situation and scenario, but should provide for open and clear communication.

• Pricing Structure & Payment Policy

This is another element that goes hand in hand with communication, but is important enough to discuss as an individual point. Good music teachers are in business. As consumers, we often overlook the arts as businesses, but it’s extremely important to remember your private music instructor is providing a valuable service, and this is an important part of how they make their living. Imagine if you went to work and didn’t get paid on time or consistently and often you were carrying your employer with a balance they owed you at least one month behind. Keep this in mind as you are paying for lessons, and expect a clear pricing structure and payment policy from a professional private music instructor. 

A clear pricing structure will include a price per lesson, often based on the length of the lesson. 20 (for younger or beginner students) 30, 45 and 60 minutes are common time increments for lessons. The longer your lesson time the more you can expect to pay. Also, the more educated/experienced the teacher, the more you can expect to pay for lessons. It is expected that you pay for lessons a month at a time and at the beginning of the month. It is common for teachers to charge an additional fee for paying later in the month. Some pricing structures offer a discount for paying in full on time, however, this is less common so it shouldn’t be expected as part of a good pricing structure. Before you begin lessons, be prepared to carefully read and discuss the pricing structure and payment policies. Nothing can ruin a lesson experience like miscommunications about money - so be clear about your expectations and what is expected of you. 

• Knowledge of available resources

This seems like a silly expectation to have for a professional private music instructor. However, it would surprise you how often you will need to talk to your teacher about where to purchase items, software, supplemental materials, instrument upgrades, music camps and many more items that are indirectly related to lessons. You should feel confident in your instructor’s knowledge and comfortable asking for information. Many times you won’t need to ask because the instructor will volunteer the information about resources, but you should expect to be able to get an answer if you ask your instructor.

In part two of this series we'll explore a team approach to student success. We’re looking at what parents can expect to contribute to their student’s success.

*Yep, Emily is my wife and best friend. She's also an experienced musician and was the administrator at our music teaching studio where she worked with about 20 teachers and over 100 students. She dealt with all of the day-to-day operations, including interfacing with parents and students. In short, she knows her stuff.

Guest Blogger: Emily Sorensen - Is your teacher ripping you off?

Guest Blogger: Emily Sorensen*, formerly of Play Music Educational Studios

Are you getting your money’s worth?

Taking music lessons is a big time and money commitment and you should know that you are getting the most for your money. Regardless what you are paying for lessons, at some point during your lesson experience (if it hasn’t happened already) you are going to ask yourself if what you’re paying for lessons is worth what you’re getting out of it. Sometimes $15 can be too much to pay and $25 can be a real bargain for a 30 minute lessons. 

Here are a few questions to think about when deciding if you’re getting your money’s worth from your lessons.

• How much education does your teacher have on the instrument they’re teaching you? 

Most everybody has taken some kind of lesson or was in a band class in school, but didn’t bother to take any further education after high school.  No, not everybody who is talented at playing an instrument has taken lessons or majored or minored in the subject in college.  But as we become adults and start looking for ways to increase our income we often fall back on any skill we think might help. So make sure that you’re comfortable with your teacher’s education. The more they’ve studied their instrument, especially if it’s private lessons, the more likely it is that they will be able to help you become better at playing your instrument.

• What playing experience does your teacher have?

This is a twofold question; experience teaching and playing are important to consider. 

How long has your teacher been teaching lessons? Experience in teaching is important because teachers who have been teaching longer generally have had many students and have learned many ways to help students figure out how to play.  And the longer your teacher has been teaching the more they will have ideas and a “tool box” full of ideas to help you learn the concepts.  Is it okay to take from a beginning teacher? Sure, all teachers were beginners once too, but make sure you are comfortable with their playing and teaching experience. New teachers will gain that experience over time, so don’t let this sway you completely one way or the other on your value of your teacher’s ability to help you.  A good teacher will have a realistic view of their own abilities and will never try to convince you they are more or better than they really are.

