A final thought/Q&A from Jeff Berlin. Jeff could be found on Facebook with both a private & fan page. Due to him reaching the 5000 member/friend maximum not everybody who may want to be involved in his commentary is able to do so, so some of us for various reason are sharing it here & other websites.
For those of you who think Jeff can't "Groove" check out track 7 on Jeff's Myspace.
Link Removed
Truth is Truth! Proof is Proof! And Everything Else is Talking the Talk! by Jeff Berlin
I want to thank everyone for reading and commenting on my posts this week. P.S. Self-taught musicians are not a part of this conversation as they are responsible only to their own methods of improvement.
I invited people to name any subject outside of music that was academically taught, but did not make fact of content first in their lessons.
People’s inability to answer this question, has put directly into their laps the knowledge, that music must fall into the same concept that everything else falls into.
Whatever one decides to do with this information, they cannot deny the truth of this statement, not if they cannot back up their belief with evidence to the contrary.
I also offered the 100 Top Rock Bassists link & questioned if academic rock classes weren’t involved in either the success or the playing ability of the top echelon of rock bassists? If one cannot show evidence that rock classes help people in rock careers or playing accomplishment, then rock education doesn't work, not unless one can show where it does. One cannot regard this statement as false, not if one can’t show why.
To the Blues! Name any guitarist from this list that claimed to have taken academic lessons to learn the blues.
100 Greatest Blues Guitarists at DigitalDreamDoor
If you cannot, then you are now knowledgeable of the fact that Blues academics wasn’t involved with the playing abilities or career success of the best Blues guitarists in this style. If one feels that this is not true, then it is a simple thing to support this claim by naming any Blues bassist or guitarist that stated that they learned the blues in a classroom.
The evidence shows that only music content is effective in pursuit of lessons. If you feel that it doesn't, please show evidence to the contrary by naming anyone who claims to having musical ability or success by paying teachers but not getting music in their lessons. I can prove that music is the only way to go when paying to learn as most players that studied it and entered in the professional ranks achieved their goals from their foundation based on their earlier studies based on musical content.
Off the top of my head are Stanley Clarke, Jaco Pastorius, Marcus Miller, John Scofield, Mike Stern, Vinny Colaiuta, Steve Smith, Neil Stubenhaus, Abe Laboriel, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Bill Evans, this list is endless.
Name 5 players world-wide that went to rock or blues lessons or any lesson like these, and acquired a career from it!
Note! A career is just a marker to indicate the quality of the instruction received.
This is important: It is not a case of "my way or the highway!" It is a case of "the facts speak louder than the protests agains what I say." It is "the right way or you are up the creek" if you pay incapable teachers to teach you. And many players are already up that creek right now. I'd like to guide them to a way to get down it! If one disagrees with my comments, then one has to show why, or else their counterpoints is just talk based on emotion.
I just received this quote a moment ago from someone who reads my stuff and I thought to add it here.
Someone on Talkbass suggested that teachers should be encouraging.
I agree, but I also agree with how the person below clarified this thought. It is worthy of quoting.
"A person being paid to teach should be reasonably personable, to the same extent as any paid professional should be when interacting with clients. By the time you are an adult it should no longer be the teacher's responsibility to stroke egos. (Teachers) don't adapt to all the different requests and requirements of various students in an encouraging manner when teaching calculus at MIT. They provide information in a clear, straightforward manner and expect you to work your ass off to keep up."
I agree wholeheartedly. This person absolutely nailed it!. There is nothing insensitive about stating facts and expecting that people are adult enough to embrace fact for what it is. (I don't think that too many guys at TBwill understand what this fellow understands.Some will however. Let's see!)
That's it! This is all that you need to know. Let me know your thoughts. And have a fantastic weekend. Please share this everywhere. People need to be involved in this discussion.
