Drumming Scene in China
I figured I would give you an idea about the drumming scene in China. Please keep an idea this an idea, an opinion. I have been living in China, off and on for almost 4 years. To understand the dumming scene here is to understand the country and the music scene as a whole. Please keep in mind that I am an American, who has a 2 year degree from Penn State in music. I have been playing music for over 32 years now.
China, as you know, is a Communist country. The government control everything here, the media, entertainment, religion, everything. They teach children at a very young age, that imagination is bad. They start filling the child's mind with the communist way of thinking at a very young age. This is the only way for the government to have control. They teach them that only hard work will make them successful. Their arts department is non-existant.
As you know, imagination is a stepping stone for creativity. A lot of Chinese musicians seriously lack this creativity. A lot of the music that is popular here is manufactured. It doesn't have the feeling like music from the West.
They can read the musical notes, but the music has no feeling at all. Their music pretty much sounds the same. The famous singers have people write their music for them. Because the music is controlled here. It is censored very much here. Rock music doesn't exist in public. It's all underground and the music basically sounds copied from western groups.
They listen to hip-hop, rap, r&b and ballads. It all sounds pretty weak by any standard. I played some Dream Theater, Judas Priest and other rock music for the Chinese drum teachers and they were blown away. They never drumming like that before, because they can't play anything like that. They play real basic beats. The main thing is that they can't play with feeling. They simply don't know how to do it. They think that drumming is mainly just reading music. They have to be taught how to play with feeling. So, I have been teaching them how to do that.
This is just a little insight of the drumming Scene here in China. This is just my observation. It may be right, it may be wrong. It's just my opinion. Hope you enjoy.  | 
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