My teaching philosophy is based around a complete understanding of the fundamentals of music and drumming. The most important facet of my beginning teaching is that the student come to be completely able to read western rhythmic notation. I have come to realize the importance of this focus from having coached many school musicians where the students, although technically able to play, were unable to adequately understand the written music placed in front of them. The problems of a student not knowing rudiments or not possessing lots of speed or having to learn drumset concepts in a pinch are problems that can be easily solved if the student can read music proficiently and has a solid understanding of the fundamentals of music.
Although some might disagree, I would rather that a student leave my studio a confident reader with little knowledge of rudiments or rolls because the student will then be able to teach himself from Modern Drummer articles, books, and videos. It follows along with the age old adage of "teaching a man to fish..."
The book I recommend to start students off with is Ed Bobick and George Judy's Prime Time Reader. This is a great book with lots of musical examples and very little text by the authors. It is open to a variety of interpretations as far as counting and sticking systems. The book has two parts, a reading section and a section dealing with accents, double-strokes, standard rudiments, and rolls. The first reading section is quite methodical starting with whole, half, and quarter notes in 4/4, 2/4, and 3/4 and then proceeding through eighth notes and rests, 3/8 and 6/8 time, syncopation, and then 16th notes. Following this comprehensive introduction to note and rest values the book explores dotted notes, ties and then triplets. The second section covering rudiments and rolls is quite nice and the roll section has a comprehensive selection of roll exersises and examples If I had any complaint with the organization of the text, it is that the ties and triplets aren't integrated within the eighth note and sixteenth note sections, but come later, but this is quite a small gripe and the book remains the best text for teaching reading that I have seen. I use Joe Maroni's Fundamentals of Rhythm for the Drummer published by Mel Bay and Garwood Whaley's Basics in Rhythm and More Basics in Rhythm published by Meredith Music as supplemental sight reading texts. They are both good books, but I feel they are supplemental to the Prime Time Reader.
The other facet of my teaching is to help the student develop a good way to hold the stick and understand an efficient stroke. It's the giant rallying cry of many people that there are no "right" or "wrong" grips, that grip and stroke are all a personal issue that varies with everyone's physical makeup. To an extent, that point of view is true, but it must be carried further by saying there are ways to hold and use the sticks that are more or less efficient. My technical teaching goal is to help the student develop an efficient way to play so that their sound quality is maximized and their physical effort is lessened. The keystones to this technique are a focused three point grip and learning to work with gravity and weight to develop a full sound while playing with little tension. It is a difficult proposition, because there are many other ways to hold the stick that seem 'easier' to the beginner and if the student allows himself to fall into bad habits, the advantages of a focused three point fulcrum will not be available for the advanced roll concepts. There are three Guitar Craft aphorisms that I would like to quote as a conclusion
With these three things in mind, one can aspire to develop a sound approach to drumming, music, and life.
I wish the best for all of you,
Mell Csicsila
© 1999 by Mell D. Csicsila