I think (but I don't know) that focusing on rudiments and proper grip/technique is a dicey proposition. If someone focuses on them from lesson 1, and spends a long time working on them before moving on, they'll likely be a much better drummer. But most kids, if forced to work on them from lesson 1, will just quit playing drums. It's probably the same for most adult learners. It's more work to go back later and un-learn bad habits, yes, but the sooner somebody starts playing along with songs, the more likely they'll stick with the instrument.
Any teachers want to weigh in on that theory?
band director/percussion instructor and private lesson guy here...
the students/drummers negative perspective about non-drumset practice is
directly the teachers fault...and indirectly the drumming communities fault. Also, the student is at fault too: boredom is due to lack of actively participating.
i have been teaching for 30 years. I have had about a total of 1500 students in that time. ( I keep a list). 5th graders; high schoolers; college kids; adults; Autistic; partially deaf; ADHD; blind; arm, and leg disabilities...i have taught just about every situation a person could be in.
EVERY ONE of my students has started with 2-3 months of rudimental/fundamental "snare" stuff first...and very few of them ever perceived it as "drudgery"....because that is not how I introduce it. From the get go, rudiments are "cool" in my drum culture. I show drum corps videos; drum set players using rudiments in patterns; we start a rudimental knowledge and speed rubric where they get "stars" for every rudiment they learn, and can play at different speeds
if we live in , and foster a culture where the perception of rudiments, fundamentals practice and learning a kind of technique is discouraged, or thought of as boring or drudgery, or the worst....not important
... we are not helping either.
I notice that this mind set definitely comes from players who did not start in a school band, or structured lesson situation...the people who just "got drums and tried to learn songs"...and as I have mentioned in many posts, these types are the ones who usually are hitting walls first (and fast) and try to look for "secrets" to playing some kind of pattern, or reading some beat. MANY of those problems are just due to skipping the fundamental reading and technique building process that should happen first. When these types come to me for help, I
always think inside about how much of their time was wasted learning things incorrectly, and how much time it will take to undo all of that bad habit...and they always say the same thing: "man, if I had just got lessons first" <--- this is a lot of my adult age students...the ones who thought they "knew better"
Hell, I have had teachers/instructors who say that rudiments, proper hand technique...even practicing at home...are wastes of time..."just play the song man"...luckily I had my dad
first, and he told me to really consider what is righht or wrong, and to never cut corners to get to an end result
so this is just observational/situational reaction. I am not slamming anyone, but am definitely slamming the "take the easy way out/skipping steps" mind set.
<Old Man Rant>
I
am slamming the sect of drummers who
willingly and actively degrade other drummers who take their training, reading, technique and progression seriously. I think that is another issue of our culture in the past 50 years - the loss of respect for being educated on a subject - and it is one of the the things that I do get riled up about. "Everyone gets a trophy" is not a thing in my world; just putting your name on the list and "wearing the uniform" is not enough...sorry, I am old school in that fact, and that won't change