Adam takes drum lessons


   For Christmas, we gave Adam drum lessons. He’s been asking about them for some time, and we’ve not gone there due to hockey and the fact that we don’t have drums. But he’s been both patient and persistent, and we thought he deserved a chance. Although Adam has been playing recorder for school like Aaron, he had not yet chosen an instrument to learn seriously until he thought of the drums. Tonight was his second drum lesson, and I thought I’d take a picture with my camera and post it on the blog.
   Here he is playing with his teacher, Dave. Dave is a college student, but seems well prepared and knowledgeable about his craft. In the first lesson, Adam was able to demonstrate that he could already read music. This allowed him to skip a lot of the book, and merited hand written lessons from Dave. Adam was so excited that he practiced on his new drum pad on the way home in the car that night. He’s been practicing almost every day, usually at the same time that Aaron practices bass. Tonight, Dave was very pleased at Adam’s progress, and had him sight read lots of new material. Then Dave modified it with notation to tell Adam which hand to use, which makes it harder to do. Then Dave had him use different hands to play different parts of the drum kit. Adam picked it all right up, so Dave decided to perform a duet with him. That’s when I took the picture.
   Between Aaron learning bass guitar and Adam learning drums, I’m a very, very happy person. Music is one of the best gifts I can think of, and I am well pleased they have both taken to it with enthusiasm and skill.