Tommy Collison

In May 2007, when I was 5th class in primary school, the school turned 25 years old, and we had a concert. At that concert, they hired a pianist and a drummer to accompany the various musical/drama scenes that each class put on. I remember being enthralled by the drums.

People can make music like that? With two, thin pieces of wood and some tom-toms and cymbals?

Now, I know John (and Dad, to an unfortunate extent) have snorted derisively at the notion I’m putting forward – that drums can be considered musical. Of course they can!

Photo owned by The Rhumb Line (cc)

Anyway. I was infatuated with the thought of these drums, and spend a summer tapping away on whatever surface I found myself beside. My parents, worried about a relapse of my condition of taking-stuff-up-enthusiastically-and-then-not-sticking-to-it, were understandably (but annoyingly) wary about investing in my own kit. And so we compromised, by buying some sticks. I remember happily going home that day, clearing a space for myself at the kitchen table and raiding the shelves of an assortment of pots and pans, setting them up according to a picture of a kit I’d found on the net. I then proceeded to plug in my iPod and, if you’ll excuse the food pun, jam for a few hours.

By October, I was pretty sure I’d found eternal happiness in my jumble of kitchen utensils and was ready to move onto the real thing. My parents, being still wary, suggested I get lessons. I did, and for the next six weeks journeyed out to the other side of town and spent a happy hour learning how to play drums properly.

I got my first kit for Christmas, and continued to take lessons for a further 4 months. The kit itself is still the same, and this is 2 and a half years later. Well, the core of it is. I’ve replaced all the skins of the drums, and used all the birthdays and Christmases to get new cymbals when I needed them. I still have a stack of the two older cymbals at home actually. My dream is to one day have enough to hand them ornamentally from the back wall of my room.

Photo owned by kn0ttyn3rb (cc)

Taking up drums has by far and away been the best thing I’ve ever taken up. I try to spend at least 20 minutes a night playing them. I’m not yet in a band, preferring to stick on headphones and tap along (oh, who am I kidding, smash and crash and BOOM! along) to whoever shows up in my shuffle stream.

The only problem with drums (John and Dad will disagree with the word ‘only’ being there but sherfeckim) is they aren’t portable. If you’re at a family gathering and you get asked if you play any musical instruments, you can say ‘drums’ but it’s kind of rude to raid their pots-and-pans shelf to prove it.

For this reason, I learnt two songs on piano, so I could perform when asked.

I think that everyone, for whatever reason, should take up a musical instrument. It’s rather brilliant :D