Are young musicians, cool, or nerds.

S

sticks4drums

Guest
I was talking to my kids this morning at breakfast just before they went to school. They have grown up with electronic drums, acoustic drums, two pianos, bass, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, amps, sound boards, speakers with enough power to make you deaf, yet they have only ever dabbled in my love of music. They have taken guitar, piano, and drum lessons, but only for short periods of time. Never enough to really learn the instrument well. I never took lessons for the drums, but I made up for it with hours and hours of playing.
They basically told me that the kids in town that played instruments were mostly the geeks, and wimps. The kids that did not have a lot of friends. This got me thinking. Was this true? Has it always been this way. Am I a geek and a wimp? Don't answer that last one. :) I know it takes a lot of hours by yourself to really get good at playing an instrument.
What say you guys and gals.
 
Geeks. If you're a for-real musician, practicing so much alone pretty much makes you miss out on all those important social behaviors you should've gotten a handle on when you were young. Although this isn't true for everybody, it's true for most of us. Some people are just naturally gifted and didn't spend hours and hours in the practice room, though ;)
 
Kinda of like that in my former school. Except for me, but I started playing drums at school in last grade. I think all drummers were cool, and the singers, often the guitarists were the wimps and geeks. So, there you have it... ;)
 
My best friend told me that the first time he saw me on the bus in 6th grade he thought I was a nerd because I had the big percussion set with me and eventually he ended up joining band because of me...
It's funny because it seems like everyone hazes people at a young age like that, but then from high school on it seems like everyone wishes they could play an instrument. I'm really glad I learned when I was a kid, but I did have less friends because of it (not that I needed them anyways)
 
This is one of my gripes about how things are these days. I know I sound like a bit on a grumpy old man sometimes, even though I'm only 33, but it does sadden me.

It just seems that if you have any kind of hobby and spend a lot of time on it as opposed to going out and getting as drunk as possible with your mates, then you are somehow weird or nerdy. Becoming good at a craft doesn't seem to be "in" anymore. It seems to be a case of, do whatever you can to earn some money so you can buy all the gadgets and go out at night, and that's it.

If you look at buildings and artifacts made say in the early 1900's, things look crafted because there were craftsmen involved that took pride in their work and loved what they did, it was part of who they were.

The amount of times I hear people say "ohh I got soo drunk last night" like it's some kind of acheivement. I hardly ever hear people say "I made this over the weekend", or "I learnt to do this".

There's so many distractions now that there's perhaps no real need to spend hours entertaining yourself with a hobby.

I'm not talking about everybody, and I'm not saying these are bad people, it's just an observation, right or wrong.

When I was at Secondary school (around age 11 to 16 if I recall correctly), I played cornet in the school band. As the years went on, I literally watched a decline in kids being interested in playing a musical instrument and being in the band, and an increase in fighting, bullying, all sorts of things like that. I know that's a very isolated case, but I look around and I'm sure things have changed a lot over my life time. I know we wear rose tinted glasses as kids somewhat, but I just don't think that is it.

EDIT: Damn, I really must learn to "chillax" lol.
 
School always had its own rules. "band geek" is a common term. Unless you're in a garage band playing a popular genre it probably won't be seen otherwise. Easy enough to do, I just wish the schools encouraged it as an extra curricular or something. But yes, if you're any good at playing, you've sacrificed a lot of social skills to get there at that age.

As for wimps, I've always been a scrawny guy and that will probably never change, but drums are a heck of a workout.
 
This is one of my gripes about how things are these days. I know I sound like a bit on a grumpy old man sometimes, even though I'm only 33, but it does sadden me.

It just seems that if you have any kind of hobby and spend a lot of time on it as opposed to going out and getting as drunk as possible with your mates, then you are somehow weird or nerdy. Becoming good at a craft doesn't seem to be "in" anymore. It seems to be a case of, do whatever you can to earn some money so you can buy all the gadgets and go out at night, and that's it.

If you look at buildings and artifacts made say in the early 1900's, things look crafted because there were craftsmen involved that took pride in their work and loved what they did, it was part of who they were.

The amount of times I hear people say "ohh I got soo drunk last night" like it's some kind of acheivement. I hardly ever hear people say "I made this over the weekend", or "I learnt to do this".

There's so many distractions now that there's perhaps no real need to spend hours entertaining yourself with a hobby.

