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Thread: Music Career?

  1. #1

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    Hey guys(and gals). I'm currently a junior in high school and I'm trying to figure out what I want to do in life. I am very seriously looking at a career as a percussion instructor. however, I'm not sure about the job outlook or what kind of schooling I would need for this. Is there any advice or information anyone could give me to help? Thank you.
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  2. #2

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    Maybe if you went to school for teaching, you could eventually lead a marching band or teach music at a school. This way you'd be surrounded by drums all day, and be able to teach future Portnoys and Pearts!
    So itchie, how did the kick sound?
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  3. #3

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    This month's modern drummer magazine has an article called "College Bound". It talks about various college degrees and their path to various musical careers. It also talks about what a student should work on prior to that audition for a music college. It sounds like it would be a good read for you.

  4. #4

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    You could try out for Berklee, and once you graduate, start a booming music teaching business, because you'd bethe best available!
    So itchie, how did the kick sound?
    Quote Originally Posted by itchie
    like godzilla humping a mountain
    Quote Originally Posted by CycleDude View Post
    You, my friend, owe me a keyboard... I just spit coffee all over mine...
    Get counted! http://www.drumchat.com/showthread.p...ers-12079.html

    Check it.
    http://www.reverbnation.com/allihave

  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by Doc_d View Post
    This month's modern drummer magazine has an article called "College Bound". It talks about various college degrees and their path to various musical careers. It also talks about what a student should work on prior to that audition for a music college. It sounds like it would be a good read for you.
    Excellent advice
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  6. #6

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    Kadwell 13, well at least at your age you have a dream-goal, very nice to have. Now when you set a goal its very important to have plan to reach this goal...as others have said, get your education and PASS! you will need to get advice from your school music instructor, now some are more helpful than others..if you do not get good advice from your school, don't give up! because many young people do! you know the old saying
    " when the going gets rough..." learn all you can about percussion..as there are lots of styles and instraments that you need to know / learn to be well rounded..whew...thats all for now..stay true to yourself..no defeatist talk..
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  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by MartyM View Post
    Kadwell 13, well at least at your age you have a dream-goal, very nice to have. Now when you set a goal its very important to have plan to reach this goal...as others have said, get your education and PASS! you will need to get advice from your school music instructor, now some are more helpful than others..if you do not get good advice from your school, don't give up! because many young people do! you know the old saying
    " when the going gets rough..." learn all you can about percussion..as there are lots of styles and instraments that you need to know / learn to be well rounded..whew...thats all for now..stay true to yourself..no defeatist talk..
    I agree 100% ... consult your school's band director. I'm assuming you're in the school band now...if not, its probably a good idea to join. Good Luck !

  8. #8

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    I have been kinda half talking to my school band director, but I haven't really sat down and had that long chat yet. And what issue of moderns drummer was that?
    “One of my few shortcomings is that I can't predict the future.”-Lars Ulrich.
    “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.”-Neil Pert.
    “You don't get something for nothing
    You can't have freedom for free
    You won't get wise
    With the sleep still in your eyes
    No matter what your dreams might be”-Neil Pert.

    TERROROUS TENORS

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by MartyM View Post
    Kadwell 13, well at least at your age you have a dream-goal, very nice to have. Now when you set a goal its very important to have plan to reach this goal...as others have said, get your education and PASS! you will need to get advice from your school music instructor, now some are more helpful than others..if you do not get good advice from your school, don't give up! because many young people do! you know the old saying
    " when the going gets rough..." learn all you can about percussion..as there are lots of styles and instraments that you need to know / learn to be well rounded..whew...thats all for now..stay true to yourself..no defeatist talk..
    Hell yeah.....learn everything you can about the "big world of percussion" .... develop a good reading habit because you will have to get through way more books than just "Stick Control" and "Syncopation". Marching line does help a lot with developing hands and your rudiments, but if say you want to easily play styles, you've got to gain experience with those styles. In my local area, I get guys and girls look me up because I not only teach rock, but some specialties that set me apart from other instructors are ska/reggae, prog/odd meters and polyrhythm, Latin percussion (eg: congas and timbales), miscellaneous percussion, some basic tuned percussion, Middle Eastern (doumbek and tar/douf) and so forth. Some had seen me in the past playing in covers and/or original bands, others in drum circles doing hand percussion.

    I might add that I gained my Diploma in Music six years ago, but went in as a mature-aged student at tertiary level and as someone with nearly 20 years playing experience, being in a classroom with guys and girls barely out of high school....still, I went there to learn and we were fortunate enough to be the only music college in Sydney where the head teacher, an ex-Bostonian called Dr David Salisbury, taught us the Berklee Method of Music Theory (note: Lee Berk, founder of Berklee and Salisbury knew each other). See, all the drum students are taught marimba and jazz vibes, without that background, you simply could not keep up with the theory classes. I learned the stuff that you don't often encounter in "drum world"....harmony, melody, key signatures, circle of fourths and fifths, modes and so forth. Basically the groundwork that will help me pursue a bachelor in music should I decide to go further in study. A drum instructor that only knows rhythm, time signature, dynamics and not enough of harmony and composition is basically selling themselves short when it comes to getting your "foot in the door" approaching junior and senior schools, as percussion sections in school orchestras need to be shown melodic percussion instruments and if you fudge or cannot even read a basic timpani or xylophone chart, head music teachers will know straight away.

    So do hold onto that dream of instructing, it is a pretty valid career idea....all I'm saying is that be prepared to work....a lot....have a natural curiosity for all manner of percussion and drumming.....get a lot of gig experience, be a jack-of-all trades, develop a few "specialties" that no other instructor in your local area have, and never think that you can get to a certain level and you don't stop learning more....the attitude is that you'll always be an "eternal student"....that's what makes you a successful instructor!
    Last edited by Drumbledore; 12-05-2010 at 01:10 PM.
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  10. #10

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    There lots of music careers out there you just have to find the one that you really would like to do.

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