Teacher Spotlight: The Real Measure of Success

How do you measure your success as a musician? The time you’ve spent practicing your drum rudiments? The number of gigs you’ve played? For most musicians, it’s more than that – read on for Falls Church, VA drum teacher Keith J.’s take on the measurement for success…

 

When I was just starting out playing the drums, I learned to play Ventures songs.

Years later I met their drummer, Mel Taylor, at a little club in Maryland. We talked for a while and found we had a lot in common. Mel gave me his phone number in LA and said if I ever got there, phone him.

The following morning, Thanksgiving, bleary-eyed and driving toward the club, I saw a Winnebago broken down on the side of the road. It was The Ventures. I stopped, picked them up and took them to find a mechanic in the middle of nowhere, and we went our separate ways.

Years later, I made it to LA and called Mel. He said the usual, “We have to do lunch some day.”

Every day, I spent all my time talking on the telephone looking for that next great gig. One day, my phone rang and a voice said, “This is Mel Taylor.” I expected to hear “Let’s go to lunch,” but instead Mel said, “How would you like to play drums for The Ventures on their upcoming US tour?” He told me he wasn’t feeling very well and he needed someone to fill in for him, and was I interested? Of course I was! He told me to meet the band the next day for a rehearsal and to pack my suitcase. What I didn’t know was it was really an audition. Mel hadn’t quite told it to me that way.

I showed up to play the “rehearsal,” and when we got to “Wipe Out”, I played the daylights out of the song. I always hated playing Wipe Out; it was one of those songs that drummers get sick of hearing people shout out requests for. When I finished playing the song, bassist Bob Bogle said, “I guess you pass the audition!” I was shocked, thinking I already had the gig based on my phone call with Mel. But you never know. Playing Wipe Out with The Ventures made it a lot more fun than I had ever had with the song previously. I’ve never hated the song since.

I played the entire US tour and it was fantastic. We finished our last date in Kansas City, MO. As we were doing the usual shaking hands and signing thing afterward, a fan came up to tell me how much his brother had enjoyed the show. The brother had terminal brain cancer and left to go home immediately after the show. I told him that I would pray for his brother. He thanked me and vanished into the crowd.

Then a woman said to me, “I hear you’re going to say a prayer for my husband.” It took me a second to realize who she meant. She then told me that for the entire time her husband was there, he FORGOT that he was terminally ill. I got a little teary-eyed as I realized that the meaning of success was not a pocket full of cash, but entertaining someone so that he forgot that he had cancer. It was a moment I will never forget. I think of Mel Taylor frequently, thank him for that opportunity and hope he is teaching heavenly drummers to like Wipe Out as much as I do.

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