I’ve been wanting to do this interview for some time, to get an insight and an outlook from someone else than myself on the topic of online tuition. So, here we go 🙂
Online Workshop Tuition – Interview with Christoph Rienass               November 2020
Q: What is your background?
A: I was born in 1998 in Berlin, but raised in Brandenburg, a federal state very close to the city border.
My passion for making music started at a very early stage of my life and is still influencing a major part of it.
I originally started drumming in a German marching band in second grade and began taking drum kit lessons in third grade which later in grammar school enabled me to join the rock&pop band in my school. As I got interested in the piano, I started taking lessons as well.
With music becoming a week-filling hobby, I met a drumming instructor at a nearby marching band who also played at a parade pipe band in Berlin. As long as I can remember, the sound of bag pipes fascinated me and taking my main hobby drumming and combining it with this special kind of music seemed like a new challenge I wanted to take, so I joined the band in 2011.
After one year, I played to my first solo competition which really fueled my motivation, so I visited a summer school organized by the Bagpipe Association of Germany (BAG) in 2012, taking drumming to the next level.
I joined another band in Berlin and played as a long-distance player with the Baul Muluy Pipes and Drums in Hamburg.
In 2014, a friend of mine and I travelled to Glasgow to see the World Pipe Band Championships for the first time. I still remember the sheer number of bands and the quality of their playing, and I decided to come to the worlds again, but not as a spectator, as a pipe band drummer!
To improve, I visited the German summer school again in 2015 and met Anders Jensen, who was an instructor at that time. Anders played with the Balagan pipe band from Denmark in Grade 2 and asked me, if I was up for a new challenge in drumming. He suggested me to join the band for the 2016 season, but I soon realized, that I was not ready to play on this level yet.
Being sad at first, I practiced even harder and started taking Skype lessons with Anders to improve my playing. One year later, one of my biggest dreams came true: I joined the band! All the hard work finally payed off and I made the best out of my first Grade 2 experience. Playing at the Grade 2 finale in the Grade 1 arena at the World Pipe Band Championships remains as one of my biggest highlights in my pipe band drumming, I still get goosebumps when I listen to the recordings of our performance.
Last year, I played at the Worlds again, this time under the leadership of Anders with the Cross Borders Pipe Band, a band formed by players from different European countries. Due to the current situation and all major pipe band events being cancelled, I was unfortunately not able to join the band for this year.
From 2014 to this year I lead the drum corps of the Berlin Thistle Pipes and Drums, enjoying various mini band and band competitions over the time.
I currently study Music and English in a teaching degree for Secondary teaching at the university of Potsdam.
Q: What are your previous tuition experiences, and which of those has pushed you the
most?
A: I have been taught by Steven McWhirter, J. Reid Maxwell, Stephen Creighton, Blair Brown and Eric MacNeill, Anders Jensen, Carel Ooms and Marcel Lischke at different workshops and occasions.
I visited the German Summer school organized by the BAG for 4 times and have been to Piping Hot Summer Drummer in Canada in 2018. Currently, I am taking online lessons with Steven McWhirter.
One of the biggest pushes I got in drumming, improving my playing big time, came through the work and the support of Anders Jensen, whom I met at the BAG summer school in 2015. Anders introduced me to a big number of Grade 2 and Grade 1 material and explained it in an easy to understand way, which helped me to a lot while going through the scores.
The time at Piping Hot Summer Drummer taught me a lot about score writing, proper practice techniques and the history of piping and drumming. I also learned a lot about how professionally the “pipe band game” is played in North America, there are many great bands and players!
Q: Why did you decide to take online tuition?
A: Due to the COVID-19 situation, which led to every announced workshop announced being cancelled, I still wanted to have a kind of “highlight” and was looking for more input, so I went for the Rhythmic Lockdown Workshop organized by the Dunedin Scottish Arts Foundation based in Florida, US.
Getting group tuition in an online setting interested me and with saving a lot of money because of no travel costs etc. this year, I booked a ticket for the workshop.
