Music Lessons with Rick Smith!
As our school year begins, we wanted to talk to our teachers about how things are going in their lessons. Our first teacher to share his story is pianist and drummer Rick Smith.
Jammin' With You!: What do you teach at JWY!?
Rick Smith: I teach Piano, Drum Set and Percussion.
JWY!: What do you like most about teaching students music?
RS: I have wonderful memories of my childhood music teachers. They showed me how wonderful music can be. Today, I strive to have that kind of impact on my students. It also works great for my life as a professional touring musician.
JWY!: What are you looking forward to this year with your students?
RS: As this is my first full year teaching for JWY! I look forward to developing honest and long lasting professional relationships with each family I teach. I want to continue teaching the foundations of proper technique, while exploring the individual wants and needs of each student. At the end of the day we play music because it's FUN! Thats something I always want to come across in my lessons.
JWY!: What are some fun things you have been doing in lessons this fall?
RS: The piano penny trick. Place a penny on top of your hand and play scales up and down WITHOUT dropping the penny. It helps young (and older!) students keep their fingers curved and promotes smooth legato transitions from note to note. For added challenge try both hands with 2 octaves!
As for Drum students who have a lot of coordination problems with one hand, I ask them to spend a day (or more!) switching hands. If your right handed, become left handed! Eating, opening doors, shaking hands, brushing your teeth, everything! This can really help when it comes to balancing out your right and left limbs - most students (and myself) enjoy the challenge.
JWY!: Who inspired you to become a music teacher?
RS: Professor Gervacio Brondial, or Mr. Brondial to me most of my life, was my piano teacher. I started with him when I was 5 years old and continued until he was hired to teach at California State Long Beach when I was about 12 or 13. He started me on the right path, taught me the benefits of proper technique, how to make the most out of my practice, but most importantly, he showed me how to have fun with music! He was the best teacher I ever had.
JWY!: Any fun music teaching stories?
RS: I had the opportunity to teach a few physics and engineering graduate students from Boston University last year. They were beginners so it was really fun talking about drums in such a technical way. I could talk about the different grip fulcrum points and stick height to volume relativity and other really nerdy specific drumming techniques that I don't normally get to talk about.
More recently I've had a blast teaching Stick Control by ear. The book Stick Control, as all you drummers know, is a must-have and industry standard kind of book. The book features numerous different combinations of Left and Right stickings. What I do is have the student learn a page on the snare drum. Then I have him play each limb on a different drum or surface (rim, table, floor, whatever) After that I have the student sing the "melody" the 2 different surfaces make. This way they connect the difficult to follow string of lefts and rights into a tangible and easy to sing melody! I will play different passages from the book in that way and have the student guess which one I'm playing. Its fun, and it's ear-training, something that all good drummers use everyday.
