Adventures in Rock and Roll, Peer Teaching, and Group Learning

The sociology of group learning and music making.

A short story.

Those of us of a certain age and gender remember that playing in a teenage rock band was a rite of passage. Fueled by macho TV images of rock gods playing to legions of screaming girls ignited our male imaginations. So, powered with visions of world dominance and female adoration we strapped on guitars, picked up drumsticks, and congregated in shag carpeted suburban rec rooms. The first few weeks were a bit tough because we had to weed out the hopeless, the nerds, and other misplaced uncool posers. Then we began our quest for social significance.  

Year one: We were gawd awful but enthusiastic. We began with Smoke on the Water. We argued and shared bits and pieces of the music that each of us knew and slowly stitched the thing together. (Good examples of peer-directed learning and group learning.) Now a funny downside. I remember bringing my little radio shack cassette recorder to practice and proudly recording our band. I thought that this would help us get better. Kirby, our drummer was so traumatised that he quit on the spot and was never known to have played drums again. Even worse it was his rec room, so we needed a new place to practice too.

Year two: The music started to come together. However, there were many more personnel changes over disputes around commitment to the band, artistic differences, and widening skill levels.

Year three: We played in public for the 1st time. Thankfully this was before social media and cell phone video. So, in my memory we had become formidable rock gods. I'm sure the reality was different. 

Year four: I’m at Berklee College of Music in Boston and the rest is history.

Postscript.

A few of us from North Bay made it in the end. One of us, the late John McGale, even became a certified rock star and guitar god. And yes, music did take me around the world though not as a rock star. 
 
If you would like to start your quest, call me, I'll teach you to play. When we started out we thought lessons we optional. Our 13 year old minds thought, "how hard can this really be when it looks so easy on TV?"

Reference
"How Popular Musicians Learn" by Lucy Green, Routledge Press, 2002