Whiplash

I just got Whiplash! As in, something new dawned on me second time around seeing the film when I watched it this week. It’s so compelling and ignites lots of debate on whether we should push children, students (and each other) hard to achieve something worthwhile. Will they be forever grateful or hate us for it? In an age of politically correct, kid-glove wearing, helicopter flying, ’pass the ball to my son’ parenting, we ask, is this sadistic behaviour acceptable on any level or under any circumstance? 

I was told ( by Rob Botchnik from the band, The Frames) that it is indeed often like that in the States in the elite Colleges and he suffered to a certain degree with that military boot camp style teaching. It’s a different culture there than it is here in Ireland. This is interesting for me and my approach to lecturing drums in BIMM. We in Ireland are in general more laid back about our work ethic and our practice regimes and teaching style. Are we too easy going? I get the impression that an aspiring American musician will practice sometimes 8 hrs a day to achieve their dreams. The bullying teacher in the film is obviously sado-masochistic and borderline psychotic and rightly lost his job. But the film is incredibly clever as it ends (spoiler alert!) with a knowing look between the two protagonists that said to me that there was a certain amount of (eventual) collusion, and all the suffering the student had to endure was worth it and made him into ‘one of the greats’. This asks the question should parents and teachers drive their protegees harder? Should players suffer to get to the highest level? Are we wrapping them in cotton wool or pushing them hard to be their best?