Music has been an important part of my life since I was a child and I owe it all to a small assembly I attended in fourth grade at my elementary school. In it, the after school band stood before us and played a song or two then told us about what they do. As soon as I was given the sign-up sheet I rushed to get it filled out with my mind on the drums. Weeks later, I was given my very own in a suit case-styled bag to take home and practice. I learned how to read the music and spent time running through it at home before going to rehearsal. I wasn’t able to attend either concert in fourth grade because of sickness, but in fifth and sixth I was in both. I became passionate about the snare drum and I played for anyone who would listen, I also learned how to play the bass drum and switched off in concerts. I was always serious while playing but I was also sure to have fun. Music made me feel happy and I felt accomplished by the end of each year.
Soon enough I found myself eyeing drum kits, and in fifth grade all of the drummers were able to share the instructor’s. We each had it for a week and I played it every day. My uncles taught me how to set it up properly and what form to use. I was sad to have to give it away, but eventually I had my very own one Christmas when my parents were able to buy a lesser known drum kit from my neighbors. Overtime I enhanced it and bought cymbals and equipment to make it sound excellent.
In middle school there was no band program, so I had to wait until the summer program, I went to take a music class. There I played with kids my age and was able to record in an actual studio. Our instructor made CD copies of the songs we recorded and gave them to us at the end of the program for us to listen to and share. Then we played a program-wide show and felt like real rockstars on stage. It was this experience that made me pumped about playing music in shows. I had played with my friend’s band before, but I had never been able to have the opportunity to play for so many people.
By the time I got to high school I had been playing for about five years and I took band my freshman year. This is the only year I was able to take the class because of scheduling conflicts though I learned material on my own and still played at concerts. I started to realize then that music was a secondary art to everything else in the school. I thought it was crazy that there was only one band class which was only a cover band and there was nothing else besides a keyboard and guitar class that didn’t have an opportunity to perform or learn as much. I was itching to play and I wanted to be able to increase my skills even more that I learned so long ago. My sight reading, timing, dynamics, and pretty much everything else improved though I knew there was still room for more.
In my junior year a music teacher was hired who was upset about the lack of opportunity for students. We talked about the music program and how we could fix it and he started to inspire me as well as the other students. There were kids lining up to learn how to play the guitar, piano bass, drums, and so on. He also had kids who became unafraid to sing and who learned how to read music and differentiate between a soprano or an alto voice. It gave kids what I had over the last 10 or so years: a love of music.
No matter what kind of day I had I knew I could go home and play the drums to my favorite songs, and if I wasn’t good, I could practice and give myself something to do. I also learned to keep my drums in excellent condition and make any hardware repairs I needed to. There was so much that I learned just from drumming over the years. In elementary school I was hooked, in my private drum set lessons I improved and tried hard, in the summer program I started to see my hard work pay off, then in high school I started to master some of the skills and learn about knew ones I hadn’t imagined. Music was a place for me to explore and express myself in many different ways. I know that music isn’t for everyone, but I also knew that everyone should be able to try and see for themselves. It is just as important as the baseball team or the drama club. It is an opportunity that no willing student should miss out on. It is something that shouldn’t be kicked out of schools with budget cuts. Music is important now and always will be.
