How Many Ways Can You Teach A Song?

One thing that I love about teaching percussion (and piano) is that I have so many different students working on so many different things! I have marching students, drumset students, composition students, kinder music students and piano students. For me it is easy to compartmentalise all of my students because their lesson plans are so different. However every so often I create a lesson plan or write a song that I know would be perfect for multiple students. Right now it’s Living On A Prayer by Bon Jovi .

For me, teaching multiple students the same thing for a 3 week period can be a bit challenging. Even with keeping lesson notes I have to constantly remind myself that student A still needs help with the intro while student B flew through it and is ready for the verse and Student C needed a full week of primers to prepare for the song. Each of them work at their own pace and have their own challenges. It is a real test of my patience and fortitude when I am working on the same trouble bar lesson after lesson. And I dont even like Bon Jovi!

It is always the best reminder that every student is different when I currently have 4 students working on the exact same thing at the exact same time, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. It is one of those things that tests me and makes me problem solve for 4 unique approaches to the same beat or fill or rhythm. It is why I love teaching so much!

-Hilary

The Error You Know

Get ready to unlock your music learning super power! This trick is not something you would expect. It comes easily to some and is a learnt thing for others. Aside from, of course making a good practicing routine and sticking to it, the best skill you can have is being able to identify when you are doing something wrong.

It’s easy to grasp. If you are playing something wrong but you do not know you are, you are going to practice it and practice it incorrectly. This is going to cause you to make progress in the wrong direction and put time and effort into something that is wasteful. Unlearning something is way harder than learning it!

However if you are aware enough to know that what you did was wrong, then you will spend the time on figuring out why. This is so important to improving. When ever a student messes up a part or plays it with some bad technique and they make a face or say “nope/whoops/uh oh”. Then I always congratulate them on that. It shows that their brains understand what we are doing, even if their hands don’t want to cooperate.

If this is something that does not come easily to you or your student, I would recommend having them record themselves when they practice. This way they can take a “third party” approach to their playing. Without having to focus on what they are doing, just on what they see, they may be able to identify when they don’t look like they are playing properly, or when they don’t line up with the music. Another trick is to give yourself a rating after every rep. This allows you to think reflectively on what you played instead of just moving on to another rep.

As a drummer, the battle always takes place between our hands and our brain. As teachers, we should always nurture the brain and let the hands catch up, instead of the other way around.

-Hilary

Its Ok To Be Bad!

As adults, and even as kids, we understand that in order to be good at something we need to work hard at it. Yet we are constantly frustrated when we aren’t amazing at something right away! It can be tough to encourage a student to keep working when they cannot get over that hump of “I need to be bad at this first before I can be good at it”. I see students get frustrated when they don’t get something right away or they decide not to practice because the thing they are working on doesn’t come easy to them. Here are a few basic tips I use that help kids continue to grow and love music when it becomes difficult and overwhelming.

1. Be enthusiastic about successes. This seems like a basic one. But when a kid is really frustrated and they cannot play the bar or beat or rudiment right. I always congratulate them on getting any aspect of it correct. You didn’t quite get it, but your hand movement was great, or the first half was perfect, now we just need the second half. This always seems to light a fire in the student to keep going.

2. Encourage failure. Usually when a kid is getting really frustrated I will often tell them, “ok this time I want you to play it wrong” or “show me what not to do”. This usually makes the kids laugh and do something goofy. But it helps to show them that I don’t care or expect perfection when we are learning something. The biggest thing for ME to remember is to stay patient and never get frustrated.

3. Get kids to practice at home with a “fun sandwich” structure. Start with a warmup, then play something you are really good at or love playing, then try the new thing thats frustrating. Always end with something you love doing. I usually suggest playing along to a song they like or doing some fun sight reads with www.rhythmrandomizer.com.

Being bad at something is really demoralizing, but with the right direction and encouragement it can become common place. Once we realize that being bad is necessary to being great, we can cut ourselves some slack.

