[charlene]

SF: Did you use to teach on a full drumset?

BK: Yes. Some of my students got to a point where I felt incapable of technically taking them any further. I would recommend that they go to another teacher. But I got a kick out of it. Make it as simple as possible and find out what they’re interested in. I had a couple of kids who came in who weren’t interested in the drums.

If some kid came in and said, “Man, I love the Beatles. I wanna play like Ringo Starr,” I’d say, “Okay. You came to the right guy. You won my heart. I’ll show you how to do it, what to listen for, how to have a good time. I ‘ l l see if you have any sense of time or rhythm.” And they would practice! Show a kid where 2 and 4 was on the snare drum and he’ll drive his parents nuts! They’d say, “I can’t get the kid to stop practicing the drums!” I’d say, “Ay, that’s great!”

When they’re hooked, then you say, “Okay, now you gotta practice some technical stuff,” and they’ll say, “Okay. Now it makes sense to me. Now I understand it.” But to go mama/ dada/mama/dada when a kid wants to play “Honky Tonk Woman”…who needs it, really? Some of the best pop records are based on the simplest drum beats. That’s not just a coincidence. You can teach a kid to play exactly what his heros are playing, on the bass drum, hi-hat, right hand, left hand.

I also do some lectures during the year. There are a couple of college recording courses in Canada. I go up there and lecture on recording. I took a course in the early “70s at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, given by Phil Ramone and Dave Green from A&R Studios. I wanted to learn more about production. The most I got out of that course was being able to sit with Phil Ramone and talk to him about the business. At that time he was working with Dionne Warwick, The Guess Who, and Burt Bacharach. To hear him talk about some of these people brought the whole thing closer to home. It made it seem real. It took a lot of the mystique out of it. I could see a guy who’s making hit records and find out how he did it with the people who did it. I learned more just sitting over a drink talking to Phil Ramone than on that 2 week course.

When I go out and give a lecture I try to do the same thing. I’m the luckiest guy in the world. I’ve had the opportunity to work with great producers, artists and studios. I tell the kids to get a job as soon as they can in some music business field. I don’t care if it’s a radio station, a record store, whatever it is! Do the best job you can at it. There’s always room for competent people. If you wait forever to be a producer, you’re going to wait forever. Go in and clean up in a studio! Do that kind of thing and learn about the business. So many ends of the business are related.

I also talk about the economics of earning a living. You need money to pay for certain equipment that you’re going to play on. And then I open it up for questions. I let them even ask stupid questions. “What’s Anne Murray like?” “Okay. I’ve done five albums with her. I’ll tell you what it’s like to work with her. Every time the band runs down a song, Anne does a “scratch” vocal along with us. Some singers don’t even show up until the tracks are done, but Anne wants to be sure that the key is perfect, that the tempos are just right, and that the song really does work for her.”

Some of the students in these courses may have acquired a great deal of textbook knowledge on microphone serial num bers, and all kinds of technical things. But they may not have ever experienced an actual recording date! By me talking about singers and records that they’re familiar with, the students can picture how the sessions come together.

You can see people envisioning this in their minds, “Yeah. I’ve heard those albums. I can sec her sitting. Oh! The rhythm section runs it down? That’s the way it’s done!” It sinks in. It really does and I think that’s important, too.