I'm not talking about everybody, and I'm not saying these are bad people, it's just an observation, right or wrong.

When I was at Secondary school (around age 11 to 16 if I recall correctly), I played cornet in the school band. As the years went on, I literally watched a decline in kids being interested in playing a musical instrument and being in the band, and an increase in fighting, bullying, all sorts of things like that. I know that's a very isolated case, but I look around and I'm sure things have changed a lot over my life time. I know we wear rose tinted glasses as kids somewhat, but I just don't think that is it.
Great points! Being Canadian my kids had to be hockey players. I had them at the rink from the time they were 3. They were going to be in the NHL one day. After years of hockey, and all the driving and money that goes into it. All the politics of Rep hockey, and all the arguments with other parents, I would trade it all just to have one of my kids sit down and play me a beautiful piece of music on the instrument of their choice. I think many times our priorities, and what the world today perceives as cool is messed up.
 
When i was at the beginning of high school (11-12) i got a tiny little beginner electric drum kit for christmas and i was so excited, after i told people at school i definately didnt get the reaction i was hoping for and was looked at as a nerd which at such an easily moulded age, it put me right off learning any musical instrument.

I picked up the drums only in the last 2 years or so, so im a very late starter, ive always wished i stuck with it and i find myself imagining how good ide be at the drums if i had carried on playing from then lol. Its a shame kids are looked at as un-cool for playing an instrument.
 
This is one of my gripes about how things are these days. I know I sound like a bit on a grumpy old man sometimes, even though I'm only 33, but it does sadden me.

It just seems that if you have any kind of hobby and spend a lot of time on it as opposed to going out and getting as drunk as possible with your mates, then you are somehow weird or nerdy. Becoming good at a craft doesn't seem to be "in" anymore. It seems to be a case of, do whatever you can to earn some money so you can buy all the gadgets and go out at night, and that's it.

If you look at buildings and artifacts made say in the early 1900's, things look crafted because there were craftsmen involved that took pride in their work and loved what they did, it was part of who they were.

The amount of times I hear people say "ohh I got soo drunk last night" like it's some kind of achievement. I hardly ever hear people say "I made this over the weekend", or "I learnt to do this".

There's so many distractions now that there's perhaps no real need to spend hours entertaining yourself with a hobby.

I'm not talking about everybody, and I'm not saying these are bad people, it's just an observation, right or wrong.

When I was at Secondary school (around age 11 to 16 if I recall correctly), I played cornet in the school band. As the years went on, I literally watched a decline in kids being interested in playing a musical instrument and being in the band, and an increase in fighting, bullying, all sorts of things like that. I know that's a very isolated case, but I look around and I'm sure things have changed a lot over my life time. I know we wear rose tinted glasses as kids somewhat, but I just don't think that is it.

EDIT: Damn, I really must learn to "chillax" lol.

At the ripe ol' age of 33 - what do you know? ;)

Sorry to break it to you, but it's been this way for a lot longer than I've been around. So let's break it down to some non-committal numbers: Take yourself, and multiply that by perhaps a million, and you have the kids that are into crafts and the rest who aren't in to anything. Of course this number fluctuates, depending on what crafts the kids find and what crafts they fall out of. But really, that's how it is. Band programs have struggled with this forever. Yearly, arts people have to beg for money from their school to fund their programs or go and create an additional income outside of what the school allows. Human nature?
 
Depends what instrument they play, and in what context.

For example:

A trumpet player jamming with his schoolmates in a garage, playing funk or jazz, is cool.

A trumpet player in the school's stage band is a geek.

A trumpet player in the school's orchestra is a nerd.

A trumpet player in the theater arts pit band is also a nerd, but there's a strong comaraderie, so he's sort of a cool nerd.

But typically, drummers, guitar and bass players and most keyboard players are automatically cool.

Except when the drummer is in marching band/drumline, then he's a cool geek.

So many facets to this, and it's exactly the same today as it was 40 years ago when I was transitioning into high school.

Bermuda
 
Are they into sports. Seems to be a dividing line these days. In school I did both. Played soccer, ran track, band orchestra all I could get into, but times have changed and different strokes for different folks. .Also there are geographical interests. Up north a lot of hunting and fishing. On the coasts, boating, surfing etc. Also Northwest, snow skiing. You didn't tell what they were into, but again we are all different.
 