2022 Summer Recap

Wow, what a summer! This past summer was the busiest CRASH has ever been! We did 72 workshops and 8 performances ranging from our hometown of Burlington all the way to Lake of Bays. We did our regular bucket drumming program, our teen program, Junk Kit building as well as festivals parades and conferences. It was jam packed and I loved every second of it.

One of the more commonly asked questions I get is, “do you ever get bored doing the same thing over and over again?” And even though I did do 3 different types of workshops throughout the summer, the reason why I love it and the reason why it never gets boring is because I get to meet different kids every time. The kids keep it interesting and I love answering their questions and using their ideas in songs. For that reason every workshop is different and I look forward to every single one!

As the summer came to an end, I have another adventure to take on. My largest studio yet! I am now taking on 33 students weekly, while still visiting schools and doing Junk Line gigs. Non stop music and fun! I always think about what my mom has told me when I ask her “did you ever see me doing something like this when I was a kid?'“. Her response has been “there were many things you wanted to be but the one thing that always stayed the same was you wanted a job that was different every day and was centred around music”. I can definitely check that off the bucket list.

Hilary

Maybe the RCM Is Not All Bad

When I talk passionately about my pedagogy with people the same thing always pops up. DON’T GIVE CHILDREN AN ADULT APPROACH TO MUSIC! If I have said it once I have said it a million times, the main learning objective with music lessons should be getting the students to want to come back next week. 9/10 times I have heard the reason why kids have given up music in the past is because they did not enjoy working through the RCM (Royal Conservatory of Music) levels. Therefore I had it in my head that strict, RCM levels were bad and loose student led lessons are good.

Although I still firmly believe in the latter, I have recently softened my stance of the RCM. In a recent conversation with my mother I realized something. If I do my job right, meaning kids start to love music, then wont they want to be challenged, work hard and have something to show for it? I decided to ask some of my students who had been with me for a while if going for their grade 1 or 2 percussion is something they would be interested in. I was pleasantly surprised, and maybe even humbled, to learn that they were! They were also very excited to learn that they already knew how to play the required rudiments and that their snare ability was already at the appropriate level.

The RCM grades are not evil as I once thought. But rather a step in a child’s education journey that can have great benefits, after they have learned to love music of course.

-Hilary

Patience Patience Patience

We have all heard the saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day”, and it shouldn’t surprise you that this concept also applies to learning. When I first started teaching full time I expected more progress on a week to week basis from my students. I knew that there wouldn’t be progress every week, but I still think there was a part of me, regardless how unrealistic it was, that thought students would improve a little every week.

I have spoken many times on how I feel about forcing kids to practice. If a kid is not practicing at home then to me that can mean one of two things. A) maybe drumming is not for them, or b) I am not assigning the right things for this student. I also have known for a long time that every students learning objectives are different. What may be monthly goal for one student could be a weekly goal for another, or maybe even a year end goal.

But there is one thing new that I have learned in the past few years, the patience pays off. There is a fine line between making sure a student puts in the hours needed on a fundamental or mechanic while also mixing things up to keep it interesting. I have been running CRASH and teaching full time now for almost 6 years, and some of my current students have been with me for all of that. I have seen them grow from a child to a teen! And even though they miss weeks of practice or we take breaks from certain concepts, I have finally seen that it does in fact pay off in the end. Something I have always said that I can now officially say works, is that our first learning objective should be wanting to come back to lessons and continue making music. The rest will follow at the students own pace.

-Hilary

Participation Trophies: Good or Bad?

I’m not really a big fan of participation trophies because I do believe that kids should learn its ok to try and fail. We all know that you learn as much from failure as you do success and I try to create a culture with students that shows participation does not need a trophy. Does a kid deserve a trophy just for showing up? Not necessarily. Does a kid deserve a trophy for trying their hardest and stepping out of their comfort zone? Absolutely! (metaphorically speaking)

In the drumlines I work with we hold drum tryouts to progress the members from the beginner instruments like cymbals, to the more advanced instruments like snare or quads. We encourage everyone to tryout because it gives them the experience of working toward something, takes the nerves out of the auditioning process and teaches us a lot about the kids. We can see who works hard and who doesn’t, who is taking it seriously and who is just doing it because they have too. In our minds we are rewarding those who are deserving of “participation trophies”.

