We definitely have a 'drummer boy' this Christmas. I am listening to Gavin play in the basement now while lil guys nap. Gavin drums on everything....his hands are constantly drumming on something picking out a beat and asking me, "hey mom...did you hear that beat? pretty cool!" I even asked his teacher the other day if he drums on the tables at school...yes he does. He drums in the car, on the deck, on the trees, his bike, his seat in the car, the car, his legs, my legs, Marcin's leg, J&K if they would sit still long enough....the kid is always drumming :-)
Even when we are eating....he is drumming with his fingers on the table. For a few weeks we attempted to break Gavin of this habit because it is not the best manners to drum on the table. He doesn't even realize he is doing it....as soon as we would tell him to quit, he would look at us as if questioning what we were talking about and then look down at his hands like he just remembered what he was doing. We finally decided to pick our battles and let him be :-P Meal times are chaotic enough at our house....a little finger drumming on the table isn't going to hurt anyone. The rare times we all go out to eat, we will put this rule firmly in place but at home, it will be ok :-)
This is what he set up today in the living room, along with the ipad for beat support (the app he was using allowed him to record him drumming along with the beats). He had every pot, pan and lid (cymbals) out, sitting in the chair drumming away :-)
He is constantly rearranging his drums downstairs because the cymbals sound differently in different locations (he claims) or one is not in a reachable (is that a word?!) location so it needs to be relocated. A new cymbal is adding to his Christmas list daily because he informs us he needs a Ride cymbal, a Crash cymbal and a Splash cymbal. Thanks to his drum teacher, I now know what these are but at $100-300 a pop....not anytime soon :-P Even on Craiglist, they are expensive :/ One of the guys at the music store did sell me a Ride cymbal for $20, perfect! I need more of those. You may wonder where Gavin got the idea that he needed all these drums as cymbals. We have Neal Peart to thank for this (for those of you not up on your rock bands, he is THE drummer of all drummers and is the drummer for Rush). Gavin watches him on You Tube all the time :-) Mr. Peart often has this sort of set up when he plays,
Can you see where Gavin is going with his pot/pan set up? Yes....these pictures above are Gavin's dream. I am pretty sure he is going to be beyond thrilled when he sees his Ride cymbal on Christmas morning. Along with his electric guitar and amp. Yes we are glutton for punishment. The guitar amp does have a headphone input though, yippee!!! I had originally found the guitar on a consignment site over the summer thinking it would be a birthday gift but he ended up getting a larger drum set so we held off. I still am not sure if he is responsible enough to take care of the electric guitar but we will give him a chance....there are going to have to be some strict rules put into place to ensure he learns how to handle it and care for it. Regardless of whether it was a used item or not....to him it is brand new (and in great condition!) and he is learning to take better care of things, I have a feeling this will always be a work in progress.
I get the question often," How do you cope with those drums in your house?!" I'd have to guess two reasons I/we can handle it #1) Gavin is pretty good and can carry a beat. It is not endless banging the drums. #2) I tune it out, most of the time. Being a mom to 3 boys, I have learned to tune many things out :-P
Here is a little sweet song from Gavin that Marcin caught on video,
Even when we are eating....he is drumming with his fingers on the table. For a few weeks we attempted to break Gavin of this habit because it is not the best manners to drum on the table. He doesn't even realize he is doing it....as soon as we would tell him to quit, he would look at us as if questioning what we were talking about and then look down at his hands like he just remembered what he was doing. We finally decided to pick our battles and let him be :-P Meal times are chaotic enough at our house....a little finger drumming on the table isn't going to hurt anyone. The rare times we all go out to eat, we will put this rule firmly in place but at home, it will be ok :-)
This is what he set up today in the living room, along with the ipad for beat support (the app he was using allowed him to record him drumming along with the beats). He had every pot, pan and lid (cymbals) out, sitting in the chair drumming away :-)
He is constantly rearranging his drums downstairs because the cymbals sound differently in different locations (he claims) or one is not in a reachable (is that a word?!) location so it needs to be relocated. A new cymbal is adding to his Christmas list daily because he informs us he needs a Ride cymbal, a Crash cymbal and a Splash cymbal. Thanks to his drum teacher, I now know what these are but at $100-300 a pop....not anytime soon :-P Even on Craiglist, they are expensive :/ One of the guys at the music store did sell me a Ride cymbal for $20, perfect! I need more of those. You may wonder where Gavin got the idea that he needed all these drums as cymbals. We have Neal Peart to thank for this (for those of you not up on your rock bands, he is THE drummer of all drummers and is the drummer for Rush). Gavin watches him on You Tube all the time :-) Mr. Peart often has this sort of set up when he plays,
Can you see where Gavin is going with his pot/pan set up? Yes....these pictures above are Gavin's dream. I am pretty sure he is going to be beyond thrilled when he sees his Ride cymbal on Christmas morning. Along with his electric guitar and amp. Yes we are glutton for punishment. The guitar amp does have a headphone input though, yippee!!! I had originally found the guitar on a consignment site over the summer thinking it would be a birthday gift but he ended up getting a larger drum set so we held off. I still am not sure if he is responsible enough to take care of the electric guitar but we will give him a chance....there are going to have to be some strict rules put into place to ensure he learns how to handle it and care for it. Regardless of whether it was a used item or not....to him it is brand new (and in great condition!) and he is learning to take better care of things, I have a feeling this will always be a work in progress.
I get the question often," How do you cope with those drums in your house?!" I'd have to guess two reasons I/we can handle it #1) Gavin is pretty good and can carry a beat. It is not endless banging the drums. #2) I tune it out, most of the time. Being a mom to 3 boys, I have learned to tune many things out :-P
Here is a little sweet song from Gavin that Marcin caught on video,
No comments:
Post a Comment