A topic which you will likely read about a handful of times during my 52 week ranting will be music, which I have decided to explain a bit about this week. I know that I have a personal attachment to music which supersedes most people’s appreciation, but I feel it is something that most people don’t realize can be more than just something they listen to at a bar or club, but an entire lifestyle and friendship bridge.
When I first decided that I wanted to play an instrument, I was sitting in the garage at our cottage in Raymond, Maine with my brother Chris. He was quickly becoming a guitar god, and I was merely a musically talentless dreamer, picturing myself rocking out to some tunes with him on a fictional drum set. At that moment, I felt compelled to piece together a homemade set, and attempt to create something which sounded remotely like I was helping to keep the guitar playing on tempo (which my brother, still to this day, is surely superior at). I placed two paddleball-esque paddles on top of two different sized buckets to create different tones, and used wooden ladles for “drum sticks”. It was my first taste of what was to become an undying love for creating music.
That Christmas, I received one of the most generous gifts my parents have ever graced me with – my first drum set. I played EVERY day for months. I was hooked. I didn’t know the first thing about drums, but I had the motivation and passion to better my abilities. I attempted to play along with songs that I loved, and it was that thought that I could actually create the sound which meant so much to me which kept me practicing, despite my constant failure. I learned more and more, until finally I was ready for the next step: to play in a band.
Our first band went by the name of “The Wrath of Michael Bolton”. We were a cover band, and we LOVED it. We practiced every week, and shared ideas and good conversation daily. We played local concerts around Massachusetts, and it was an absolute thrill to perform on stage. Over the next 5 years or so, my friends and I rotated through a couple of different local bands that we had created. I next began another musical endeavor when my good friends’ band needed a bassist. It was a completely different puzzle, though I picked it up fairly quickly (I attest that I had to practice for hours per day for a month).
Playing in a band was a way to share more and more time with my favorite and best friends. It had become something that was huge to me, and was a release from the pressures and stresses of everyday life. No matter what happened during the week or day, I still got to hang out with my friends and share the music we had come to create and love. We wrote songs which meant the world to us, and got to express our love for them in every live concert we played.
Now that I have moved to California, I don’t have my drums or a bass with me. My good friend Adam recently moved out here and brought my acoustic guitar (which I bought around the same time I began drumming, but never had the will power to overcome its impossible chords and tunings), which I have now devoted time each day to practice. In only about a month and a half of practicing, there have already been drastic improvements.
No matter what your musical background is, or how much you convince yourself that you are not musically talented, you have it in you to create music with instruments. It is a stress relief method which can only be experienced by those who attempt it, and a way to have a connection with friends that you can only understand through the music you create with them.
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