No matter how old your child is, if you tell him you want to take beginner drum lessons, there are two simple tests you need to take before spending hundreds of dollars on a drum kit for him. A test is for you. The other is for the one who wants to be a drummer. If your child doesn’t have a bit of innate rhythm, he will get very frustrated with beginner drum lessons and may give up on music altogether. Rather, just a little pacing will get you started on what could become a lifelong hobby, or even a career.
So let’s see how you, as a parent, do on your exam before we even talk about the child’s exam. Step one for you: Get in your car, turn on the radio, tune in to your local rock music station, turn the bass all the way up, and twist until the car starts to vibrate. If this doesn’t bother you, you will be the father of a good drummer. If this bothers you, there is another option you have to avoid going crazy and that is to buy a portable sound booth. If that’s not an option, then you need to steer your child away from beginner drum lessons or you will be arguing about when you can practice, where you can practice, and your nerves will be on edge.
If you passed Step One, let’s move on to Step Two: Answer this question honestly. Do you have enough space in your house to accommodate the drums, a guitar amp, a bass amp, and at least three people?
If you said “yes” to Step Two, let’s move on to Step Three. Would you be willing to have a band come to practice at your house every week? Would you be willing to have band practice at your house several times a week? If you have a child who is only 8 or 9 years old, you may not think this is a big problem. But remember, if your kid sticks with the drum lessons, he’ll be 14, then 15, and the band members will be teens too. Band rehearsal is always at the drummer’s house because the drums are too cumbersome to transport. The guitarist and bassist only have their guitars, amps, and maybe a couple of pedals. (This is why we cover steps two and three.)
Did you pass Step Three? Let’s move on to the final step, Step Four. Is your house one of those houses where all the children serve themselves soda from the refrigerator or snacks in the cupboard, or do you expect your children’s friends to wait until they offer them a snack? This is not like baseball, where moms take turns bringing snacks. The other moms in the band don’t even know that their kids are helping themselves around your house. But your child is most likely telling others that he is okay.
If you are still on board, then you are the Perfect drummer’s mom or dad.
Now let’s see if Junior has the basic rhythm needed to get started with beginner drum lessons. The drums are the hardest instrument to learn. Unlike the guitar, keyboard, or wind instrument, drums require the ability to simultaneously do something different with each hand. Y each foot. This is what makes beginner drum lessons incredibly frustrating for some kids.
Remember when we were kids trying to rub our heads with one hand and feel our stomachs with the other? Here’s how you are going to test your child to see if beginner drum lessons are worth exploring. Have your child sit in a chair with his feet on the floor and rub his head with his left hand and pat his stomach with his right hand. As he does this, count out loud, “1 -2 -3 – 4, 1 -2 -3 – 4” at different tempos and ask him to kick the odd numbers with his left foot and the even numbers with his right foot. In the middle, have her switch her feet to touch the left at “1 – 2” and the right at “3-4.” Then, as he continues to tap his feet, ask him to switch hands so that the left hand is patting his stomach and the right hand is rubbing his head without missing a beat. Finally, switch your feet back to the left by touching the odd numbers and to the right by touching the even numbers Y change the hand movements so that the left hand is now rubbing the stomach and the right hand is now stroking the head.
How did it go? If this was too difficult, forget about the beginner drum lessons and suggest that he play bass or keyboard. If you laughed at how easy that was, head straight to the music store and get a beginner drum kit and enroll her in those beginner drum lessons.
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