Those who can do and those who can't teach is a myth. 

It's a misquote. "Those who can, do. Those who understand, teach". Aristotle.

It could have come from a old joke. Uhh, players play, if you can,t play you teach, if you can't teach you become a music critic!!

It would be a myth but for the plethora of atrociously bad teachers in public education who cannot be sacked

Needed to hear it ^^ I work as a dance teacher and my family likes to imply I'm a failure for liking to teach lessons 🙃 like excuse me for wanting to share my love and test my knowledge lol.

Hey Gary, congratz for the great video. This slogan is everywhere not only in music and, yeah, it's definitely a myth. I'm a drummer and a mathematician myself. In math, my research area is Mathematics education...and every now and then someone comes and throw that slogan on me to criticize my work. It's all about politics and power. That's only people competing among others and pulling them down. There are other similar myths...like that one between "classic and pop music" or "rock drummers suck and need to learn some jazz...". I really liked this video, it made me remind of Roy Burns contributions to Modern Drummer magazine in the late 90's! My best wishes for you.

You are absolutely right, people get all kinds of degrees and fail to learn to talk about the stuff in their degree as a language because they are bad teachers. In fact instead of using what they learn in their degree and teaching it, they learn to spread rumours in a completely unrelated field.

I had flight instructors bring me up to the level of Commercial Instrument Multi Engine Pilot rating in Arizona; blue skys hot days, high density altitude. How do you think that prepared me for bush flying in Alaska? After several seasons in Alaska, if I were to return to these "seasoned flying veterans" in Arizona how much of my experience do you think they would understand. In other words, what GBS is saying is that there is a huge difference between being an expert and being a teacher. Now of course playing the drums I guess you might take someones eye out with an errant drum stick, but in other occupations there is a huge chance to lose a life or in mine, many lives at a time. That is why there is a time for residents to get up to speed out of Med school and time for pilots to sit in the right seat before becoming Captains. I'm sure drumming is important to us all, I just don't think my wife or childrens lives will be affected if your performance isn't up to par. I think that George B Shaw was discussing the tendency of "teachers" to become professional teachers without ever venturing into the vocation that they teach. When you use the term "Instructor" that is telling me that you and I agree.

You're the real deal, Gary. Thanks for sharing.

Certainly wasnt a myth in my experience. Pre-med students who didn't get into me school, most ended up teaching. Of the instructors in med school, most were retired, disabled, or for one reason or another no longer practicing clinical medicine. Absolutely true in that field.

Very well said.Thanks for this one ☝️

Not always a myth and many times a truth. Good teachers are a diamond in the rough.

Thanks for your thoughtful insight on this, Garey! There's no truly great drummer (or musician, period) out there who hasn't benefited from a teacher, and very often a teacher who's not a "household name" player but is very much the real deal and a fount of knowledge and perceptiveness. Your own teaching and playing expertise have impacted me massively and continue to guide me in becoming a better mentor to my own students. I appreciate all you do!

Good for you Gary, I completely agree with you. As to the origins, I think it came from George Bernard Shaw's "Maxims For Revolutionists".

I absolutely detest that saying. In my opinion it shows a complete lack of respect for the educational profession.

I'm thinking about teaching. But I'm in the L.A. area without a lockout space to play in yet, and I can't temperamentally handle the traffic to teach at people's houses. That's not possible. You need a name in these parts, too. Also, kids & adults just don't listen to music anymore. Including me. It's easier to listen to music on RU-vid than Pandora or Spotify, unfortunately. It's all about social networking and video's accessable by phone. Podcasts/livestreams, RU-vid & Tik Tok. It's almost like a student couldn't imagine transcribing something without an accompanying YT video they could slow down.

Great video and some excellent points made Gary. I can’t help thinking that the video could have been much shorter though. Simply open by saying, “Joe Morello taught”; and then, well- close. I’m only joking, (kind of), as you had valid points to make, which I enjoyed hearing and agree with.

Right on

Could you watch meshuggahs bleed drum cam video ?

React to Animal from the Muppets

Great video! What advice would you give a developing drum student with tendinitis? Have you ever dealt with that/met or taught people with that?

Haven’t watched the video yet, but I think this idea came from ppl who were good enough to do something but didn’t understand it well enough to be able to teach it (or lack other characteristics). Out of jealousy or intimidation these ppl would say this statement.