You have most likely heard the phrase “Those who can, DO. Those who can’t, TEACH.”

For me, the very thought inspires scenes straight from high school: nerdy professor stands in front of an uninterested student body, blabbing on and on about who knows what, students sleeping, passing notes (since my classroom scene is from 1996), acting generally uninterested. I certainly had my fair share of these types during my school years and I’d be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t. In my experience, most of these trite educators tried hard in their chosen field and when it didn’t work out, decided to be a schoolteacher. They then take their supposed failure out on their students which oftentimes comes across as seeming uninspired about the subject matter. It doesn’t paint a very pretty picture of this profession (Bob Ross would not be proud). 

I for a long time suffered from this thought process about an admirable profession. Sure, there are bad teachers who take it out on their students, but there are also great teachers who view it as a new, exciting opportunity to connect to others. Some people really have a knack for explaining complex topics. 

And others have incredible real-world experience that would be criminal to not pass on. This is the type I want to talk about. 

First, let’s define what “teacher” means in this conversation. The dictionary.com definition is: A person who teaches or instructs, especially as a profession, instructor. I want to look at the first part of this definition for now.

Taken as it is, anyone can be a teacher if they know enough about a particular subject and have the desire to share that information. Forget where the paycheck comes from, this is about something more important. 

Lessons. 

Given the correct lesson, a person can go forth and create an opportunity for a paycheck in many different fields. Enter the DRUM. 

Musicians are teachers. Every time we listen to a piece of music, we are learning from the composer and the musicians performing the work. We learn from the bio or autobiographical works written about these people which we can take and apply to our own lives; where they went wrong, where they went right, and how far we may have to go. I admit I held some archaic views on teaching until I became a teacher myself. 

For the longest time, I only wanted to perform and play gigs. The idea of playing diverse bars and venues every night, loading my drums in and out, dealing with the PLAY FREEBIRD crowd appealed to me much more than the idea of having to go to the same place every day and do the same thing. Imagine my horror when I came to the very real conclusion that this was just not possible for me. For a long time, I burned the candle at both ends, playing 4-5 times a week with a lot of late nights and early mornings sprinkled in. This persisted until I had the realization that I… just didn’t like doing that. Not wanting to spend too much time away from the drums or music, I wracked my brain trying to come up with a solution to my problem when I remembered a very short yet affective conversation I had with a friend from college:

“I hated the thought of teaching at first too, but then I realized that I’ve been taught so many great things by players and teachers alike that I MUST teach. I don’t want this information to die as soon as it’s passed on to me; I want it to help someone else as much as it helped me.”

This hit me like a ton of bricks and changed my philosophy on teaching forever. So many times, I have been in a lesson or masterclass with amazing players and received once in a lifetime advice that would help anyone. Should I be the only person who has this information? Seems a little selfish to me. I am a combination of everyone I’ve ever been taught by, from my band directors to my father. Most of the ideas I have that are my own started with something a teacher showed me that I then internalized and made my own. In short, if you are a musician, you are a teacher! Have we failed because someone else has learned from us? Can we not teach AND do? What is “doing” anyway? 

The world is too black and white these days; there is a lot of life in the nuance. Teaching and learning are tales as old as time, why not take advantage of both?