Doug Brush Percussion

Teaching Philosophy

I’ve never attached myself to one ‘guru’, or master teacher, although I’ve been in the presence of many.  I’ve also never attached myself to one musical tradition, although I’ve immersed myself in many.  Occasionally, a good friend will suggest that I should take some time and devote myself to one style, to enjoy the depth of just one, but I still find incredible depth in a ‘mega-transect’ of the world’s percussion traditions. I have been the only ‘foreigner’ in bands consisting of members all from Ghana, all from India, all from Zimbabwe, or all from the Arab world, so even though I’ve traveled broadly, I’m digging deep.  

This part of my personality influences my teaching, in that I encourage versatility in my students, even if their focus is within one instrument or style.  Technique is one of the keys to versatility.  It is a path to enlarging one’s musical vocabulary which is integral to artistic expression.

Repetition is important in learning instrumental technique.  Repetition is also a pathway to meditation, which can lead to another important aspect of music: creativity.  As a teacher within the world of music, I feel a responsibility to not only teach technique, but also  foster creativity in my students.  I’m not only teaching someone to work a complex machine, but teaching one of the oldest art forms as well.  By encouraging focused and repetitive exercises, the method of many styles of meditation, the student gains not only strong technique but has personal, meditative experiences within music, a potential entrance to creativity.

Coming from a classical background, I feel that the value of teaching the written language(s) of music is one the most useful and long-lasting tools I can give students.  If a student wants to learn West African djembe or Arabic riq, traditions that don’t necessarily have a ‘written’ history, I find they progress faster, and have more information available to them, if they also learn ways the music can be written down.  Of course, learning to read music goes without saying for the classical percussion student.

My experience of teaching students of every age and level, in many styles of percussion, has given me great insight into not only their process with the artistic exploration of percussion, but my own as well.  Teaching eight year old students when I was thirteen was my first job, so my own journey as a musical artist has always involved teaching.  In this way teaching informs my artistry and my artistry informs my teaching.