Does your teacher still play? Experience in playing is important because teachers who don’t play will be rusty in their skills. Many skills will “come back” as they begin teaching and playing and many of the basic skills will improve as they are teaching or have taught over the years, but it is important that teachers are playing and keeping up on their skills. Continuing to practice on their own is an important key to if they are still playing, but most musicians are driven to continue to play. Even if it’s in community or church groups your teacher is more likely to be able to help you improve your own skills if they are still staying active and relevant on the “gig” scene. 

• Does your teacher come with high recommendation?

How did you find your teacher? Did a band/orchestra/choir teacher recommend your teacher to you? A great way to find a teacher is to talk to your music teacher at school and to check with your friends. A personal reference from someone you know and trust is usually a reliable way to find a teacher. However, let that be a first step in choosing your teacher. Everyone has different learning styles and teachers are not one-size-fits-all. 

If you have found a teacher through an advertisement service make sure to check any website or blogs listed and when you call or email feel free to ask for references or comments from their current or past students. Just remember if you made a “cold” contact with this teacher the information they send back with their references will always be their “best side.” But that doesn’t invalidate the information, just a reminder to take all recommendations from someone you don’t know with a grain of salt. Ask about some of their methods of teaching; do they lecture and pass off music, does the teacher play along during the lesson, are lessons a kinetic (hands on) experience encouraging you to challenge, stretch and try new things? 

Many teachers offer a free first lesson. This is a great opportunity to “try out” your teacher. When you go to the store to purchase a piece of clothing it is unwise to just grab the item, pay for it and leave unless you are absolutely sure it’s the right fit for you. If you don’t like it in the store you won’t wear it once you get it home. So it is with lessons and teachers. If you don’t feel comfortable with their teaching style during that first lesson, it most likely isn’t going to get much easier the longer you take; that’s not always the case but most of the time you have a really good feel for the fit after that first lesson.

• Does your teacher focus on technique and mastering the basics or jump right to “showboating” and moving you through the method book as fast as possible?

Your teacher should be talented. But the time you are paying for is to help you learn and improve. When you are struggling to grasp a technique or skill does your teacher break it down and help you to run through it over and over and over until you can do it, or is your teacher quick to jump in and “show you how to do it?” Seeing an example can help, but sometimes struggling through the process with your teacher as a guide and mentor is a more effective method for mastering the technique.

Does your teacher make sure you have mastered one technique before moving to the next technique? One of the hardest parts of being a private music teacher is to make sure your students have mastered a skill before moving on to the next one. Sometimes it seems you are doing the same thing over and over in a lesson and all you want to do is move on, but music is a skill that is comprehensive. If you haven’t mastered a skill before moving on to the next one, it will be much more difficult to learn the next skill. A good music teacher will make sure you are actually learning the skill before teaching you more and harder skills. This sometimes involves slowing down and focusing on skills that are weaker and many times it means reviewing each week even after you have moved to the next skill. You might even have “pop review” session in a lesson sometime to make sure you’ve got it down. But rest assured this is all to make sure you are learning and mastering the skills necessary to make long term progress.

• Are you making progress?

Are you any better than when you started taking lessons? Are you constantly learning new things and being challenged? If you are not getting any better then don’t continue to take lessons. But taking lessons isn’t a magic, I’m amazing at music, get better quick pill. You have to do what your teacher asks you to do and YOU have to practice. If you are practicing at least 5 days a week for a minimum of 20 minutes per practice session, doing what your teacher asks you to do and THEN you’re not getting any better, find a new teacher. If you’re doing your part and you can’t make any progress (which sometimes can seem imperceptible) then you’re definitely not getting your money’s worth and you need to find a new teacher or take a break.

• Are lessons enjoyable?

At the end of the day if you are not motivated to improve and you don’t enjoy going to lessons maybe you’re really not getting your money’s worth. If you would rather do almost anything other than go to your lesson and you look for ways to miss or cancel your lesson - you should probably find another teacher. Good rapport between student and teacher and parent and teacher is important. While sometimes you may not like a lesson or are having a difficult time learning a concept and lessons can be hard, you should always enjoy yourself. Learning is supposed to be fun, why should learning a musical instrument be any different? Progress and having a good time go hand in hand. If we can’t enjoy what we’re doing/learning, then we aren’t motivated to be better and we avoid the things that will help us to improve. Bottom line, if you can’t enjoy learning the instrument and the lessons, nothing else really matters in deciding if you’re getting your money’s worth.

