Living In A Golden Age

OK, I'm back…

 I'll try not to sound like the old man here, but younger drummers often don't realize how good they have it when it comes to studying and learning drums. Back in my day (yeah, I'm that old), when I was a young aspiring drummer, I had school band, private drum lessons, and once in a while was able to see a live band. That was it. That's all I had to learn drums from.

 Today, the choices are much broader and more accessible. Besides school band and private lessons, there are:

 Drum videos/DVDs/downloads
Podcasts
Cable/satellite TV
Hundreds of books
Bazzilions of recordings
And that window to the world, the internet

 As both a teacher, and an ongoing student (I will always be a student), I take advantage of all the above. It's amazing how much information is out there. If I want to see a video of X drummer, I can probably find one, or more. How do you do that Moeller Stroke? There's all sorts of videos on the web shot at every possible angle. Fantastic!

But there's 2 sides to everything, and as many really great and valuable instructional videos as there on the internet, there are probably just as many bad, erroneous, false, and misleading videos.


Buyer, or watcher, beware!

 I must admit to watching a lot of instructional videos, and some of them are really bad! Nowadays, anyone with a camera and an internet connection can produce instructional videos. This is where having a private instructor or a mentor is still important. You can tell ask to check out a video you suspect is not quite right, and get feed back from them. 
 


 But you also have to investigate things for yourself. Look for people posting videos who have a good reputation as both a player and teacher. Look up their websites and credentials. Check them out! That's really your responsibility. Some unknown drummer, posting videos from their bedroom or basement, might not really know what they are talking about. I've seen plenty of these, and they can do more harm than good to students.

 So take advantage of all the media out there, but also beware of things that don't seem quite right.

 ~ MB
Deconstruct Yourself™



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