Another snippet from Scott K. Fish's interview with Max Roach. This is how it's done, using your ears.
It's also interesting that Max, who moved to New York when he was very young, and was around to see all of the biggest developments in drumming happening in person— the ones he didn't make happen on his own— is talking about learning about drumming from records. Most of the story of the next generation of drumming is of other people listening to Max Roach records and doing what he's talking about.
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In the same interview, he also mentions this:
"I had an interesting experience. I went to Haiti and saw a great, great drummer there. I watched him teach a student and it was very close to the way we learned. We used to listen to records and take off the record what the person was doing. You didn't see the person. You'd just hear it. We'd figure out what was happening with our ears. Then we'd duplicate the sound. Well, he taught that way. He'd put a student in another room with a partition. Then he'd make a sound on the drum and the student would have to imitate the sound. When I asked him why he taught like that and why he would never have the student look at how he did things, he said it was because everybody's anatomy is different. So, it's beholding upon the student to listen and then figure out a way to create that sound.“
I found this a very interesting approach to teaching.
Nowadays, students want very precise instructions on how to do something rather than figuring it out for themselves.
They think there is a right way to do things.
But in reality, even the right way is a very individual thing.
For me, there are too many drummers who do everything right, but very few who do it their own way.
When I teach, I try not to get in the way too much.
Of course, I make sure students don't hurt themselves and give them pointers if they hit a dead end, but I don't usually tell them: this is how it's done.
For me, the connection to teaching was really interesting in that quote.
I also think that YouTube harms many people more than it inspires them.
Their view of things gets very narrowed because everything is so precisely worded and explained.
My favorite instructional video is by Steve Jordan, "The Groove is Here."
The actual drumming is the least of his concerns in this video.
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