[Dixielandjazz] drummers

[LARRY'S Signs and Large Format Printing]

snip:  Lily Said
I guess I'm just not "into" glorifying drummers--I find many of them to be
incredibly stupid! (Of course, when I find a smart drummer, I'm very
impressed.
:-)  Just kidding, folks.)

Listmates
On the high school level the above statement might very well be true.  At
the High school and elementary schools that I work at (assistant band
director) there are many more disciplinary / inattention problems in the
drum section. Now couple this with an instrument that can destroy the band.
The director is constantly reminding them to pay attention and keep focus.
These are not bad kids but seem to need more direction.  I think that other
players in the band especially if they are serious about playing might very
well feel this way.

Last year one of the elementary schools had 7 starting drummers and 9 other
instruments.  Of the drummers all showed signs in various degrees of ADHD.
It went from moderately severe to mild.  What a Zoo!  It was difficult to
work with that many kids and constantly breaking up something among the
drummers.  Our solution was to split the group and have the percussion
specialist work with them and I would come in for the rest of the year and
work with the other instrumentalists.  Actually months had been lost with
that group.

Kids with ADHD seem to gravitate to drums.   Drums are the worst instrument
to start a kid on if he has ADHD because reading drum music takes a high
degree of concentration with sometimes little action. Example:  the trap
player who has to count 87 measures rest and has only one tink on the
triangle.  It's this inactivity and sometimes extremely boring parts that
are the killer. This concentration is exactly what they can't do without
medication and then maybe not then.  On the other hand kids with this (ADHD)
might, if taught to play drum sets in a free style and no music might do
very well.

This problem has lead to the recommendation that students who show signs of
ADHD either medicated or not be encouraged to play other instruments.  We
will still take a kid with this problem on beginning drums but we are trying
to work a lot closer with the parents on this.  Why set up a kid for more
problems than they already have?  This year has been very peaceful by
comparison.  Just as a side note we have one school that I know the kids and
parents very well.  One of the kids is moderate to severe ADHD and is
medicated.  He is playing Sax and the whole class of 7 kids are doing better
than all the others especially in cooperation.  I knew this kid before he
was medicated and he was something else.

It's terribly wrong to generalize about people because there almost as many
exceptions as there are people but I do find many drummers to be "different"
than other musicians.  When I was in the AF we had a drummer that was some
kind of Savant. His name appears on many percussion solo and ensemble pieces
and wrote a book that as I understand it is used by several major
universities in their percussion departments.  He was well known enough to
be appointed the percussion coach at West Point.  He however lasted only a
little over a week.  The scenario went something like this when meeting his
superior officer.  "Hey babe how's it goin'".  This drummer never passed his
tests above Tech Sgt and ended 20 yrs at that rank.  He was a bank guard
rent a cop until his retirement.

Personally I have often been frustrated by this "difference"

We do know some things about musicians such as they tend to get higher
grades than non musicians so here is a subject for a Doctoral paper -  Are
the stereotypes correct?
Although it would not be politically correct It would be interesting to have
a psychological / IQ / grades in school / family income level / race group/
sex, survey done on  individual musician types as vs. the instruments they
play and kind of music they play.

It would answer such politically incorrect  questions such as Do black
people make better Jazzers?  Are drummers really stupid hyperactives?  Why
do Orientals become good violin players and almost never Blacks?  Are Oboe
players really anal retentive perfectionists with no friends except Bassoon
players?  What's the difference between Jazzers and Classical musicians?
What difference does family income make on musicians?  Why are harpists
almost always female and why do boys select trumpets over flutes?  Why does
almost every black boy want to be a drummer? Are saxophone players more
prone to drug use?  Why are double reed players almost always white?  What
instrument is recommended for a kid with ADHD? (no it's not drums)  Are
musicians more likely to be addictive types and alcoholics than the rest of
the population..

Then on the other hand maybe we really don't want to know the answer to
those questions.
Larry Walton
St. Louis

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Tramette89 at aol.com>
To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2005 5:29 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] drums


> In a message dated 5/12/2005 6:22:07 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> tubaman at batnet.com writes:
> This film was all over the various marching band discussion lists when
> it came out - the general consensus among "Band Geeks" was that it was
> incredibly good. A lot of people in the USA (and world) don't get to
> see the bands from the Southern Black College Conference - they have a
> much more jazzy style in song, drum and marching technique and they
> generally blow away most "normal" marching bands.
> I remember when that film came out. I wasn't impressed with it, but all
the
> band directors I know think it's the greatest thing in the world. I
must've
> watched it about twenty times in class. (The head band director at my high
school
> even made the band watch it on the bus when we were going to Philadelphia
> last year to march in the Thanksgiving parade!)
>
> I guess I'm just not "into" glorifying drummers--I find many of them to be
> incredibly stupid! (Of course, when I find a smart drummer, I'm very
impressed.
> :-)  Just kidding, folks.)
>
> -Lily Korte
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