Bea Hive: Maxwell's Silver Hammer

The night before we left town for our family photo session in Charlotte, Hi-Hat had his first official drum recital. Made for some tight weekend planning, but we got it all done! Hi-Hat had been rehearsing for the recital for quite some time, though it was starting to seem like he switched songs every week. First he was going to play Another One Bites the Dust, then City on Our Knees, then What's the Frequency Kenneth, and them he and his instructor finally landed on Hi-Hat playing drums to Maxwell's Silver Hammer, accompanied by his instructor on piano. Apparently this is a Beatles song - I had never heard of it.

Hi-Hat was funny leading up to this recital. First of all, he was thrilled with the thought of being on a real stage with real stage lights (he has 2 of his own stage lights, but he was thinking Providence-style lights). Second, he was thrilled about having a real audience. Third, he was concerned about what to wear. He had in mind to wear a black t-shirt, necktie, and his "Toby Mac-style" hat. We never did find just the right tie, but he was pretty excited when I brought this t-shirt home. Totally suits him. As for the hat, Hi-Hat grew out of his favorite hat this winter. He found a hat similar to this one pictured at Banana Republic several weeks ago, but I wasn't all that excited about making that purchase. Target to the rescue! He loves this hat and it is the new spring look for this guy.

You may get the impression that the main focus of this recital was Hi-Hat's attire. Go ahead and keep that impression and have another look at my adorable drummer boy.

And another.

So we get to the actual recital, and it was so funny! Hi-Hat's "stage" was actually a small drum kit set up in front of the main seating area in the church sanctuary - not even up on the stage. He was expecting stage lights. There were no stage lights. There were 2 other drum students performing that evening, and each brought one guest with them to view the recital. So that made for a huge crowd of 6 to watch the recital!

The two other students were high-schoolers, and despite the intimacy of the event, I could tell Hi-Hat's nerves were getting to him. Not because of playing in front of us, but because he was in a group of boys twice his size and age. He did seem awfully tiny that night.

The big guys played first and did a great job. When it was Hi-Hat's turn he marched right on up, adjusted his throne (lowered it as far as it could go), lowered the snare drum, and counted off for his instructor.

Hi-Hat's piece was, admittedly, pretty simple. He was so cute to watch, because I think he was very self conscious of how simple his recital piece was. He may as well have been an owl the way he kept playing along while turning his head nearly 180-degrees away from the audience - keeping his beat while literally looking at those steps behind him and hiding his face.

He would occasionally steal a glance at the big boys who had returned to the audience, but he would quickly look away and start looking behind him again.

I was actually impressed with his simple song, because it was the first time I had really heard him carry a constant beat and tempo for an extended period of time. If you've heard Hi-Hat play, you may know that he can go all wild and crazy on the drums - switching tempos as the spirit moves him. This performance was steady, clean and simple - very nice job.

How does one know that a Hi-Hat is concentrating? His tongue sticks out while he plays.

So when his piece was done, we thought that was going to be it, but Hi-Hat had previously arranged for a little "solo time" after Maxwell's Silver Hammer. He then proceeded to go to town in a manner much more typical of his "play by ear and fly by the seat of your pants" style. It was hilarious! This time there was no turning his head away from the "crowd." He was staring down those big high school guys the whole time, like "oh yeah, I have command of this thing." So much for humility, but it was very funny to watch. I could tell he was really nervous during his improv solo, but he got it done and the big guys gave him props. Applause, applause for three great drummers!