Peter Haas on motivation in teaching young people

Peter Haas is one of the most sought-after live and studio drummers in Switzerland. In addition, he teaches at Instrumentor and is committed to the next generation of drummers. As part of the Drum Festivals Switzerland he organizes the Drummer Youth Contest with.

I myself am mostly self-taught. I taught myself most of the time by transferring vinyl to cassette, went to the practice room with it and just played along until it sounded something like on the recording.

So I learned exclusively auditory, that is, by listening. Later, the first drum instruction books were added, with which I could also learn to read music.

Since my own beginnings, I have now taught young people myself for over 30 years. Today it all looks a little different.

The Internet allows students to discover many things for themselves. So they find out what they like and what they don't like, and compare different pieces or bands with each other. After that, they often come to me in class with a template they found on the net, which I find very positive.

So they deal with the music intensively beforehand and then usually enter the classroom very motivated with a goal in mind.

Then I come into play: I show them, for example, what exactly is played in a little movie they brought along and how to play it most efficiently. Sometimes we also find out together that a piece is still too difficult and what needs to be practiced first in order to be able to replay it later.

Young people mostly learn about role models and idols, and they find them on the Internet today. The instructions on how to play something or what they have to pay attention to, for that they then need a counterpart who can give them the appropriate feedback.

Although music is not a competition for me, occasions like competitions can be a similar motivation and definitely an exchange of information. And likewise directly from person to person. You see others play and get feedbacks for your own playing. This gives you new ideas and incentives to practice.

For example, even if everyone plays the same paradiddle, it sounds different for everyone. Or someone has a particularly original idea, what he can play with it. Something like that inspires!

That's why I hope for numerous participants and visitors at the Drummer Youth Contest on September 15 at Kaufleuten Zurich and look forward to many exciting discussions and conversations. You can find out more here.