Even with younger groups we still do it, not to stress them out, but to show them that things aren’t just given to them, they have to earn it. The most important part of this whole process is not how we treat the kids that moved on, or how we discipline the kids who didn’t care. It’s about how to we show pride and gratitude to the ones who worked their but off but didn’t quite meet the mark. It’s these kids that we need to foster most because one day they will work their but off and it will be worth it. That’s the best kind of participation trophy".

-Hilary

Dust Off That Old Instrument

I have spoken many times about my advocacy for picking up an instrument in adulthood. It is never too late! Learning an instrument can be fun, rewarding and exercise your brain. However in this blog I am going to target those who learned an instrument as a kid/teen but have not picked up their instrument in 10+ years.

As most of you know, when i was a teenager I was a member of the Burlington Teen Tour Band. This is where i met most of my closest friends and where i now work part time as one of the drum instructors. This year the band is celebrating their 75th anniversary! Whenever the band celebrates a milestone anniversary we construct an alumni band to march in that years Burlington Sound of Music Parade. I wish all groups did this because it gives their past members an excuse to pick up their instruments in a time of their lives where they are often too busy. This year some of my friends want to do it, one in particular is extremely excited!

He told me months ago that he was going to dust off his old tenor sax for the alumni band and asked if I could help him re learn how to read music. My biggest curiosity is how hard is it to pick up an instrument after 10+ years of not touching it? I don’t know because I have never had to experience that. So naturally I am very excited to find out and help him regain his musical knowledge.

A few nights ago he texted me saying he had finally put it together and played a few tunes. I could tell he was really excited about it. Imagine having a long lost skill come back. What an amazing feeling! It sounds like it may be more like riding a bike than I thought. But the lesson here is that picking up an instrument after all this time will have its challenges, but I believe that it will bring even more joy, be more rewarding and way less frustrating than picking up an instrument for the first time. So if you haven’t played your instrument in 10 years, it’s time to unlock that long lost super power.

Recycling Is Good

I really pride myself on creating fun and unique musical activities. Activities that engage kids while sneakily teaching them something about music. About a year ago I remembered feeling very stuck with new, young students after having gone through all of my activities. I remember thinking that if it wasn’t new and fresh that they would either lose interest or it would be a waste of their time. Then I remembered something I had read in one of Malcolm Gladwell’s books.

He talked about how Sesame Street changed the way we view children’s programming simply by thinking of quantity over quality. Usually you would think that with education you would want quality over quantity, but in this case the creators of Sesame Street realized that the kids watching their show did not care if the same episode played every day that week. They still watched it! And after studying this new method it was discovered that the kids were able to retain way more information from watching the same content 5 times a week.

This made me realize that even though I had done an activity with a kid before, It didn’t meant that they were not going to learn more from doing it again and it certainly did not mean they were already bored of it. This obviously saved me lots of stress when grasping at straws for new content, while giving me piece of mind that recycling these activities would help engrain the content even more. Thanks Sesame Street!

-Hilary

Engaging All Kids

Every kid is different. We hear this all the time, and obviously that is true. However it is very easy to put kids into different learning categories. When I go to a school or camp or festival there are two different groups of kids that I try to engage. The shy ones and the excited ones. I should say that I try to engage every child, but there is a specific reason why I am drawn to these kids.

There are so many children who are so sweet, kind, thoughtful but also shy. I know that these kids are often shoved to the background when someone like me comes to their class. It is very easy for them to feel unseen and to be drowned out by the louder kids. One strategy that I use to make them feel like they are contributing is to utilize their want to participate without having to call attention to them. I will ask everyone to show (play) me their ideas at the same time while I watch them all. I use this time to look at the quieter kids and see their ideas. Because there is so much noise around them they dont feel like they are in the spotlight, but when I say we are going with their idea because it was awesome, they always light up.

