She changed his mind..
By katsmeow1213
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
United States
March 30, 2016 5:38am CST
My 13 year old son has been doing drumline for the last 2 years. He was planning on quitting it next year. He has a lot going on, and next year he'll be able to be involved in all the high school plays and he feels they are more important than drumline.
He's really good at drumline. Although he's still young and only an 8th grader right now, the 6th and 7th graders really look up to him and try to learn from his performances to better themselves.
But he felt very strongly that he was going to quit drumline next year.
Until last night. Last night was one of the last drumline practices of the year. The Championships are this weekend.
The instructor pulled him aside and had a little chat with him.
The person who is supposed to be instructing my son's cymbal section hasn't been involved with the program for most of this year, or even last year. She is a college student and is in her own drumline and has been too busy with that to be involved with our drumline.
That means the 3 cymbal players (my son, a 7th grade girl, and a 6th grade girl) learned their entire routine because of my son... he taught them the routine and even made changes to it through out the season.
So the drumline instructor asked my son if he'd be the cymbal instructor next year.
He was honored and excited and has changed his mind about quitting drumline!
Being an instructor for the next 4 years is going to look awesome on his college applications!
4 people like this
4 responses
@Ruby3881 (1963)
• Canada
30 Mar 16
Good on him for stepping up! I have a drummer in my family too. She's currently learning to play the tenor drum, but was a snare drummer in a pipe and drum band through cadets for almost 5 years before that, and also played percussion in the school concert band. She would have loved to get involved with drumlines, but they don't have any here.
My daughter is graduating high school this year, so she may also be instructing next year. She is definitely planning to stay with cadets in some capacity, though it remains to be seen what that will be. She's a training assistant this year, which means she is pretty much setting up and supervising all of the lessons the cadets do. She has a new training officer who starts next week, and is looking forward to that collaboration. She may decide just to stick with training, instead of instructing for band....
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
31 Mar 16
Most of our instructors have regular full-time jobs.
My son never got into the drums, he tried snare drums last year but it didn't feel natural to him. He plays the cymbals. In Marching Band he plays baritone and in concert band he plays the euphonium.
He's more into the performance aspect of it though. He's getting into theater arts and is absolutely in love with that!
1 person likes this
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
31 Mar 16
@Ruby3881 My twins both started on clarinet. My son only played that for a year then they switched him to trumpet, then to euphonium. My daughter played clarinet for 2 years and they switched her to tenor sax.
My son is interested in going to college for either music or performing arts. He's been in a few small productions and went to a performing arts camp a couple years ago. Then this year he had a role in the high school musical production, and he's only an 8th grader. He impressed the directors and he's going to get bigger roles in future productions.
1 person likes this
@Ruby3881 (1963)
• Canada
31 Mar 16
@katsmeow1213 So he's a brass player too! My middle daughter plays clarinet, and she did a short stint with trumpet. She's also been given a slide trombone, and is teaching herself to play. At cadets, she plays bagpipes, and is the Pipe Major for the band.
All of my girls are interested in theater, but it's really tough to find time for all the additional rehearsals. Cadets takes up a lot of their free time. I'm hoping my oldest will be able to take a few drama credits at college, so she can better work theater into her schedule. She's a really talented actress, but she only came out of her shell last year. I hope she has plenty of opportunities to show off what she can do...
@CinnamonGrl (7086)
• Santa Fe, New Mexico
30 Mar 16
That's great your son is getting so into these activities! Sounds like he's quite a leader. How long has he been playing drums? My kids took their fifth grade year of instruments, but never got into it that much. They had other interests, though. Congratulations on this honor for your son!
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
31 Mar 16
In drumline he just plays cymbals. Normally he plays the baritone or euphonium which is like a small version of a tuba.
@PainsOnSlate (21845)
• Canada
30 Mar 16
it will look good on his college application. You've got one talented boy there. Congrats Mom
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
31 Mar 16
He's just a really strong performer. He's a decent musician but performing is his current passion.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381931)
• Rockingham, Australia
10 Apr 16
How good is that? That is marvellous and such good experience for him.
