Teaching drums as a career

Grace :)

Grace :)

Senior Member
Hi,
I'm 17 and i've known for a while know that drumming is what I want to do for my career, particularly teaching. as it's something i enjoy and feel that i do well at (I teach 3 younger children a week) But I only have about 5 months or so now until I have to start applying to universities and so on.

But, I've asked questions about the AMC, Drumtech, BIMM etc... institutes which provide full time drumming courses. And most people seem to think that having private one to one lessons with a good teacher twice a week would be better than taking a two or three year course at one of these places.

I'd like to know what anybody here thinks. What is the best way to get into teaching drums as a career? Obviously I need to develop my skills so I am able to teach people of different levels, but also are music degree qualifications compulsory, etc.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated :)
 
Grace :) said:
Hi,
I'm 17 and i've known for a while know that drumming is what I want to do for my career, particularly teaching. as it's something i enjoy and feel that i do well at (I teach 3 younger children a week) But I only have about 5 months or so now until I have to start applying to universities and so on.

But, I've asked questions about the AMC, Drumtech, BIMM etc... institutes which provide full time drumming courses. And most people seem to think that having private one to one lessons with a good teacher twice a week would be better than taking a two or three year course at one of these places.

I'd like to know what anybody here thinks. What is the best way to get into teaching drums as a career? Obviously I need to develop my skills so I am able to teach people of different levels, but also are music degree qualifications compulsory, etc.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated :)
Click to expand...

hey grace, I;m 18 and although i want to play and such, i see teaching as a way of sustaining a career....my old teacher quite pro drumming back in the 80's and since then, in a small town, he sustained a pretty good living. I personally think that it's good to study at university but you should have a good cv you know? Be able to list off groups played with and such, then just advertise yourself......unless you want to teach at an actual school, I know nothing about that! :)
 
Hey,
Sorry to put a dampner on things but I don't think you could be able to walk into a job at Drumtech, etc or even a college at 17-20.
I'll give you my side of things.

However, here are some of the paths available to you.

Are you going to go to a college before teaching?

Anyways option 1.

Private lessons - You are already doing this so in order to begin a career you just need to get more students. I would say that your age will stand against you. I am 23 and some people are put off by my age, even beginners as they think I am not experienced enough. But your age stands you in good stead in other ways. You have a knowledge of new styles, more modern styles of music and drumming. So 2 sides to the coin.
You have to get your stuff together chops wise. Teaching, especially teenagers (no offence) needs confidence as they question everything. Mostly not in an obnoxious way but you need to be confident to answer any question on technique, styles, gear, players, tuning, hands, feet, bands etc
I would really recommend going into a college/or higher drum education program as one it gives you something to prove to parents what you've done but it also improves you skills, allows you to meet people/players/other teachers etc and also gets your band chops up.

Option 2

Teaching in a state school - this is the next step up on the teaching ladder in my eyes.
I don't do this because I am against the stack em high policy we have in scotland. Sometimes lessons are between 3 or 4 students (in a half hour!!)

You need a crb check. again the age may go against you but I know plenty of younger teachers so who knows. Probably need something like grade 8 or above qualification.

Option 3

Private school, one on one lessons in a private school but again experience may be a factor.

Option 4

Colleges/universities etc.

The big one. To be honest you are way too young to teach in a college as am I.
A college student is there to really push their skills so you need to be far ahead of them chops and playing wise.
As a college is teaching them (in theory) how to be a musician as well you need to have knowledge of gigging, bands, tours (possibly) how to play all the different styles, and not only how to play them but why you'd play them and when.
Teaching in a college is something I'd love to do but I am no where near experienced enough to demand the respect from teachers and students alike.

Your chops will go along way to getting respect but other factors need to be there.

If you have any questions then fire away. I make my living from drums and split my time between playing and teaching so I may be able to help you. Along with loads of other guys on this forum, JeffWj, boomka and others.


Cheers

Dave
 
Hey,

btw, what i said about checking what jobs people go into at drumtech, i was meaning students who go through the course at drumtech and then leave, finding out what kind of places they go to when they've finished the course. As apposed to me teaching there. (I definitely know I can't teach players above a grade 8 level! and probably won't be able to for a long, long time).

thanks for all the advice, there's a lot to take in.

do you mind me asking, did you go to a drum college/complete a drum course? and if so, what was your experience of this?

I know that gaining a good reputation and enough experience for people to trust me to be a good and reliable teacher is going to take a long time.

Also, another thing you mentioned was teaching in a state school, -I also don't like this as this was my drum teaching experience before I was 11 (I was in a group with 2 other kids and we had 15 minutes, so not much got done). All of the kids I teach are having lessons with me because they either don't like their teacher, or would like some extra help as they don't feel that 15 minutes shared between 3 people a week is enough for them to really progress. But do you think that teaching in a school would be essential to make enough of a living off teaching drums?

