Drummer Boy!

In addition to yesterday being AA's birthday, it was a milestone day for K, too. He had his first official drum lesson at "Rock School." :) For those of you who don't know it, here's the back story.

When K was 2 years old, we took him to see Joel Goddard perform at a Worship Expo at our former church. Joel played acoustic guitar and keyboards and sang, and K was mesmorized by it. He started demanding that we play Goddard's CD in the car at all times, and before too long I got him a little ukulele - what he thought was a guitar just his size. The guitar went everywhere with him and he strummed it all the time. All the while Mommy and Daddy were playing flute and French horn in our church orchestra, so he got to go to rehearsals. He just loved all the instruments. For his 3rd birthday I did a music theme, complete with guitar cake, and at the last minute found this little toy drum set and a keyboard play mat at Tuesday Morning. I had already done all his birthday shopping, but they were so stinkin' cheap that I got them and added them to the pile. And so they say, the rest is history. I have been living to the beat of a preschool drummer for the past 2 1/2 years, and he's worn through 3 toy drum sets and has almost worn out his first "big boy" set. It's been amazing how much time he's spent each day just sitting behind that drum set playing whatever comes to mind. He sometimes would play along to a music CD, but mostly he'd just play by himself. He hears lots of music, but I've never made much effort to expose him to drum tracks, and despite what is obviously a passion, I've never followed through with lessons. This spring we came across a local drum shop that runs a Rock School for kids who want to learn traditional rock instruments, so we thought we'd give it a try this summer.

K's first lesson went really well. They think he's ambidextrous (a big plus for a drummer), and he has a natural ear. That seemed pretty obvious to me after hearing him play each day, but it was nice to have it confirmed. I think it will really stretch him to have to learn to count out beats and rhythms and retrain his body a bit to do what his instructor wants him to. G said he took instruction well and was catching on to counting and playing and using the correct postures and hand positions. So we're all set for once a week sessions, and K is over the moon! Oh, and G overheard the instructor telling the other guys in the drum shop, "this kid is going to be a monster drummer!" Proud Mommy - I'll take that!!! :)