As teachers, we naturally have some idea of the points that we would like to convey to our students. These tend to be of the form
- Make your arm do this
- Stand this way
- Make this pattern sound like this
- etc...
Possessing this knowledge is the stuff of being a decent practitioner. Appropriately conveying this knowledge is at the heart of truly great teaching.
While not the most important, or even necessarily the most effective way of communication, language is unquestionably one of the most prevalent means of transmitting knowledge to a student. This means that we ought to carefully consider the words that we use in a classroom setting. The following isn't meant to be an exhaustive list, but rather a set of tendencies that I've found to be reasonably consistent and which inform my teaching style in very practical ways.
- Students will benefit from the deepest knowledge that you can effectively convey.
- Students have a strong desire to receive and subsequently manifest their knowledge.
- Student trust can be directly correlated with rate of improvement and desire to practice.
- One step forward is NOT the same as two steps forward, one step back.
- Most students don't have unlimited practice time, so make every moment count!
1) I find that there is very little value in artificially hiding information from a student because, for example, they haven't played long enough. There are no "inner" or "outer" teachings and no "high- or low-level" students. Each student is an individual, and in the interest of nurturing that student's progress at the greatest rate they can handle, it's up to us to judge two things when we convey knowledge to a student. Firstly, can we precisely and concisely describe the concept? Secondly, has the student grasped enough of the foundational concepts to process the knowledge without introducing doubt or confusion. As a teacher, this requires careful assessment, honesty, and sensitivity, but is of the utmost importance.
Example: A student wants to learn about multidrum syncopated improvisation, a topic with which you are comfortable as a practitioner. This student already has a good understanding of stick control, so there's no need to spend much time on that skill, but is unfamiliar with syncopation or improvisation. Performing syncopated patterns that are prescribed seems logically to come before improvised syncopated patterns, so assuming that you feel comfortable conveying the lesson in a palatable way, start there with your student.
2) Your students want to do well, and further, they want you to recognize that they've done well. This tends to create a situation where a student will try to give 110% in a classroom setting. While sports coaches for ages have touted this as a display of effort and dedication, as teachers we have to understand that in practice, it leads to exaggeration of our teachings, which may require us to revise our statements or fix problems later (all things we want to avoid, as I state in the following points). As such, it may be better in certain circumstances to understate where degree is concerned, or take care to speak in terms of concrete ideas.
Example: You're teaching a drill involving 8th and 16th notes. When explaining the 16th note subdivision, you describe the pattern as being the same, but twice as fast. You demonstrate, but since you've said the word "fast," when the students play the drill, they noticeably (though perhaps subconsciously) begin to speed up on the 16th notes. Try saying something like, "This pattern has half the space between each hit" or "twice as many hits in the same amount of time" and demonstrate. It may not be perfect, but you'll be surprised how much a difference this subtle change can make!
3) It's good for a student to have a degree of awe in their instructor. I say this despite the fact that I'm constantly trying to remind my students that I'm also a student, just a bit farther along than they are. The fact remains that if you can get a student to respect your playing and abilities, it lends credence to your teachings and motivates them to practice so they can be like you. In this way, it's important to be secure in your abilities, because teachers transmit confidence just as much as knowledge! Without boasting, study to present your ideas with a certain elan gained through your own practice, so that students understand the direct relationship between practice and building their own confidence.
4) It's not okay to create bad habits. This is probably the single most important teaching tenet that I try to observe in any class that I teach. Although the endpoint may be the same, taking two steps forward and one step back is strictly inferior to taking one step forward. Not only does it take more time, but it also engenders doubt in the student's own abilities -- and potentially in your teaching. We know that muscle memory can be a powerful ally, but it can also be a devious and insidious foe when trying to master the intricacies of basic hitting technique, stick control, sound-quality, and any number of other concepts. Take care to state things in a way that nips bad habits in the bud and be diligent about the precision both of your teaching and your students' execution.
5) While this is something of a corollary to the previous point, in many ways, it's the fundamental idea on which the previous four are based. Students have lives, prerogatives, interests, and obligations, and they suspend their responsibilities to these other influences in order to make time for practice. As such, time is a precious thing, and as teachers, we are entrusted to carefully and efficiently steward the time that our students allow for practice. Drum time is valuable, so try to say "enough" without saying "too much." Consider the appropriate amount of depth to give so that you spend valued time actually drilling the important concepts. Realize that a subtle inaccuracy in your description may introduce a habit or tendency that requires valuable time just to return to square one. And understand that the better and more confident a student feels about her time in practice, the more likely she is to go home and hone her skills on her own time.
Lastly, language is a complicated thing that requires a great deal of sensitivity and is by no means trivial to master. However, if we can understand each student's desires, motivations, and apprehensions, we can present material in a way that encourages growth while avoiding the pitfalls of wasted time. There are many tools that allow us to do this, but with a bit of contemplation and preparation, language can be powerful, indeed.