And finally do you think it is important for teachers to have their own 'studio' setting, or facility where they teach? Or do you find that it is more important to be able to travel to the students?

(sorry for asking a lot of questions, it just seems a bit of a shame to waste the opportunity to ask somebody who has gone through this before)
thanks :)
 
Hey Grace, ask away.

Q1 - I went on the drum course at Jewel and Esk Valley College in Edinburgh. My thoughts....hmmmm
I could have done alot more practice while there and made more use of both the teacher, facilities (which were shoddy when I was there but have recently had a multi million pound redevelopment)
The course itself was a course for musicians. It taught you not only how to be a better player but also covered music law, music history, marketing etc etc. We also did recording techniques and studio work.

However it didn't teach me alot of things that I now 'use on the job'

Jazz, latin, proper funk etc. All those things i have had to learn after college.

Q2 - Not really, In all honesty I am making enough money from teaching to live. It depends how much money you need/want to make. But say you did 20 hours of teaching a week at £25 equalls roughly £26000 a year (minus tax etc). Add in gigs and you really are happy.

Q3- Yes and no.

In an ideal world I would rather have a facitlity wher I can teach on acoustic drums and have all my books, recording equipment there. However we don't really live in an ideal world so I split my teaching between teaching at home on an electric drum set and going to peoples houses.

If i go to peoples houses I charge extra for travel expenses but I have recently begun trying to get students to come to me as I hate not having a sheet or book with a particular exercise or even something as simple as having a type of cymbal to show them.

If everyone came to me It would also mean I cut out travel time which would mean I could offer more times.

Q3 and a half - I think it is important that any professional drummer drives. Performer or teacher. How are you going to get to a gig 40 miles away with your kit?

Ask anymore questions you want.

Cheers for now


Dave
 
sorry to barge in on this thread grace but im the same age as you and im thinking of going along the same path as you :)

how did you get those 3 students btw? just friends of friends? local ads etc?

this one aimed at some of the more "been there done that/am there, doing that" guys
how fluent do u feel you should be to start teaching?
perhaps just beginners at first and then gradually working up the ladder

but im guessing as most beginners are usually younger children, confidence is needed to talk to the parents etc aswell as (sort of) the 1st 4 vital rudiments singles/doubles/paradiddles/triplets
or what grade in drums? (if any)

another question, how long had you been playing before you started teaching?


again, sorry grace :)
 
i'm a career drum teacher. i'm also a head of drum teachers (and guitars etc) for Kingston. recently i advertised for more tutors as we have more pupils in kingston than we can teach with our current staff. So i have been sifting through quite a few job applications and CVs for drum teachers lately. and interviews are starting next week. Many applicants have impressive music qualifications (many of them far more qualified than i) but i'll tell you what i look for to make my shortlist for interviews - the teaching side. i'll hire someone with a teaching degree, experience and only a grade 6 in drums over a music degree graduate.
And having attended the FMS conference and chatted with other heads of music i'll tell you that its the same pretty much anywhere. there are loads of musicians and few teachers. if you want to be a drum teacher - learn to teach.
having a teaching qualification has other benefits - its a good day job that does tend to give you lots of time to perfect your drums (holidays and weekends) and puts you in contact with many potential private pupils. its a good ticket to living in practically any country in the world. it's about as stressful as any job but it has some really golden moments (did i mention all the vacation time?)
anyway. study drums with a good teacher and good materials while studying teaching at uni so that even if the drumming side of things completely flops you still have a day job.
and judging from the number of applicants i'm not even going to call back - there are no guarentees that you will get sufficient work as a drum teacher - so cover your bases.

j
 
Grace :) said:
how does Jewel and Esk compare to places like Drumtech and BIMM, etc. are they similar? I've had a look at the brochure for Drumtech, and if anything it's made me more interested. It includes rock, pop, jazz, latin, etc. and also recording, composing, rhythm section, and so on.
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Jewel and esk isn't anywhere near as good a Drumtech. A college course is more of a stepping stone to get your skills up and get you into university. I just chose not to go to Uni and start my career earlier than my peers. It is going OK so far.

I also applied to Drumtech when I was 15/16 and got accepted. However at drum tech they grade you and put you into classes based on your abilities. Obviously I wasn't at the level I am now and was going to be put into a low grade. And i thought if I'm dropping a lot of money to go here maybe I should be at a higher level to get the most out of it.

I am looking into going to drumtech for a tailor made course covering latin/afro cuban drumming and percussion and providing there's time, doing some latin rhythm section work.

