Imagine how you would feel if, on your first drum lesson with a new teacher, the teacher said, "Can't you do anything right?" or "You don't even know how to hold a pair of drumsticks!" or how about, "You mean your last teacher told you that you were good? You are terrible!" Each of these comments has been made to several of my students by former teachers. What is surprising is that the students in question are extremely talented. For example, I have one student who is 15 years old and is an exceptional drumset player. His friends in school had heard him play in a local rock group. They all told the percussion coach at the high school that this young guy was hot. They told the coach, "This guy will blow you away!" Apparently, this so-called percussion coach felt threatened by these comments. I think he decided to teach this young person a