Jazz Drumming Prodigy Reacts To Whiplash (Greyson Nekrutman)

If you saw 2014’s award-winning movie Whiplash, you probably had questions:

Did they do it right, or is the actor overdramatizing what drummers actually do?

When Whiplash came out back in 2014, everyone was talking about it. The Academy Award-winning film covers the experience of a young jazz drummer and his intense music instructor. If you’re a drummer, everyone from your best friend to your weird uncle has probably sent you the trailer or a clip from the movie at some point.

Hollywood tends to add dramatic effect where it wouldn’t exist in real life, and a movie about drummers is no exception. So we asked Greyson Nekrutman, a young jazz drumming prodigy himself, to react to Whiplash and see how much of it looked convincing.

He’s the same age as the main character and has also had to work hard to prove himself. Check out the full video to hear Greyson's take on Hollywood's biggest drumming movie.

Video Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
00:33 - Rushing or Dragging
04:28 - Neiman's Practice Routine
07:10 - The Auditions
11:43 - Final Performance
20:02 - Outro

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[EdwinDPZ]

Fletcher isn't actually noticing that Nieman is off tempo. He's criticizing him to see if Nieman is confident enough in his own skill to call Fletcher out. The scene comes right after Fletcher kicked out one of the trombone players for being out of tune when they actually weren't out of tune. They weren't confident enough in their own playing skill to defend themselves from the accusation.

[athanasia]

To be fair, during the audition part: they’d been playing for HOURS on that intensity, so I think the picturing of the musicians being drenched and on the verge of fainting was pretty accurate.

[RafaelZeratai]

I remember people that were not muscicians always told me to see this movie. When I saw it, I thought this isn't about music, is about toxic relations, and toxic habits to prove someone who doesn't care about you. I think the message could be taken to any art/area and still be the same movie, music and drummers where just what they choose.

[MarkArandjus]

The point of the 'not quite my tempo' scene wasn't that Fletcher had a superhuman ability to hear tempo so fast, he was deliberately trying to unnerve and abuse Andrew. He even went out of hsi way to be nice to him before class so the experience would be all the more jarring.

[mikal]

You're correct that this isn't normal behavior for a band leader, but that's why the movie exists. That's the story. It's about abusive people like Fletcher, not about drumming. The director actually wrote this based on his own experience with an abusive instructor.

[tgirard]

That caravan groove is so ridiculously hard to keep. And to riff through it like whoever played the drums in that does is truly breathtaking

[JonSudano]

Funny thing about the hand wounds and blisters. I've had the same callouses on the inside of my fingers and keep slicing open my index finger on my hithats, among others. Think of them like burn marks a chef would get, just an occupational hazard

[chrisggoodwin]

I had a guitar teacher who threw footstools and music stands, which is why I didn't play guitar for 25+ years. I had a demanding but greatly encouraging band director in Jr high which is why I stuck with bass and drums for almost 30 years. Learning music, especially complex music, is difficult enough without a psycho instructor who may or may not have murdered someone

[Chiberia]

The end where the father's face goes from surprise to fear is one of the most subtly amazing parts of this movie. The director has said that this movie's ending isn't one of overcoming adversity, but a dark tale of Fletcher finding another prodigy to exploit. This hits home extremely hard because the last prodigy Fletcher found and absorbed killed themselves because of it. The final moment in the movie where the father's face becomes fearful and he eventually walks away is when he knows he has truly lost his son after trying so hard to prevent just that, knowing that his future is doomed.

[drumsmetal]

The worst part of all those intense practice sessions and the abusive rehearsal part is that when they played Caravan at the end, there was no part where that blast beat was played. The drum solo, which was improvised, had that fast swing on the ride cymbal. Like many people have mentioned, the movie is not about music. It's about obsession, toxic relationships, etc.
Great video by Greyson.

[theharlequin]

The message isn't really to work hard and overcome something, it's more a cautionary tale of an abusive relationship and putting your faith in the wrong people.

And the bad guy wins.

[adamschmidt]

I feel like the point of the movie is kind of missed here. The ending is not a happy ending where Andrew beats Fletcher with an epic solo, proving him wrong. Fletcher wins, by proving that his toxic training technic worked. The dad is looking at his son so terrified because he can see how Fletcher consumed his son.
The goal does not justify the means and we should never disregard the toxic training methods that has led a person to succeed

Edit: it's true that this comment also missed the point of the video above, but maybe it's because of my choice of words, that it sounds like I'm reacting to the review, but I rather just want to draw some attention to the meaning of the movie because I feel like lot of musicians, especially drummers overlook it :)

[amac]

The ending is chilling.... Andrews father watches in horror as his son frantically performs only to please Fletchers needs. Even the final draw back of fletchers arm as he apparently points to Andrew is meant to symbolize him whipping Andrew into final submission. There are many films about mental abuse, but the fact that Whiplash focused on drumming made for an incredibly creative and unique take on the subject.

[carlosytt]

i always found Whiplash as the golden example of the Villain winning in the end. Although Nieman did do a spectacular job at outdoing everything his instructor taught him, and even broke out of the seemingly dangerous cycle. Fletcher still got his prodigy, his magnum opus, his ideal player. and Flecther got him in HIS DEMENTED and MESSED up way.

[barbaraboeckman]

My music theory teacher told me this treatment is fairly accurate at the upper end music schools. He's had to endure pretty much the same abuses; said it was quite militant, at least back in the eighties.
When I was a member of the Dayton Philharmonic Chorus, our director was very strict but of course, was never physical or foul mouthed. We had rules to follow and he could tell if any individual was off key or not in tempo. By the way, he was in his 90s!
The Boston Pops conductor said in a Review of our performance, we were second in the nation only to his chorus, because of our discipline. Our director said that is why he was so hard on us!

[phonkyfeel]

My college jazz ensemble was exactly like this guy. It was avoidable and unfortunate. But honestly he represented this old school way people teach. Belittle, shame, insult, stare down, etc in order to get your point across. I learned. But I also developed a ton of contempt.

[sydhamelin]

I think this is one of the best reactions to this film, from a drummer. A TON of drummers seemed to forget this was a fictitious Hollywood film, and would really criticize for it being dramatic and over dramatic.

Yes, this movie wasn't just made for drummers, so they don't get it at 100%. It was very entertaining.

[naboolicious]

The close up if Neiman's hands during final scene, with the perfect technique, was a real jazz drummer standing in for Miles Teller.

[videogalore]

Really nice to see such a balanced review from a professional drummer, I think your summary nails it. It's the same with countless Hollywood movies focussing on a very specific subject, the details are unlikely to be accurate throughout, that's where the 'artistic licence' comes in. I'm not a drummer (other than in my fantasy world), but thoroughly enjoyed the film and got completely wrapped up watching it and holding my breath at multiple points.
Hopefully it has inspired people to take up learning the drums (I'm close to the edge myself) and was enjoyable for others.

[nicklouloudakis]

After watching the movie, I had a discussion with my drum teacher back in 2014:
Me, kidding: "I guess now you are gonna throw a chair at me or something if I don't practice?"
Him: "Not even for a joke. If you don't practice, you lose, not me."
Guess who still practices every day until today and plays in gigs. And this is why I had a fantastic teacher.
Whiplash demonstrates an example of abuse, not teaching. If you ever have a teacher that toxic like the one demonstrated in the movie, change teacher.