My Three Drummers

I'm sure it doesn't come as a surprise to anyone that our kids like to play the drums. They've been fooling around on Jim's set since they were tiny. Then, our neighbors gave us their little "kiddie" set, which was rather worn and missing some parts.

This past Fall, while Sarah (my sister) and her kids were visiting, we were all downstairs in the music room. The kids were fooling around with the different instruments, and Sarah and I were talking/supervising. All of a sudden, it dawned on me that someone was playing the drums - and it wasn't "just banging!" I "tuned in" to realize that Benjamin was actually concentrating VERY hard, with his head down, and keeping a nice basic rock pattern going on the snare and ride cymbal! Every so often, he would slowly look up, break into a little solo or fill, then go back to his basic beat. I raced upstairs to get the video camera, so we could show Daddy. He, of course, was impressed and very proud! :-)

Since Benjamin's Percussive Epiphany, Jim took the little drum set down and replaced it with another full-size set (Jim's first drum set). Yes, that means, if you're keeping score that I now actually have a room in my house with TWO full-size drum sets in it. Lucky me!

Ben has since found a new favorite song, "So You Had a Bad Day." He heard it on that fantasy football commercial over the winter and fell in love. :-) Jim downloaded it to his computer, and now Ben can play along with it.

I made this video one evening while Jim was playing around with the kids. No one other than Jim and I has really seen Ben play as well as he can, because he seems to get nervous - even for his grandparents! On the video, you actually hear Ben playing, Jim playing with Ellie in his lap behind Ben, AND the song in the background. 'Hope you enjoy!