Music lessons are a great investment and should be viewed as an investment. But make sure your investment is working for you and you are getting the most benefit for your money. Getting your money’s worth from music lessons is a win-win situation for everyone involved. Good luck, and may you find the teacher worth the investment of your time and money! 

*Yep, Emily is my wife and best friend. She's also an experienced musician and was the administrator at our music teaching studio where she worked with about 20 teachers and over 100 students. She dealt with all of the day-to-day operations, including interfacing with parents and students. In short, she knows her stuff.

Beyond the Kit: Should you fire your doctor?

There is a certain discussion that I have with some of my students from time to time. I have jokingly called it, "Lecture 38A," because it's one of the little speeches that I've given many, many times and I have it memorized, including the usual responses from the student.

It starts something like, "Hey, have you ever thought about firing me?" The usual response is, "Huh?"

In a nutshell, here's the analogy I use:

Imagine that you go to a doctor to solve a problem. The doctor gives you an outline of the treatments and therapies you need, and a time frame. You should expect to see an improvement within, say, a month. Well, the month goes by and you don't see any change.

Why don't you see any change? There are at least two possible reasons:

1. You aren't following the recommendations of the doctor. You're not taking the medication, following the diet, doing the exercises - whatever it is.
2. Or, the doctor is wrong. They could be wrong about their diagnosis, the effectiveness of the treatment or something else. 

So what do you do about it? 

1. Do what the doc tells you to do! If you're not following his instructions, can you really blame him for your lack of improvement?
2. If you are following what the doctor tells you to do, and you're still not seeing any results, you either consult with the doctor about another course of action, or you get a second opinion. At some point, you may consider going to another doctor completely. 

In short, if it's not working, something needs to change. So, to my students, if you're not getting what you wanted/needed/expected, fire me! I'm okay with it, I really am! Because if you're not making progress, you're wasting your time, my time, and your parents' money. Not to mention the fact that we're both frustrated.

But make sure you're doing what I ask of you first. If you want to lose twenty pounds and the doc tells you to eat a certain way and exercise a certain way - do it! You can't sit on the couch and eat ice cream and then complain that this particular doctor "isn't working out."

You can't just show up for a lesson every week and expect to get good, no matter who the teacher is. 

Fact of the matter is - a teacher is just a coach. LeBron James can't blame his coach when he loses unless he did everything the coach wanted him to do. 

Look, if it's my fault you're not getting better, I can take that. But if it's your fault you need to own it, accept it, and decide if you really want what you say you want enough to do what it takes to get it.

I'm paraphrasing here, but I saw a tweet earlier this year from Nike that read something like:

Decide what you want. Then decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities, and then go to work. 

I have that written on my bathroom mirror where I can look at it every day. Because, ultimately, my success is up to me.

And your success is up to you.

Happy drumming!

Beyond the Kit: Why music?

So, I taught high school music classes for five years - band and guitar. It was a blast, for the most part. Loved it.

One of the assignments I gave each year was to have the students write a paper (a short one, but a well-crafted and thoughtful one) that answers the question, "Why music?"

I have to admit, that of all the great experiences I had with amazing students, none were better than reading some of those papers. You can talk down to high school kids all you want, but there are some incredibly intelligent, passionate people that walk those halls every day. (It's a crying shame what they have to go through to get an education, but that's a post for another day.)

Today I'd like to pose the question to you, as well.

So - why music? Why does music exist? What's its purpose? What does it do? Is it important? Why?

I'll give you my personal philosophy - if you care to read it - next week.

Happy thinking!

Bag of Tricks: Rock and Funk Grooves

Not gonna lie, I'm a little short on time today, so I'm going to recycle some old material in a new format. I think I've posted all of these grooves at one time or another, but here they are in a single sheet.

This is a handout that I give my private students comprised of grooves I've learned along the way as I've studied with teachers, from books, etc. So nothing too original, but lots of fun and useful to learn.

Enjoy!