Aaron R
Instruments: Drums
Styles: Pop, Rock, Blues, Folk, Country, Funk
Aaron R
Instruments: Drums
Styles:
Pop, Rock, Blues, Folk, Country, Funk
Where I Teach:
Ages Taught: 10-80
Course Work: Mission Viejo High School
My mother always loved to remind me how, when I was just two years old, I used to grab the Tupperware out of the cabinet and a couple of wooden spoons and pretend I was playing drums—every day. I still don’t know where my love for the drums came from, but that passion has been with me my entire life. At the ripe young age of 9, I finally got my first drum kit and started taking lessons. What I learned right away was that there was a whole lot more to this drumming stuff than I ever anticipated. Technique, rhythm, coordination, dexterity, and muscle development all eventually got in the way of the rock god of drumming that I envisioned myself to be. If it hadn’t been for the teachers, coaches and mentors in my life, I would have given up long before I ever got to see the stage. Nearly 40 years later (wow), and after wearing the hats of drummer, band leader, husband, parent, CEO, and coach, I feel compelled to share what I’ve learned along the way. My passion now is helping others to develop and achieve their goals in the most effective and efficient way possible, while maintaining a sense of vitality in their pursuit. In other words, serving the person in front of me to help them “get there” AND make the “in-between time” more alive and fun.
I gave my first drum lesson when I was just 14 years old. I can still remember how satisfying it was to be with students and witness the wonder and awe they had in their own hidden ability. My training has been both formal and informal, self-taught and others-taught, over the course of 4 decades of “life”. Equally, for many years I’ve been fiercely committed to my own professional, spiritual, personal, and inter-personal development, which I feel is a potent path for any potential teacher/mentor/coach.
As a foundation, I start my beginner-level students with basic the basic understanding of rhythm patterns, dynamic control, and basic limb independence. I use Benny Greb's "The Language of Drumming" as it has proven to be a fun and effective learning tool for well over a decade. From there it's really dependent on the student and their learning style/pace. I try to never create a particular "method" that doesn't allow for the student's uniqueness to be taken into consideration. This may be unorthodox to some, but is a deep-seeded belief for me.
To me, every student is first a person. I make it my primary responsibility as a teacher to connect with my students in a healthy, authentic, and supportive way. While the primary reason for anyone taking drum lessons is to “get better at drumming”, I’m aware that, as a teacher, I’m fully responsible for the influence I’m having with the person in front of me and the quality of our interactions during our time together. Learning to play a musical instrument is a life-long journey on which the traveler continuously learns, grows, and develops. My work as a teacher is to meet my students wherever they are in their journey and guide them to the next stage in their development. To do this, there must first be a supportive, safe container in which that development can take place. This is my primary focus. Second, one of my teachers once said that “people need to be reminded more than they need to be instructed”. So, once a safe space is established, we can then focus on authentic feedback—both for the student AND the teacher :-) What’s working? What’s not working? Where are we seeing the most improvement at the moment? How are we feeling about it? Lastly, at the end of the day, our goal as musicians is to make music that people want to listen to. As drummers, our job is to make that music feel great! So whether I’m acting as a teacher, coach, or mentor, it’s my job to help students achieve the highest level of artistic freedom they’re capable of at the moment. To target whatever might be blocking creativity from flowing freely and create short, focused practice routines that will unlock the student's full potential.
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