At school I:

1) Was a complete computer geek (I could write basic programs since I was about 5).
2) Played the cornet in the school band.
3) Played the handbells in the school handbell group.

Basically, I was screwed ;-)

The cool thing was at lunchtime I could either hide in the computer room or the music room, and somehow they rarely got invaded.. Nobody dared annoy the IT guy.. he was a scary Welshman, great guy.

EDIT: GRUNTERSDAD: I couldn't play football or rugby to save my life, however I was a "secret weapon" when it came to cricket, good bowler.

EDIT: To show how bad my school was, some of our classes where the teachers had no control featured flame throwers. As in, hair spray cans and lighters. In class. Not kidding.
 
Are they into sports. Seems to be a dividing line these days. In school I did both. Played soccer, ran track, band orchestra all I could get into, but times have changed and different strokes for different folks. .Also there are geographical interests. Up north a lot of hunting and fishing. On the coasts, boating, surfing etc. Also Northwest, snow skiing. You didn't tell what they were into, but again we are all different.
My kids are very well rounded like it sounds you were in school. They play all sorts of sports. They are both in track. My youngest loves skate boarding, and my oldest plays school and league rugby and is now a body building nut. I guess balance is great to have, but I think it is very hard to really be good at one thing, if you are doing so many.
 
If you're a good drummer, you have a certain amount of social capital and ability to beat the "band geek" stereotype that other young musicians just don't have. In high school, I'd jam a drum solo during a pep band performance during halftime at a basketball game, and people took notice. Also, young drummers can play in rock bands, which generally adds to the coolness factor. It's not quite the same for a young clarinetist.
 
I can take it one step further. Are most of our music heroes geeks? Neil Peart my favorite drummer is a self proclaimed geek. The poor bass player in the Dream Theater drummer tri-outs, looks like he wouldn't talk if you payed him to.
 
A bit of both. Musicians can totally be sexy, but like John Lennon once said, if you want to be as good as The Beatles you would have to practice 100 hours for every one hour spent on stage, so it does take a bit of a nerdy side to dedicate the time to practice and become great.
 
A bit of both. Musicians can totally be sexy, but like John Lennon once said, if you want to be as good as The Beatles you would have to practice 100 hours for every one hour spent on stage, so it does take a bit of a nerdy side to dedicate the time to practice and become great.

Just having a bit of fun, but I could read this as spending 10 hours onstage instead of practicing for 100 to be really good ;)
 
It's funny how how everything at a young age is about "being cool" or what your classification is in the school peer group when after high school - real world
none of that matters.

My kids (13 and 14)
My daughter spends hours a day staring into her cell phone, texting etc...
My son (14) spends hours a day on his laptop playing computer games.

Man I wish they'd at least do something with lasting value (for hours a day)
this young generations obsession with video games - I dunno

what's logging 20,000 hours of video game playing going to do for your future?
You gonna be thirty and applying for a job and on your resume you will say
"I beat Halo" or "I won XYZ game on my x-box")

rant over

all I know is when I hear a great musician it's automatically cool
it takes years of devotion to be accomplished at an instrument
and if anyone says to me it's not cool to practice an instrument at a young age
I'll punch their lights out!!!!
 
To me, it depends at what age and how dedicated a musician are you. But overall I'd say that musicians are a lot more geeks than cool.

If you're 14 and wanna get the girls' attention, you'll have a lot more chances by joining the football team rather than saying at school "hey, I play the guitar".

If you're around 20 and you have a mediocre rock band and gig shitty bars, yeah, you'll definitely have the attention of the occasional groupies, but you'd still have a bigger chance of dating cheerleaders if you played football.

Then you have the point where you're around 25 and have a band touring IDK, the Warped Tour or something.. well, yeah, we could say you're pretty cool by then. (But still not as cool as being playing at the NFL).

I don't know, I love being a drummer. I didn't have any problems with that during highschool. I mean, I didn't get beat up or anything. Some guys and girls thought I was cool, I guess, but I was never as "popular" as the guys who smoked, got drunk and made big house-parties. I didn't have a girlfriend until I was 17, and I didn't have a lot of friends, but the ones I had, were good, so good that I have them to this day.

Things change after highschool. A lot. I think that's the best thing you could tell your kids. :)

Cheers.
 
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