Nick G. said:
sorry to barge in on this thread grace but im the same age as you and im thinking of going along the same path as you :)

how did you get those 3 students btw? just friends of friends? local ads etc?

this one aimed at some of the more "been there done that/am there, doing that" guys
how fluent do u feel you should be to start teaching?
perhaps just beginners at first and then gradually working up the ladder

but im guessing as most beginners are usually younger children, confidence is needed to talk to the parents etc aswell as (sort of) the 1st 4 vital rudiments singles/doubles/paradiddles/triplets
or what grade in drums? (if any)

another question, how long had you been playing before you started teaching?


again, sorry grace :)
Click to expand...

Hey nick, I got my first students by advertising on Gumtree and offering my Unique Selling Point....I was cheap! I have gradually built up my reputation and prices.

I get my students through my website, through word of mouth or from the local drum shop.

To be honest most beginners aren't young they can be of any age. I have taught from 4 to 54 all beginners. As such confidence is needed to communicate effectively to all ages. This is confidence in your own ability on the drums and also your teaching methods (which being honest, take time to develop)

'aswell as (sort of) the 1st 4 vital rudiments singles/doubles/paradiddles/triplets
or what grade in drums? (if any)'

What about flams, drags, flam taps, Swiss triplets, 5,6,7,9,10,11,13,15,17 stroke rolls...?
You really should have all of these down and comfortable.

Grades are a hard one. I have never sat down and done the graded books per se but At college my final piece had to be grade 8 so I did one of the Rockshool pieces. I own most of the rockschool books and have gone through all of grade 8 on my own.

So as high a grade as possible.

NUTHA JASON said:
i'm a career drum teacher. i'm also a head of drum teachers (and guitars etc) for Kingston. recently i advertised for more tutors as we have more pupils in kingston than we can teach with our current staff. So i have been sifting through quite a few job applications and CVs for drum teachers lately. and interviews are starting next week. Many applicants have impressive music qualifications (many of them far more qualified than i) but i'll tell you what i look for to make my shortlist for interviews - the teaching side. i'll hire someone with a teaching degree, experience and only a grade 6 in drums over a music degree graduate.
And having attended the FMS conference and chatted with other heads of music i'll tell you that its the same pretty much anywhere. there are loads of musicians and few teachers. if you want to be a drum teacher - learn to teach.
having a teaching qualification has other benefits - its a good day job that does tend to give you lots of time to perfect your drums (holidays and weekends) and puts you in contact with many potential private pupils. its a good ticket to living in practically any country in the world. it's about as stressful as any job but it has some really golden moments (did i mention all the vacation time?)
anyway. study drums with a good teacher and good materials while studying teaching at uni so that even if the drumming side of things completely flops you still have a day job.
and judging from the number of applicants i'm not even going to call back - there are no guarentees that you will get sufficient work as a drum teacher - so cover your bases.

j
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Totally agree with Jason.

A teaching qualification is required to get into the higher education stuff.
However , this is more to Jason, what type of qualification. Most of the music teachers I know did a one year qualification instead of a full course. Is this the kind of thing you are talking about.

Cheers

Dave
 
Nick G. said:
sorry to barge in on this thread grace but im the same age as you and im thinking of going along the same path as you :)

how did you get those 3 students btw? just friends of friends? local ads etc?

this one aimed at some of the more "been there done that/am there, doing that" guys
how fluent do u feel you should be to start teaching?
perhaps just beginners at first and then gradually working up the ladder

but im guessing as most beginners are usually younger children, confidence is needed to talk to the parents etc aswell as (sort of) the 1st 4 vital rudiments singles/doubles/paradiddles/triplets
or what grade in drums? (if any)

another question, how long had you been playing before you started teaching?


again, sorry grace :)
Click to expand...


lol. no problem. i couldn't find much information on making drum teaching a career anywhere, and it confused me too.

The students I have now are because my mum's a mobile hairdresser. And the kind of person who just talks for ages too. So when some of the people whose hair she cuts find out that I play drums and they have a child who has just started, or who wants more lessons than they are getting at school I always get enquiries.
I charge £6 for half an hour (but I say that students have to travel to me) this is because with younger kids (my oldest is 10 now) they lose their concentration after the 30 mins, so 1 hour would be unbearable and pointless. -If you are going to teach and don't have much experience or qualifications then yes it does always appear to be beginners or people who are at the lower grades, but they will eventually progress and get better so you will get used to teaching other levels.
But, I'm always getting more people asking me to teach a younger sibling, or their children but for 30 minute lessons, one even offered me £12 if i would travel to them for the lesson - the only problem being that the train ticket is £10. so if you can't drive i find it limits you a bit. so if you want to teach and cant drive you need to have a good teaching space with a kit set up so people will travel to you.
I can kind of help you with the last bit, 2 of my students want to do grades. The first was told he would fail his debut (which is why he came to me for lessons) so he needed extra help. You really need to build up their confidence at that age, so i pointed out all the GOOD parts in his playing, then told him little bits to work on each week (not over-phasing him) and he came out with 93% 2 months later. The only grades I've met so far are rockschool debut, 1 and 2. If you have any of these books, look in the back for what they need to know (its basically, triplets in single strokes, paradiddles, single strokes, double strokes.)
And the parents are the most difficult to deal with, especially as it feels like you're working for them...I found that putting a homework book together, so that the student knows what they need to practice over the week and also so you have something to show the parent at the end of each lesson, and they know exactly what you're doing
 
Dave_Major said:
Jewel and esk isn't anywhere near as good a Drumtech. A college course is more of a stepping stone to get your skills up and get you into university. I just chose not to go to Uni and start my career earlier than my peers. It is going OK so far.

