Im starting to teach need help!

Z

Zildjian232

Senior Member
Hi,

I just started giving drum lessons to a friend of mine. I havnt a clue how to structure it. I dont just want to sit him down and show him how to play a nirvanna album. Ive showed him the basics of reading music. Note values, he can read quarter, eigth, half rests, quarter rests etc. Nothing crazy. Ive of course showed him a couple rock drum beats and some fill ideas. etc

I just dont know how to put that all together. Im not even sure how I got myself to this point in playing.

Any help would be appreciated,

mike
 
Zildjian232 said:
Hi,

I just started giving drum lessons to a friend of mine. I havnt a clue how to structure it. I dont just want to sit him down and show him how to play a nirvanna album. Ive showed him the basics of reading music. Note values, he can read quarter, eigth, half rests, quarter rests etc. Nothing crazy. Ive of course showed him a couple rock drum beats and some fill ideas. etc

I just dont know how to put that all together. Im not even sure how I got myself to this point in playing.

Any help would be appreciated,

mike
Click to expand...

Please do not take this the wrong way but - In your own words you state that you haven't a clue, so why are you trying? I wouldn't try to fix someone's car just because I can change the oil in my own.

I would suggest referring your friend to a teacher who has experience and knows the basic structure and progression of drum teaching. Even if we gave you a few hints now to help you with the next lesson(s), you would probably be at a loss again in a week or two.

My suggestion is to refer him to a qualified teacher. In the meantime, if you are interested in teaching you need to do some preparation. You should ask your drum teacher how he/she structures the lessons. Do some research on teaching and read through some of the teaching forums on this site. You may want to take lessons with or interview a few teachers in town. You can also PM some of us on this site to see what works for us.

Many drummers buy books or DVDs for their own purposes. But you should also start buying beginning snare and drum set methods to see what books you like. That is what a lot of us do. Matt Ritter is now in the process of buying beginning snare material to add to his collection - see link.

Here is another good post
http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44824&highlight=teacher

I hope this information helps. Please PM me if you have any questions.

Jeff
 
I wouldn't immediately discourage someone who wants to take up teaching but has trouble doing so. It's something that takes a little while to get the hang of. But of course you need to be honest with yourself and admit it when you feel that you can't provide your pupils with what they need.

The best advice I can give you is to remember how your lessons once started, the exercises you did etc. And especially try to figure out WHY your teacher had you do those specific exercise in that particular order - if you had a good teacher it will generally make sense.
The first few weeks of teaching take a lot of preparation, so be prepared to put some work into developing a program.

I also second Jeff's advice on finding a good book for beginners and work through that with your pupil. A good book will not only help your pupil, it might actually help you, as a teacher, too. Add material of your own as needed, of course.

But of course, if you don't understand how you got as good at drumming as you are you'll need to figure that out first. If you can't, it's best not to teach.
 
First of all MIke I applaud your desire to share your passion of drums with someone else. I think it's great you want to do this but have to agree with Jeff on referring your friend to a qualified teacher. Then I too would suggest, if you're interested in teaching, getting the help you need to become a good, qualified teacher. I'm no longer teaching but did so for many years. Most of my major mistakes, even as a trained teacher, came in my early days. The problem is that many of those mistakes, even with the best of intentions, discouraged my students. You have to learn to grab their attention early, learn to keep it while imparting the skills and techniques along the way. Here's an illustration that I hope will help.

I love Mtn Biking and want to encourage others to ride with me so what I do is take them to the top of a fun downhill section (long enough to enjoy but not too hard as to scare them) in a truck and ride down hill. I do this several times to get them hooked. Once I see the high they get from going downhill then I start riding them uphill. The key is that they learn the thrill of the downhill and will then endure the climbs to catch the thrill.

I encourage you to teach but get the help you need first. Keep drumming :0).
 
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