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Chippy569 · 07-13-2009, 10:52 PM

See Andy's other thread for more understanding of what I think, and this will make a ton of sense.

You cannot isolate the technical aspect of music from the creative aspect. Technique is the tool of the trade; technique is how we musicians create our product, our art. Conversely, we must have the appropriate tool to create what we are attempting to. For example, if you're trying to drill a hole, using a hammer probably isn't the right choice, even if you're really, really proficient at hammering.

As such, in an instructional situation, technique is the best place to start. First you must learn how to hold a hammer, then how to swing it and not chop off your finger. Once you are proficient at a general hammer technique, you can go into more finesse such as the differences between rubber mallet technique and ball peen hammer technique.

The harder element of teaching is convincing the student to try new ways to combine the techniques. Give the students of a metal shop class a sheet of copper, a ball peen, a sledge hammer, and some shears and tell them to make something out of it, and I can guarantee they will all make something related but not the same. I think a similar idea works well for "teaching" musical creativity as well; providing students with a limitation to a small array of "tools" will force them to arrange unique compositions. For example, say "use 2 paradiddles, 1 flam, and 3 ghost notes" and see what they come up with, then mix it up, etc.

Another approach that worked for me (in a painting class) was to use the message of the end product to dictate which techniques to use. For this particular project, my teacher would call out an emotion and everyone in the class would have ~10 minutes to convey that emotion on their sheet of paper. This way, we had free roam of any combination of techniques (line, weight, shape, color, etc) but the end goal was limited. A similar approach might work for teaching your drum students. (ie show me what "Aggressive" sounds like, or "happy." Or even a more concrete idea, like show me what a "house" sounds like.)

One of the interesting things about creativity is that it needs to be bound by something. People can not be spontaneously creative, even though that contradicts the idea of creativity.

07-13-2009, 10:52 PM	#11
Chippy569 MXDP: The New Pit Join Date: May 2004 Location: Houghton, MI, US Posts: 12,979	See Andy's other thread for more understanding of what I think, and this will make a ton of sense. You cannot isolate the technical aspect of music from the creative aspect. Technique is the tool of the trade; technique is how we musicians create our product, our art. Conversely, we must have the appropriate tool to create what we are attempting to. For example, if you're trying to drill a hole, using a hammer probably isn't the right choice, even if you're really, really proficient at hammering. As such, in an instructional situation, technique is the best place to start. First you must learn how to hold a hammer, then how to swing it and not chop off your finger. Once you are proficient at a general hammer technique, you can go into more finesse such as the differences between rubber mallet technique and ball peen hammer technique. The harder element of teaching is convincing the student to try new ways to combine the techniques. Give the students of a metal shop class a sheet of copper, a ball peen, a sledge hammer, and some shears and tell them to make something out of it, and I can guarantee they will all make something related but not the same. I think a similar idea works well for "teaching" musical creativity as well; providing students with a limitation to a small array of "tools" will force them to arrange unique compositions. For example, say "use 2 paradiddles, 1 flam, and 3 ghost notes" and see what they come up with, then mix it up, etc. Another approach that worked for me (in a painting class) was to use the message of the end product to dictate which techniques to use. For this particular project, my teacher would call out an emotion and everyone in the class would have ~10 minutes to convey that emotion on their sheet of paper. This way, we had free roam of any combination of techniques (line, weight, shape, color, etc) but the end goal was limited. A similar approach might work for teaching your drum students. (ie show me what "Aggressive" sounds like, or "happy." Or even a more concrete idea, like show me what a "house" sounds like.) One of the interesting things about creativity is that it needs to be bound by something. People can not be spontaneously creative, even though that contradicts the idea of creativity.