Taking lessons and practicing technique are of utmost importance. But, so are, equally, listening and learning to other drummers and playing in bands. It's all of these things that collectively make for a good approach to drumming no matter what kind of music you play. Even playing on a crappy kit can be good for teaching you ways to experiment with and improve sound via tuning, heads, etc. which is all part of the learning process. I think a formal approach is especially necessary in the beginning when one is learning to play because otherwise you run the risk if starting with bad habits which are difficult to break later and stunt your playing. A good foundation is essential.
But, for the sake of discussion, there are a lot of "book" players who are limited due to their lack of solid live experience. They may have the rolls of a hummingbird and but can't hold a long-term solid, heartfelt groove in a real, live band situation because they're only used to the fairly sporadic drumming of school band and have spent all their time in a book and not enough on stage or they spent all their time practicing by themselves in their rooms instead of with others. Or they spent all their time working on the snare technique, etc. and are lost when they get behind a kit because they're not used to using their feet. But despite the intermittent nature of school band drumming, there can be a lot of learning done during breaks when you have a lot of time to listen and interpret the rest of an orchestra. (I'm way too impatient, though, to only bang on a drum or bell once in a while, so in college I took the garage metal band route instead of the school band approach.)
If you haven't learned to read yet, don't fret. You can do it. Just get started now so you no longer have to miss out on its advantages, like exchanging tabs with drummers at the cafe! (That reminds me, Felix..."La Grange" is acquiring dust over here...I need to get on it!)
As far as teaching approaches, I think, after the essential basics are outlined, as in my case with teaching piano, one has to be careful not to boggle down students with too much theory because you run the risk of not captivating your student's interest enough to make them an enthusiastic student. So, the trick is to blend the 2, often teaching them "formal" things through fun practical application, often teaching them things without them even knowing thats what you were trying to do. I've met so many people who quit piano lessons due to mean, boring teachers. In piano, scales are everything. Scales are our basic rhythmical and melodic foundation and one of the first thing students need to learn. But if a kid comes in for a lesson (often only because their
parents wanted them to) a lecture on major scales and fingering patterns, etc. would bore them to death. So, what I do is ask
them what songs
they like and do they think it would be cool to learn how to play it. Say the student is young and wants to play "Mary Had a Little Lamb", we're actually working the first part of scale patterns and developing our rudiments, but I just don't call it that to them, yet.
I try to help them feel it in their heart first and feel comfortable before I start correcting them too much, possibly causing them to become frustrated and discouraged and quit.
As far as my personal approach to my playing, I've experienced totally opposite approaches during extended phases. I started with a very formal background of classical piano and thank goodness, good drum teachers,
but I branched off into the opposite spectrum of "hippie-drumming", and as I mentioned in the PIT thread, a lot of what I learned came from unconventional methods like playing on the streets during festivals and jamming at open mike nights in rough joints with supposedly unschooled musicians and virtual strangers. It is then I learned people can still play music like a virtuoso without having an ounce of formal, theoretical knowledge. Like Jimi Hendrix. I'm not sure how many pro kit drummers out there have had absolutely no formal training, though. I would say if one has never had a formal lesson they're probably lacking a lot of fundamental elements; it is in this main regard that his approach is better than yours.
The whole meaning of music isn't in a book. The most important thing is to play and listen whenever and wherever you can. But the stronger your technical foundation, knowledge and understanding, the better.
I'm returning again after a long trip back to the phase of the formal spectrum where my main focus will be back to the books and the rudiments. (that has already begun with all the time I've spent here lately as opposed to jamming) What I need to do is go into hiding with nothing but a practice pad, sticks, and a copy of "Stick Control".