Something that I always try to determine with a kid is are they excited and passionate or disruptive and disrespectful. I love the kids that fall into that first category, probably because I was one of them. I see teachers trying to keep the peace and keep the focus on me by shushing these students. And it’s not that I don’t appreciate it or think that these teachers don’t understand these kids, however I want to encourage their creativity and passion. I always let them talk and will allow them, within reason, to derail the set plan. I like to run child led workshops that are goofy, and I love answering silly random questions.

Every Workshop I try to learn every kids name regardless of how loud they are or how excited they are. When I leave, like to think that the kids thought CRASH was different because I noticed them, listened to them and allowed them to be goofy.

-Hilary

Critical Listening

I will often assign students with the task of simply listening to their favourite song and drumming along to it. I don’t give them any instruction other than that because I want two things to happen. 1) I want them to feel like their assignment is easy and fun and 2) because I want to see what they will do when left to their own devices. It teaches me a lot about them as drummers and learners.

One common result that comes from this is what I call surface listening. A student will play their favourite song and drum along to it, yes, but what they aren’t doing is listening critically. They will often drum along to the rhythm of the vocal part, because that is what is in the forefront of the song and the part that they are most familiar with. This is not a complete waste, because it shows that they are listening to the song and trying to mirror what they hear. However as drummers we need to listen beyond the melody and make sense of the grounding factors of a song.

My best advice for you or your child if you are trying to drum along to a song, is to follow these 3 steps of critical listening.

1. Listen to the song fully without playing along. We don’t want to jump into something without knowing what to expect.

2. Listen for the snare and bass. This will help establish time signature and make it easier to decipher recognizable beats. It’s easier to play along when you can associate beats in a song to beats you have worked on.

3. listen for form and repetition. Does the song go verse chorus verse chorus? Is there a bridge somewhere? Into and/or outdo? When we know the form of the song we know what to expect. Often enough the verses are identical to each other and so are the choruses. This means less to learn!

Playing along to your favourite song does not have to be perfect. It is meant to be fun! But I think that it is always more fun when you feel like you are playing with the song instead of on top of it.

-Hilary

Repurposing Drums

There are many reasons why I love the drums. I love that they are the backbone to any ensemble, that anyone can pick up sticks and hit a drum. But drums also make some great decor!

I once saw a Drumeo video where they were promoting a company in the states that turned old floor toms into some high end side tables. It looked so cool, and at the time I had just closed the offer on my house. I also remember going to Maxwell’s in Waterloo (a local Laurier venue/bar) and they had turned full drumsets into the coolers light fixtures I have ever seen! My brain was swimming with all the ways I could express my love of drums through decorating my house. Now a year later, that’s what I did!

I currently have a floor tom end table, a bass drum footrest, cymbal wall art and a rack tom planter! Any time I have a practical issue that needs solving in my house, or need a piece of furniture, I first think “could I do something with a drum”. Drums are so easy to work with, sometimes a simple strip down, clean and spray paint is all it takes to turn an old drum into an awesome conversation piece in your house.

Hilary

Online Lessons Pt. 436.5

Yes I know, I talk about online lessons a lot. But the truth is, teaching online has been my biggest musical challenge this year, so I’m always thinking about how its effecting my students and how to make it better and easier for them.

Recently one of my friends has started teaching drums, and he reached out to me to talk about some tips and tricks for teaching drumset online to kids who do not have a drumset at home. This is definitely a challenge. The real problem with teaching online is that we cannot always work on the things that the kids want to do. They want to hit drums and they want to drum with you, but that is pretty much impossible to do. So here is what I think the real goal of online lessons should be.

Make the not fun things fun! There is so much more to drumming then just hitting drums. Knowing rudiments, focussing on fundamentals, understanding theory, music reading and musical context. These are all crucial parts of becoming a musician and enjoying drums, however they are usually not that exciting. And on top of that they are even less exciting over zoom. Therefore we need to take advantage of what we do have. One advantage of teaching online is that the kids have everything in their house at their disposal. Buckets, markers, paper, dice, LEGO. I love finding ways to create music, to explore rhythms and to write songs using abstract things in their houses. Create challenges, invent games, find ways to make the “boring” parts of music engaging.

