Over the weekend I had the pleasure of setting up sound for a concert at the Newmarket Legion. It was a great event raising money for a wonderful cause. One of my drum students Matthew, was there. Matthew is 6 years old and stands about 2 1/2 feet off the ground. He is a shy, well mannered, rambunctious youth, who is a musical genius.
On this particular evening his grandfather was playing bass in the live band Hardwyre, performing at the fund raiser. Matthew was asked to play a song in front of this 200+ crowd. He had never performed in front of that many people before, most of them being his family.
The song he chose was "Times Like These" by the Foo Fighters. Before getting on stage Matthew was expressing that he didn't want to go up there alone. I asked him if he wanted me to come with him and he said: "Yes."
Together we took the stage, the crowd going crazy with anticipation, cheering and applauding, eager to see how Matthew would perform. Matthew was so small that when he got behind the kit, he couldn't even reach the pedals. I lowered the seat for him, asked him if he was okay, and he was ready to go.
The band started the song and I kept time beside him, watching to see if Matthew could hear the rhythm. When his part came, he dropped a beat like thunder, bang on, perfect! The crowd went nuts! Every hit, every roll, the cheering got louder and louder. The place erupted as this little boy who had troubles reaching the pedals because of his size, defied all obstacles and pounded the beat home.
This was the proudest moment of my drum teaching career to date. Watching the young Matthew take the stage and shine as he shared his inner passion with the world.
On this particular evening his grandfather was playing bass in the live band Hardwyre, performing at the fund raiser. Matthew was asked to play a song in front of this 200+ crowd. He had never performed in front of that many people before, most of them being his family.
The song he chose was "Times Like These" by the Foo Fighters. Before getting on stage Matthew was expressing that he didn't want to go up there alone. I asked him if he wanted me to come with him and he said: "Yes."
Together we took the stage, the crowd going crazy with anticipation, cheering and applauding, eager to see how Matthew would perform. Matthew was so small that when he got behind the kit, he couldn't even reach the pedals. I lowered the seat for him, asked him if he was okay, and he was ready to go.
The band started the song and I kept time beside him, watching to see if Matthew could hear the rhythm. When his part came, he dropped a beat like thunder, bang on, perfect! The crowd went nuts! Every hit, every roll, the cheering got louder and louder. The place erupted as this little boy who had troubles reaching the pedals because of his size, defied all obstacles and pounded the beat home.
This was the proudest moment of my drum teaching career to date. Watching the young Matthew take the stage and shine as he shared his inner passion with the world.
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