"What can I do to be less nervous? Please help me!"
I think it's unproductive to try to be "less nervous." That expectation will only augment your angst. Instead, use your nerves to your advantage. They're a source of energy when properly directed. The trick is to transform fear into enthusiasm. The only difference between dread and excitement is the way you interpret the two. It's all about shaping your perception of reality instead of stressing over outcomes you can't control. Roll with life, and it won't roll over you.
Such a wise and deep explanation! I just wish it would be so easy.
The Bird is the middle finger. Dig? "F&%k off" is what it means.
Now yes. I just was confused as I thought that it would mean to throw a cymbal at him like Jo Jones once did with Charlie Parker.
John Ramsey, who teaches at Berklee College of Music used to drive 60 miles to his drum lessons. You Germans have terrific train systems. Get out there and find a new teacher. Actung!
Even if I would drive 60 kilometers there would be still no music school, that’s the real issue in the whole area.
Nerves are fine! Don't sweat it! Enjoy the experience!
I did! Whole story at the end of this post.
Have fun buddy!
If this one fails go online.
Teaching yourself nowadays is completely different than say over a decade ago thanks to the interweb.
No shortage of vauable resources online both free and for pay.
You’d laugh, it is online lessons, all music schools are occupied.
I had three main teachers for drum lessons. Two of them were percussionist/band directors and one was for drum set rock'n'roll. It was never the first lesson that made me nervous. It was subsequent lessons especially when I didn't do my homework and put in enough practice time that made me nervous. I feared being told that I didn't practice enough.
Thats interesting. And have you been told to?
_
Thanks for all your helpful replies, sharing your experiences with me and being there.
Yesterday was the big day - new teacher, first lesson.
My emotions were a true rollercoaster, I was that nervous that I literally was about to run up my walls and found dozens of things in my apartment that needed to be cleaned, sorted and… How are my hairs today?
My lesson was scheduled for 3:00 pm local time and 15 minutes before my potential new teacher wrote me that he’d Skype call me then. Oh no! What’s that? I installed Skype the Day before and had to do a firmware update on my MacBook and now the App was gone. What if I’d have to reinstall everything with a lesson being only 15 Minutes away?
Luckily I just needed to reinstall the App and all Settings remained.
I plugged in my Headset but weirdly enough it always slipped my head and I decided to go on without it. When I waited the last few minutes something strange happened. All my anxiety and nervousness disappeared and was replaced by excitement.
3:00 pm. Man, that guy was as precise as a Swiss clock!
He called me and waved into the camera I waved back but he couldn’t see me first so I had to search the Camera icon.
„How are you?“
„Good.“
„Where are you getting called from?“ he asked.
„XY.“ I said.
„Where’s that?“ he asked.
Then I explained where my village lays.
„Maybe you know that I’m calling from Berlin.“
„yes, I do.“
„Your name is XY, right?“
„Yes.“
„Beautiful name.“
„Thank you.“
„Have you played before?“
While having this smalltalk I felt some ice breaking and so I told him about my bad experiences with drum lessons before.
„I can’t express how sorry I am for you. Really, that hurts my soul as a teacher! How can someone yell at a student for not putting in enough for his/her hobby? Hearing this really makes me sorry for you and I can also imagine that playing the drums now has to do with something worse. I never put myself upon my students. If they want to get great on the Practice Pad. Cool. If they want to just play one Song for a Year. Cool. I don’t have a set curriculum I need to finish, I can adjust to what the Student needs and they should have fun. I’m sorry what happened to you, but I think your journey could over if you decide to learn from me.“
More ice broke.
He then told me about the downsides of Skype Lessons and how to adjust it, the Fees, still seemed to be very shocked about my experiences and we continued talking about it.
„How old were your teachers?“
„Uhm, I think 60, 40-45 and 50 years old.“
„I can imagine what kind of people they were. These id***, sorry that I have to say so, are failed and frustrated careers of musicians which became teachers. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fine if someone just decides to teach and their lessons can be absolutely fine but what you went through… they were just frustrated old men who spit their frustrations on their students. To hear that makes me really upset.“
We then talked about Game of Thrones and Gaming and then he wanted to know if I’d have questions. Well, maybe my Head was in Recovery Mode as I couldn’t find any question I had to ask.
„Alright. Then we can end for today. Next week there’s no Online lessons as I have to take a fellow teachers local students next Thursday. We then meet again at 12th of August.“
This lesson was so different from all others I had although I wasn’t told to play anything and we just talked. I just wished my head wouldn’t have been in recovery mode, because then I’d have asked for something to practice during the break. But what I can say is, that my new teacher seemed to be exactly what I need. I never felt ice breaking during a first lesson and I never met someone who showed so much comfort and empathy to me, I think I even felt some bits of trust already which I also never felt before.
Because Anxiety is really exhausting I was very tired and had a very long and tight sleep last night.
Thinking about future lessons doesn’t make me nervous, I just can’t wait for this two weeks to be over.