Why I named my studio “The Rhythm Lab”, instead of “Doug Smith Drum Studios”.

As human beings we build on the things that came before us naturally. What else can we do? When I decided to open my own teaching studio I thought back to my first experiences with exposure to learning how to drum. I started out in the summer class provided by my Parks and Recreation Department of my hometown. The class materials consisted of a pair of nylon tipped drum sticks and the little square shaped pad made out of rubber. Certainly this was the model of study made available to us at that time. The focus of the class was technique, rudiments and reading. I found it less than amazing but I suppose it was sufficient because hey, I’m still playing!

After studying music as an adult and having a career as an international traveling musician and learning how to play many percussion instruments including the drums, I decided that for the second half of my career I would devote myself to further study and teaching.  I wanted to build a studio that asks the question “how do we really learn how to do this stuff?”  It’s a lifelong adventure that I will never completely know  the answer to.

All I can do as an artist and teacher is continue to ask myself the one word question “how”. How can I become better at my craft? (my craft being a performer of the rhythms I already understand, a student of the rhythms and techniques I have yet to master, and a teacher of the concepts I have a grasp on.)  I wanted to create for myself and my students a place where we could repeat the lessons that have come before us but also give us the freedom to experiment and hopefully invent new ways to learning and communicating the joy of playing rhythms.  Where does much experimenting happen in this world?  A laboratory.  Hence The Rhythm Lab.

In my journey as a teacher of rhythm, I come across many types of students.

One type is the student who proclaims to me. “I have no musical talent or rhythm at all.”  What a self defeating and terrible thing to tell one’s self. Ok now, if you can walk down the street, you have a sense of rhythm. It would be literally impossible to move if your body did not have this innate sense. You would literally fall on your face.  You are basically “marching” at a steady tempo. If I strapped a set of bells to your right  foot and some shakers to your left you would be playing a simple 2 beat pattern over and over. You would have no choice.

Another type of student is the student who believes they have a natural ability to learn how to play the drums but is in search of guidance and instruction.  These students are wonderful because they go for it with what they already hear in their musical mind but are also willing to take instruction and work on the things that I suggest to them.

A third type of student is one of the most challenging.  They are the drummer who has learned everything they know from aural instruction.  These are the drummers I like to call notationfobes.  Don’t get me wrong, there is a long tradition of learning and teaching in this fashion and there is much to be gained from it. But In my opinion, it also presents a stumbling block or gap in the musicians’ abilities to communicate effectively with one another.  These are the students who inspired me to create , through experimentation, my book series Rhythm by the Numbers. By creating a tablature type notation and counting system I attempt to show these students the value of being able to garner information from the written page and gently move them toward Standard Western Notation.

It is my goal here at The Rhythm Lab to teach as many people as possible as much as possible about the study and enjoyment of rhythm. Experimenting and creating new forms of communicating these ideas and concepts is something that I will always encourage, allow and explore here in my Laboratory of Rhythm.

Practice makes perfect. In this post, I question the use of the word “practice” in the pursuit of music education.

When a new student comes to The Rhythm Lab, I instruct him/her to first just clunk around on the drums and express whatever they are feeling or what comes to mind. I do not address their playing as correct or incorrect. Ultimately, the process of learning to drum is about creating sounds and will necessarily involve chaotic non-ordered noise at first. My goal is to inspire the students, encourage their enjoyment of simply hitting drums and cymbals, and invite them to feel the visceral joy connected to it. This approach bases the lesson on experiencing joy, discovery and fun.

During a lesson, I will often leave the room and allow the student to play hopefully freeing them from the worry that they are being scrutinized and judged.

After the first lesson, the parent or guardian will often ask how much their child should practice. I usually take them aside and tell them my philosophy. For me, teaching a student how to enjoy playing music doesn’t require regimented daily practice. Their idea of how much to practice is the result of a contract within their own family, that stresses practice toward the goal of perfection. The danger of this demand often results in a robotic experience which is often less than enjoyable for the student.

The process of learning to play a musical instrument is only partly about proficiency. When we play music, we use it as a vehicle to express our humanity, vulnerability, joy, sorrow, excitement, youth, humor, or anger….

Let me digress to a little story about an encounter I had with a past student and his mom.

She called to inquire about drum lessons and explained that her son had been taking piano lessons for years but he hated them. I asked, “then why is he playing piano?”. She responded by saying that his father bought a piano, decided his children must study piano, and forced him to take lessons starting at 6 years of age. I told her that, in my opinion, they were ruining their son’s relationship to the piano and music, by forcing him to take these clearly unenjoyable lessons for seven years. I said we’d give the drums a try, and found myself with a very timid and tentative teenage boy, looking to his mother for approval when I offered that he sit down and just mess around on the drums. I later learned that this student’s father also once studied piano, no doubt in a similar, drudging fashion, and hardly touched the instrument anymore.

Here at The Rhythm Lab I want my students to be excited and happy. I don’t want them to walk in the door with a sense of fear or sheepishness because they haven’t practiced enough. Don’t get me wrong, I do inform them that if they want to progress on the instrument it is a good idea to spend time playing it. With that said, I don’t demand that my students do anything. Making demands of daily practice can make students’ present experience with music and drumming a chore. This approach has, does and will stifle the original excitement that brought the student to the decision of studying music and drumming in the first place.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRSG5cjIv68

Blue collar double bass drum workout improv. Not so much a lesson as a look at what happens when I try to learn something. Even pros have to practice and I’m not afraid to bare it all!