Qualities Required of Good Drum Teachers

Getting a good teacher is an important step towards learning music. While many people start off strumming, humming and banging on their own, you can only learn good technique with the help of a good teacher. Learning from good drum teachers will help you develop your skill in various ways. The challenge lies in finding a teacher who is good as well as suitable for you.

Accreditation

Your teacher should be able to teach you, so they should be knowledgeable in the techniques and be able to motivate you to perform well. Unless your teacher is famous or well-known in musical circles, it is impossible to just guess what their level of learning is. Certification is a good way of understanding how far the person has progressed in their learning of drums and how they can help you learn the same. Ask to see their certificates from any reputed musical institute or university before hiring them.

Performance experience

If your teacher cannot provide certificates, it does not mean that they are to be completely written off. There are other ways to check their proficiency. Investigate their background and check whether they have given any performances. This is very important because if you have high aspirations of your drumming career, you will require a teacher who knows the ropes and understands the stress and feel of giving public performances. If possible, go and attend a couple of performances by the prospective teacher so you can make up your own mind on their skill.

General musical knowledge

Expect more from your teacher. It is not enough to just understand how drums should be played. Only if the teacher understands musical concepts and has interests in various fields of music or even has tried their hand at song-writing, they will be able to give you an all-round education. The more musical skill sets your teacher has, the better their ability to share their knowledge with you and expose you to the musical world properly.

Aware of current trends

It is essential that a good drum teacher should also be aware of and interested in current trends in music. While modern music is often sometimes easily dismissed by purists, most students really only get into music and are motivated to learn after listening to the latest music by their favourite artistes. Your teacher needs to be able to tune in to what interests you so that they can make drum tutorials more interesting and motivating for you.

Suitability

You will need to feel good about your lessons and about practising what you learn. Only a teacher who motivates you and understands your limitations can help you with this. A teacher who makes drum lessons unbearable or keeps pointing out your faults will only undermine your confidence. Choose a teacher who knows how to teach as well as how to drum. A good teacher will make you enjoy learning, inspire you to do better and gradually make you push your limits towards perfection. If your teacher does not do this, then you should find one who does.

Like any other musical instrument, drumming requires patience and a lot of hard work. A teacher who can provide a safe and clean space for learning is essential since most people don’t really have a good place to bang on drums without annoying the neighbours. Having drum lessons that are fun and help you do better is also important.