Scott Henderson Discussion

[mateo]

Hello Scott
Just curious - did You see the Whiplash movie (that supposed to be a movie bout jazz drummer), and whats your opinion

Thanks for your time and for your music, waiting for your new CD

Best!

[Scott Henderson]

I didn't see it, and the reqson is because I saw the ads and found them to be totally ridiculous. If a music teacher treated me that way, he'd find the neck of my guitar up his ass. Being a teacher myself, and not a very nice one, the worst thing I've ever done is call a kid stupid, but he deserved it.

You have to be firm with students but that movie stretches reality - any teacher who did that in real life would be in jail for assault.

[Scott Henderson]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-ross/post_9102_b_6736644.html?utm_hp_ref=entertainment&ir=Entertainment

Apparently writer Brian Ross feels the same way I do about this movie, and though I also think J.K. Simmons is a great actor, this bullshit about teachers beating up on their students is ridiculous, and unfortunately makes jazz even less appealing to people who don't know much about it.

Having said that, there was a student at MI a few years ago who was without a doubt the biggest pain in the ass we've ever had at our school. I kicked him out of my open counseling class many times for being disruptive. He was having a private lesson with Rafael Moreira, they got into an argument, and the student kicked Rafael's music stand, knocking his drum machine onto the floor. Rafael lost his temper and threw his guitar into the student's face, and the sharp part of the bridge went into the student's forehead, causing massive bleeding. The police were called, Rafael was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, and his gig as the guitarist for Pink helped make it into a big news story. The student was expelled, tried but failed to sue the school, and Rafael was cleared of all charges. He's doing great and working a lot.

The moral of the story is: if you're going to assault a student, do it in a big way.

[dizzy]

Great article Scott. If the director really wants to live his fantasy he should go into the world of big business or politics where people are truly cruel. All the jazz musicians and teachers I have met including you are good people.

[Scott Henderson]

Thanks, and I should clarify that I'm not a mean teacher at all, I just don't take any bullshit from students and expect them to work hard. Branford Marsalis said something about most of his students just wanting praise, and I have to say that I share his opinion - too many of them want to hear "good job", which I don't mind saying if they deserve it. But I find many of them lazy, and they expect the school to teach them how to play, which is absurd. Schools give you tools, theory, some vocabulary, but if you want to learn how to play (phrase, get good tone, learn the finer points of time, etc) you have to listen to the greats on recordings and learn from them. Most of the great players have learned by ear, even the ones who went to a school.

One thing I love about MI is that they know classes alone don't cut it. That's why we have private lessons and open counseling - my job is to help students sound their best with whatever vocabulary they have. We transcribe a lot, and I teach students how to learn from recordings so they can continue to improve when school is over.