Let’s be honest. Filling out worksheets and going through theory books is boring. It’s even more boring when you cannot alternate between hitting drums and learning theory. Let’s focus on being creative with our learning and keeping out kids engaged. The real goal of online lessons is to make sure they don’t lose interest before we can come back in person.

-Hilary

When You Do What You Love

When I decided to go to University for music I was warned by a lot of other musicians that there was one major risk with my choice. I may fall out of love with music. At the time I thought that was a weird thing to say, especially coming from those who chose music as there career. But they told me that when you tirelessly study and dissect music all day for four years, it starts to become a job and not a passion. Because of this they told me so many stories of people they knew dropping out of music, and in some cases, stopping music all together. This definitely scared me, but did not deter me from pursuing it anyways.

Fast forward to my third or so year of University and I started to see what they meant. After a few failed courses things like theory and learning pieces for instruments I didnt really like, started to feel like a chore. There were parts of music that I was definitely falling out of love with. Dont get me wrong, there were so many parts that I still enjoyed. I loved composing and rehearsing for ensembles. I never stopped loving drumming, but all the in between started to get old.

I recently started thinking about those days and how much I would love to tell that version of me that not only does it work out but I have found a career in music that never gets boring. Sometimes I need to work late, and I’m always on call. I miss having my evenings due to teaching lessons. And when I have school gigs followed by lessons followed by rehearsals, I am exhausted. But I never get sick of what I do. I love teaching, I love performing, I love working with kids and I love seeing them grow. In the end this is what I was meant to be doing. I love all parts of music again because I created a job that focused on the parts I’m passionate about.

Hilary

Does The Drum Make The Drummer?

People always assume that because I am a drummer I know all about the best drums on the market, and I own all the best equipment. But the truth is, I done know too much about the actual products out their and how they stack up. I know when a drum sounds bad, and I know when it sounds good. I know how to assemble and tune a drum, But if you asked me who makes the best toms in the game, or what crash cymbal has the best tone, or what time of drum shell produces the darkest tone, I would be at a loss.

For me the quality of the drum has never been a priority. Perhaps it comes from always looking for the cheapest options for students. I collect used drums in hopes that when a student needs something I will have it ready for them. Maybe it is because I came from a marching background and Ive never had the drumset literacy to notice the difference between a good sounding drumset and a great one. Either way, I have always believed that its the drummer that makes a set sound good, and that any drum can be tuned and upgrade when needed.

For students who are new to the drums, dont bust the bank on your first kit. Maybe even rent to make sure you are invested. But the gear doesn’t make the drummer. When you are rich and famous, then you can get the best drumset on the market!

Hilary

Desk Percussion

The past two days I have been doing virtual workshops for a Halton Public school. It was a lot of fun and the kids were so full of energy and very respectful of the obvious difficulties I would have wrangling a class from the computer screen. I was able to work with some primary grades as well, which presented a bit of a challenge. This past year has presented many firsts for CRASH and many opportunities to think outside of the box. I had never worked with primary grades, online, from their classroom before. I had done some during lockdown where each of the kids were at their own homes. These workshops were easy to figure out as the kids had everything in their homes at their disposal to make music. But these students in class had nothing but their desks.

Therefore I was able to put something into practice that I had been thinking about for a long time, Desk Percussion! We were able to create different sounds just using our desks. We learned some fundamentals and wrote songs. All in all it kept very much in CRASH’s mantra of ‘making music with anything’. It was an absolute blast and I hope to get many more primary grades on board with this new way of making music together!

Hilary

Taking Breaks

Ive never been the type of person who is able to work for hours upon hours straight. When I went to University it took me some time to figure out how to study. And it was difficult seeing how some of my peers were able to lock themselves in the library for a day and be productive. Especially when it came to booking practice time. I would see some of the other percussionists booking 3 to 4 hour blocks. I love percussion, but I would become so distracted and unproductive after an hour.

It took me a while but I was able to figure out that I learn way better in short bursts. This discovery has helped me study, practice, work and teach. I now take my tasks and break them into small chunks with breaks in between. I dont have a 9 to 5 work schedule, but rather a “get this done at some point today” schedule, and it works for me!