I also applied to Drumtech when I was 15/16 and got accepted. However at drum tech they grade you and put you into classes based on your abilities. Obviously I wasn't at the level I am now and was going to be put into a low grade. And i thought if I'm dropping a lot of money to go here maybe I should be at a higher level to get the most out of it.
Click to expand...

so would you say that the course you did at jewel and elk was similar to the 1 year courses available at drumtech which then allow you to go onto the 2 or 3 year degrees if you get a merit or distinction?

And i wasn't aware of the grading system at drumtech -what kind of grade level were you at when you applied there? I'm a grade 8 level now, but my theory side is a little lacking -i did a music GCSE to progress my theory and got a good grade overall, but i'm not sure what that equates to grade wise and they recommend grade 6. Obviously I don't want to go into drumtech at a lower class if possible, i would like to get the most out of it as possible.

NUTHA JASON said:
i'm a career drum teacher. i'm also a head of drum teachers (and guitars etc) for Kingston. recently i advertised for more tutors as we have more pupils in kingston than we can teach with our current staff. So i have been sifting through quite a few job applications and CVs for drum teachers lately. and interviews are starting next week. Many applicants have impressive music qualifications (many of them far more qualified than i) but i'll tell you what i look for to make my shortlist for interviews - the teaching side. i'll hire someone with a teaching degree, experience and only a grade 6 in drums over a music degree graduate.
And having attended the FMS conference and chatted with other heads of music i'll tell you that its the same pretty much anywhere. there are loads of musicians and few teachers. if you want to be a drum teacher - learn to teach.
having a teaching qualification has other benefits - its a good day job that does tend to give you lots of time to perfect your drums (holidays and weekends) and puts you in contact with many potential private pupils. its a good ticket to living in practically any country in the world. it's about as stressful as any job but it has some really golden moments (did i mention all the vacation time?)
anyway. study drums with a good teacher and good materials while studying teaching at uni so that even if the drumming side of things completely flops you still have a day job.
and judging from the number of applicants i'm not even going to call back - there are no guarentees that you will get sufficient work as a drum teacher - so cover your bases.

j
Click to expand...

thats interesting...if, say a candidate with a music degree as apposed to a teaching one had lots of experience in teaching, would they still not stand much chance? Is it a teaching degree you look for specifically? Because i've seen teaching diplomas (specialised in an instrument) and so on available, or is a degree a must have?
 
it's funny you should say that, but mike johnston was the person who made me seriously think about being a teacher for a full time job. he's so enthusiastic and obviously loves what he does.

I also think mikeslessons.com is a great site and a great idea, and also his actual facility in california looks pretty cool to where the drumcamps are.

but you know what they say...money makes money, and setting up online lessons aint gonna be cheap.
 
Unfortunately, for the majority of drum teachers, making a living teaching drumming is not all that lucrative. However, with every additional degree that you get (e.g. bachelor, master and PhD), the opportunities get much more interesting and well-paying. Just be realistic; look at the job advertisements and see how many drumming teachers are listed. That said, it is not all about money, fame or livelihood in the short term at least.

Go to university, teach drumming on the side to help pay for books, tuition, food, etc. If you enrole in a music degree, even better.

Good luck, keep drumming some how.

GJS
 
A teaching qualification is required to get into the higher education stuff.
However , this is more to Jason, what type of qualification. Most of the music teachers I know did a one year qualification instead of a full course. Is this the kind of thing you are talking about.
Cheers
Dave
Click to expand...

i get so many applicants that i can afford to be a bit choosy. but what i'm really looking for is education experience and some qualification. each case is considered but if an application has absolutely no mention of teaching experience i shred it.

thats interesting...if, say a candidate with a music degree as apposed to a teaching one had lots of experience in teaching, would they still not stand much chance? Is it a teaching degree you look for specifically? Because i've seen teaching diplomas (specialised in an instrument) and so on available, or is a degree a must have?
Click to expand...

same answer as above. i have found that anyone with a large qualification in music has normally done a lot of teaching as well (private, peer tutoring etc) sometimes they have done a module or diploma somehwere as well.

j
 
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