The classes ranged from beginner players, which just started playing, all the way to advanced players, who were able to go through full MSR and HP/Jig material. As I am working to improve my MSR and HP/Jig playing, I figured that the advanced class would be my place to be!
Q: Which, if any, concerns did you have before trying online tuition?
A: The workshop was spread over two days, with fixed time slots designed to fit people joining from the different time zones. I am pretty lucky to have forgiving neighbors, so I was able to play on Saturday from 18:00 – 21:30 and Sunday 19:00 – 21:00 (CET) with one additional hour where there was a lecture held on each day.
All sessions were held using the online platform Zoom, which I already used for seminars at university, so I was familiar with its functions and had no issues using the software.
I was afraid, that there might be problems with the sound quality due to bad internet connection and because Zoom has a number of settings that cancel background noises (aka drumming), some participants were not able to disable this setting. The teachers then relied on the visual component of the playing.
Q: What did you know about the teachers before the workshop?
A: I knew that the teacher line up included well-known names like Steven McWhirter, J. Reid Maxwell, Stephen Creighton and Eric MacNeill. As I personally met Steven, Reid and Eric at Piping Hot Summer Drummer 2018, I knew that they are not only great players, but great instructors and was looking forward on how they would work with the online format.
I can definitely say that the best people in their field (as goes for pipe band drumming) are the most relaxed, open and helping people you will ever find.
Q: What was required from you when you signed up?
A: It was clear to me that I needed an online device with a camera and sound (aka my lovely laptop), a working internet connection, the Zoom online platform and of course a pad and sticks to play.
As the sign-up sheet and all the different information posted on the website were in English, it was also obvious to me that classes will be taught in English.
Q: What surprised you, about taking part in the online workshop?
A: Previous to the workshop, all the scores for the classes and additional recordings were uploaded for everyone, so we had open access to the material. I did not count them, but at least for my group there were over 30 scores available, which I can now put in my personal “treasure chest of drum scores”.
The instructors said that the material will be available till January 2021, which is just awesome!
The workshop was very well organized, every participant received a list and was put into a group for the Zoom meeting rooms, so I just had to join the class for the given time.
As it was announced that the sessions will be recorded by the instructors, I was able to only focus on the lesson and was not distracted by taking notes at the same time.
It really surprised me that all of the snare drum students from my group (except me) where from Canada or the United States. An online workshop is a really convenient way to reach out to almost anyone in the world, so I expected at least one fellow European to be in my group.
Q: What was the best thing that you learned from taking part in the online workshop?
A: “Snare drum scores have to be MUSICAL, not complicated.” – J.Reid Maxwell
Q: How do you see online tuition now and in the future?
A: Online tuition definitely can work as a full-time supplement to face to face lessons, if all the necessary equipment on both sides, teacher such as student(s), is available. I know that directly hearing a student play (e.g. on a drum) is best to get a real impression and to give advice, but with numerous players around the world not having access to any teachers or bands, online lessons are still better than no lessons at all. I can imagine that it is harder for beginners to start learning online, but compromises, e.g. making recordings for your teachers can turn into great practice sessions, as you probably will not send the first hastily taken recording to your teacher but really put in the hours to get things sounding just right.
As individual lessons go, online tuition is absolutely fine, but when it comes to holding a drum corps or a band together, it is essential to meet up. After being a long-distance player in different bands ranging from Grade 4 to 2, I can say that a drum corps needs to practice in person to fully integrate all the players. The overall goal is to have the drum corps playing as one single instrument, rhythmically accomplishing the melodies of the pipes.
Q: Would you recommend online tuition to fellow pipe band drummers?
A: I would definitely recommend taking online lessons, even if you just started to play. Having a teacher by your side, even if he/she is thousand miles away saves you a lot of time and energy and will maximize the fun you will later have later on.
Go for teachers, who are great players, look them up online, look at their (solo or band) performances, their bands, their experiences and their results. Do not be afraid, if you think teachers may be out of reach or “too good” to spend their time with you. All the great players from Grade 1 I got to know so far are down-to-earth and willing to share their passion, because they live for drumming and want people to get involved.
If there ever was a time to try something new and to improve your playing, it is now.
Do not waste your time!