When I talk to my students about practicing its important to make sure that their practice methods work for them. For some students it is completely manageable to practice for a half hour every day. For some I just want them to pick up their sticks three times a week.

I do believe that our personality can reflect our work ethic. But for someone like me who always thought I was lazy or not very hard working, I just had to figure out what worked for me. And that is something that I try to work on with my students as well.

Hilary

Pink Shirt Day

Today is Pink Shirt Day. A day used to recognize and take a stand against bullying. Proudly, Pink Shirt Day started in Canada in 2007 by two boys who didn’t like that one of their classmates was being picked on for wearing a pink shirt. For me Pink Shirt Day reminds me of what it was like being a female drummer. I had instructors and peers assume I wasn’t as good. I have felt uncomfortable in the percussion section of a store. Ive had strangers come up to other members of the Junk Line asking questions even though it’s obvious I was in charge. These were all things that I had to over come and that I’m happy to say I rarely have to deal with anymore. But it wasn’t always easy.

When I started CRASH I wanted to make sure that no one ever felt that they couldn’t be a drummer, or couldn’t do whatever it is that made them happy. Every time I see a little girl fearlessly playing the drums or a little boy not batting an eye at her being awesome, it makes me so happy.

Today is about remembering that anyone is able to participate in any extracurricular without judgment and that we should all support them! We should encourage children to celebrate what makes them and their peers different and we should above all teach them kindness.

Hilary

The Teacher Becomes The Student

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a rudimental drummer. Although I can play most percussion instruments quite proficiently and can play piano, trumpet and guitar, my real talent and skill lies in marching percussion. However marching percussion is quite niche and I am often pulled in different directions by my students. Which is great! I currently have 3 students who exclusively play drum set, 4 who play piano and 2 that are solely working on composing.

Before I started CRASH and became a full time musician and teacher, I didn’t play piano or drumset too often. But now I am playing multiple times a week. It has rekindled my love for drumset and brought on a whole new love for piano. It’s amazing how much better I have gotten at both in the past 8 months simply because I am writing lesson material and thinking more critically about my own playing. It’s almost like all the advice I give my students, about just ‘picking up your sticks and playing’ for 10 minutes a day will make you better, is working on me as well. Who would have thought!

I have found myself setting goals on both instruments and every time I pass the piano, I sit and play. Every time my roommates go on a walk, I go down and play the drums. It’s become that simple, but the added exposure to these instruments has helped me improve so much in a short time. Leave your instrument out of its case and don’t be afraid to aimlessly play for 10 minutes. It will make a huge difference! And thank you to my students who push me to teach them new and exciting things. It makes me a better musician.

Hilary

The Long Con

One of the things that I pride myself in as a music teacher, is my ability to engage kids in music. I know that music is not for everyone, and I have had students stop lessons because even through months of working together, it was fun, but they found it wasn’t for them. And that’s fine! One thing that I don’t think is fine is when a student shows interest in music, but still finds it too studious and dry so they give up.. That’s why I refer to these cases as the long con. And by con I don’t mean a trick but rather a method that will definitely benefit them!

When I come up with a lesson plan for these types of students I usually have a plan A, B and C. Then I let the student choose which one they want to do. It makes them feel like that have some control over their education as well as making it seem like we are only doing the fun stuff. Even though all 3 options have some sort of educational aspect to them. I assign homework that is 100% fun. No theory, just composing and jamming. The main goal is to get them used to making music at home. I want these students to make music more than just the half hour they are with me. And for the first month or so of our lessons that is the only goal.

Eventually the student will want to get better and do harder things. Once we hit that point they gain an interest in learning why somethings work or dont work and they want to learn how to read music so they can learn songs at home. Now that we have created a love for music and the student feels like they are in control of what they are learning, we can make real progress.

When working through these ‘long cons’, I often second guess myself and constantly wonder if I’m taking too long. But the patience always pays off. After teaching some of these types of students for over a year now, its amazing how much their skill, practicing and knowledge has grown, all while never loosing interest. Ive said it before and I’ll say it again. Taking the longer path is better than never making it to the destination.

Hilary