The Drum Lesson to End All Drum Lessons

STOP! You have to hit play before you read this post! It just reads better with it playing! Trust me!

You may continue!

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If you had a chance to read this post on Yummy Mummy Club that I wrote, you'd know that I am way more about experiences than things. Except when those things are instruments!

I taught myself how to read music at around 6 or 7 years old, with a children's piano book and an old electric organ. By the time I was in high school I was doing all that I could to immerse myself in music. I took drum class two years in a row, I helped organize our big percussion concert twice, and I spent as much time in our school's recording studio (yeah we had one, it was pretty awesome!) as I could.

When I started playing the drums I had ZERO rhythm. I mean none. Like white girl rhythm, people.

But, I worked REALLY hard and eventually it all just... clicked!

Now the boys' Dad, he's always been musical, too! Heck, we met working in the music industry! He plays drums, guitar, bass and has been a sound engineer since his early 20's.

It's safe to say that if there's anything we want our boys to try, it's music.

Playing an instrument is like breathing life into the world. It's such an amazing feeling to take something and create sound and somehow turn that sound into music. I want them to at least try to experience that for themselves.

I'm not going to be like "My son is so gifted! He was tapping along to the beat at 3 months old (he was!) and I'm SURE by the time he's five he'll be a drum-king!"

I'm not that delusional... learning an instrument takes a lot of time and practice, and most importantly: interest!

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When I saw that my old tour buddies, The Trews, were holding a crowd-funding campaign for their new record, I wanted to help out! These guys are by far and large one of the.best. bands in Canada. They're a solid group of musicians with amazing writing talent and are amazing performers. They've written and recorded hit after hit after hit, and in our small little industry that's an amazing feat!

And then when I saw that they were offering up some ah-maaaazing offers in return for pledges, well I had to jump on board! A pledge of only $75 scored me a drum lesson with one of my favourite humans: Sean Dalton, their drummer! 

... at first I was excited to hang out with an old buddy and get to touch his drums (!!!) for a bit, then I realized I could give Cash a pretty rad once-in-a-lifetime experience if I brought him! He's always been super compelled towards the drums, we had a set last year that he loved to bang on! For his birthday I got him his own little toddler-play-kit and it's the ONLY thing he remembers getting at his party.

So, when the time arrived I tried to make the whole day an adventure! I brought him on the GO Train which he loves, then we took the subway and a bus to the rehearsal space. Cash got the first 30 mins or so and then he started to get a little hangry (hungry + angry, I probably should've fed him lunch before the lesson DUH!) and then it was Mommy's turn! 

Cash was super into the kit and all of the different pieces. Sean was so so patient and awesome with him. He made Cash feel comfortable almost immediately, which was great. He was also super enthusiastic about getting Cash into drum lessons, or even just a kit to bang around on, and the earlier the better. Although Cash had a hard time focusing (due to the hangry, probably :P) I could tell he really really enjoyed it! 

I was a tad rusty, but I learned a pretty awesome new beat, and that I should probably get a kit for me too. It's funny, when we have kids how all of our hobbies and joys start to fall by the wayside so we can focus on them and their developing interests and personalities. 

I honestly hope this was a start to a new chapter in our little lives, and that maybe music will touch my little dude the same way that it made me who I am today... Rusty drum skills and all!

Doesn't this look like the face of a future rockstar? B-)