– Every persons journey begins with the first step.
Every student and/or parent of a student I have ever taught has asked me the following questions.
Can I/my child play the drums? And if so, how do I tell if I’m/they are learning anything and making progress?
The short answer is, I don’t know, and unless you are already a drummer or a multi-instrumentationalist, you can’t know.
Even if you are as experienced as I am, it’s a best guess scenario, because any of the following can occur at any time.
A Drummer may:
- Have excellent soloing abilities (think of the best drum solo you’ve ever heard,) but when asked to play a straight beat, they are fast, then slow, then fast, then slow again, they can’t stay in the pocket, no matter how hard they try.
- Play syncopated rhythms on a snare drum impeccably (think Symphony work or Marching Band,) but when asked to play a drum set, their legs and arms won’t work independently of each other, and they won’t be able to tell you why they can’t do it.
- Not be able to read music, but they can play any rhythm by ear when asked to. (A Rhythmical Genius)
My point in telling you this is NOT to discourage you from taking drum lessons, in fact it is exactly the opposite! I Want to teach you how to play the drums! All we have to do is find the answers to those questions together.
How do we do that? By taking the first step. That first step involves a baseline measurement. The measurement will be taken during your initial trial lesson, but we need to understand that the measurement isn’t scientific, nor is it necessarily accurate. It can change daily, weekly, monthly, or annually.
Drummers live on a spectrum, and none of us are worse or better than the rest, we are all simply somewhere on the drummer’s path.
What took me thirty years to get to, may only take you ten years, or you may take longer to get where you’re going, no matter how long it takes, it all starts with the first step. What is needed is the understanding that, it’s ok. No matter what happens, it’s ok.
Once you decide to try the drums, and you give it everything you’ve got, practice hard, take on new challenges, and do at least one thing you thought you could never do, that’s when you are a drummer!
You’ve already done the hard part, you found my website. Now, let’s start or continue your drumming journey!
So what do you say… should we take the first step together?
Mr. Hennessey is now accepting new online students ranging in age from 8 through adult.