"Whiplash" is the little movie you've been hearing a bit about lately after J, K. Simmons won an Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild Award for best supporting actor. This is a film that Turq will probably hate but Card will love. It's about an abusive jazz band instructor at a music conservatory and young drummer who locks horns with him. As a drummer myself and former drum teacher I had to see this film which is now available on DVD.
The writer/director Damien Chazelle based the story on his experience with an abusive high school band director. Frankly, I don't like the idea of turning music into sports like competitions. Back in my day these competitions were never as intense as portrayed in the film. That said I sorta understand what Simmons character was trying to do though when teaching I approached it slightly different. My students were really never aware that they had easily been trained to a high level so even if they didn't perform well they still performed above average. One thing I found strange was that the Simmons character never suggest how to play very fast tempo tunes. Jazz band directors will count off very fast tunes as a beat per measure. That even threw me off when I once sat in with the big band my brother played in. I was of course playing at half or a quarter of what was wanted. The trick though is to think of each measure at fast tempos as a group of 4 eighth notes. The mind seems to grasp that more easily. The second trip was to hit the ride cymbal on 2 and 4 and it bounce into the 1 and 2. Much easier than trying to specifically play the ride pattern. Also what bothered me about the film was a real no-no in playing: straining. It's one thing and a piece of showmanship to make it look what you are doing is very hard (even though it is often very simple). But to actually strain is reduce one's stamina which will be needed through an evening of playing. Anyway I got a kick out of the film but it may not do for school jazz bands what the movie "Drumline" did for school marching bands a decade ago. BTW, there is now a sequel out for that film.
