General Music Chat

Mother of teenage female, talented self taught drummer. Influences;
Joey Jordison, Chris Adler, Mike Portnoy, Dave Lombardo, Lars Ulrich.

Can anyone please help to advise,
For a young person's future, would a drumming course with greater academic influence be a better route, than a more practical, more vocational route at a competing College? I fear that too much academic content will kill the passion for my daughter's real talent for drumming, since 11 years old?
On the otherhand, I fear that without the academic content as much, I will be failing her also?
Has anyone please got advice on this, she will be attending either college next year, but, has gained entry a year early to the more academic college, on her audition, she has been told, she has to pass 4 GCSE's to definately gain entry next year. Any thoughts greatly received thanks!

Music is a passion.
Playing with a band is the best experience ever.
Better than any sheep skin.
Don't over think it for her.
Let her live it with your watchful eye on her safety.

The rest will come with time.

Hey Mom, You knew these days would come. Time to let your daughter come to her own conclusions, make some of her own choices. Time to let her know that even if she makes a bad decision, You still love her.

Funny thing is that in the long run, she might be right.

As a parent, the education of our children must come first. Academic content will not kill her desire for music, in fact it could make it stronger. To anyone who thinks they can do music for a living, let me say that it is extremely tough and that the odds are not in her favor. My advice is to get an education in something that can pay the bills, it makes doing music as a hobby much easier. I tried to do music as a career in the early 80's and grew to almost hate it. I went back to school, began a career in a field that's in demand and now I do music for fun. I don't regret one thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpZtX32sKVE


Mwahahahahaahha




this isn't helpful in the least, but it just begs a listen due to it's...
provocative nature....

See what I mean. Jimmy listened to his mommy. He turned down a good union government job, digging ditches for $300,000 a year. Just to go to college.
Hey MUM, Jimmy and I don't "get along" I'm being nice to him tonight.
Let your girl play her first song.

I'm surprised you're not hitting her Glenny. Or the mom. You don't know a thing about what I do so why don't you just STFU.

Im with Jimmy, get your daughter an education. Hopefully she will be able to support herself one day, if you pursue music as an occupation more than likely you will be supporting her the rest of her life.

Good Luck to your daughter, just let her enjoy playing her music, but get her an education, thats my advice.

A little out of left field, but my son was a National Level Motocross racer during his early teens, I thought he had it and considered home schooling him so we could pratice more and hit more races. He and I had a talk about this last night, he thanks me for not doing it now. He just graduated with a GPA of 4.54 from a very tough Private school. And is headed to college. More than likely if we had pursued racing he would have become a race trak bum looking for handouts from others around the tracks. Ive seen it over and over in that field parents thinking they had the next best thing and committed to that. It just doesnt happen that much.

I personally love playing music and have played my whole life in all sorts of bands, but i have never been able to make enough to support myself thru music alone.

You're a good dad I'm sure John. You have to guide children but at the same time give them free range. It's a tough but rewarding job, my kids turned out great because I followed this view. Both are respectful, hard-working kids and should have a secure future. This is all you can ask for as a parent.

My neighbor's son is a pretty fair player but I told him and his daddy the same thing. Get a trade so you have something when it all hits the skids.

Thus spaketh the college dropout...

but if you are gonna do something cool - do it NOW - families with kids will drag you down - they have to come first.

Talbot

Send her here.

http://www.berklee.edu/

Don’t Give Room for Negative People – i.e., surround self with people who are focused on the same thing and on why things work than why things don’t work.

Music is a passion.
Playing with a band is the best experience ever.
Better than any sheep skin.
Don't over think it for her.
Let her live it with your watchful eye on her safety.

The rest will come with time.

Not only is this true...it will win you a scholarship. When you audition for a college music program, they aren't interested what you are intellectually, they want to see what you can do with your intellect. Taking a drumming course is going to help her improve, hopefully. But it is experience that will give her her education. I teach privately and if I don't give my students the experience of playing in public, then I feel that I have failed them. I want my students to have wings so that they can fly.
Rock or jazz drummers who are educated in this aspect are who I would reccommend on an instructional level because they are not afraid to get off of the printed page.

Now that being said, the more a student knows upon entering a college music program, the easier it will be for him/her.

I'm surprised you're not hitting her Glenny. Or the mom. You don't know a thing about what I do so why don't you just STFU.

Jimmy, You gotta get some thicker skin man. YES that was a cruel and mean nasty side swipe at you. Funny thing is I really was trying to point out in a sarcastic way that we all have our own roads to travel.

I guess I'll just STFU...

WWWRRRROOOONNNNGGGG.

Mother of teenage female, talented self taught drummer. Influences;
Joey Jordison, Chris Adler, Mike Portnoy, Dave Lombardo, Lars Ulrich.

Can anyone please help to advise,
For a young person's future, would a drumming course with greater academic influence be a better route, than a more practical, more vocational route at a competing College? I fear that too much academic content will kill the passion for my daughter's real talent for drumming, since 11 years old?
On the otherhand, I fear that without the academic content as much, I will be failing her also?
Has anyone please got advice on this, she will be attending either college next year, but, has gained entry a year early to the more academic college, on her audition, she has been told, she has to pass 4 GCSE's to definately gain entry next year. Any thoughts greatly received thanks!

Wow... As a parent, I totally understand this.

In my World, I do music, but I really got sick of being broke. That right there should tell you...If you aren't earning revenue with the music... I mean, if there is no visible evidence of progress toward that end... on a daily basis...like by 21 years old, you should be topping a local bill..., then its pretty safe to say you ain't gonna make it beyond the local bill, ever(maybe an occasional excursion outta town) and you'll be doomed to a series of bars and bowling alleys

In my case, I couldn't even make the local bill...So, I went and got a degree, got a really good paying job and now I can invest in my music in a most profound and meaningful manner.

SO here's my suggestions:

Give her till she's 22-23 years old... and look for that visible sign of progress... And I DO MEAN, if she ain't a prodigy at any level by this time, then I'd say, step in and get her on track with something more practical.

And for the record, don't fall for any line of crap about' rags - to-riches...' I say this because lots of Kids tend to get up in some contrived fantasy about rock stardom... They see the glory on TV , not realizing the 15 years of banal sweating behind that. My point is, get into your daughter's head and convince her to accept all the help she can grab, to get started...But set the contract and agreement deadline with her ..and stick by it. Remind her that being professional, serious musician is NOT a walk in the park. If she ain't living, eating and breathing it, she ain't gonna make it.

Hopefully this didn't sound too discouraging

My neighbor's son is a pretty fair player but I told him and his daddy the same thing. Get a trade so you have something when it all hits the skids.

Thus spaketh the college dropout...

but if you are gonna do something cool - do it NOW - families with kids will drag you down - they have to come first.

Talbot

You Got that Right!