Day 163

Had another good day today. I went mountain biking in the morning with my friend Steve, then the two of us had lunch with a side dish of great conversation. Steve is a super talented musician but writes computer code for a living – we work for the same company. Damian idolized Steve. At least for awhile.

After a couple of false starts in school band, first with a flute and then with a tuba, Damian finally found his calling playing the drum. While he was far more excited to learn to play the drum(s) than the other two instruments, I could tell that he wasn't thrilled with the moribund music selection that school bands are notorious for playing. I mentioned this to Steve one day at work, adding that I was afraid it was only a matter of time before Damian wrote off learning how to play an instrument all together. It was at this point that Steve turned me on School of Rock. 

I don't know which came first: the movie "School of Rock" or the music schools of the same name. My hunch is the former. I surmise that someone saw the movie and realized that teaching kids how to play rock songs as a band was actually a good idea. Following up on Steve's suggestion, we found a School of Rock about 10 miles from the house and enrolled Damian about a month later. No surprise, he loved it. He was getting to play cool songs on a full drum set as opposed to Christmas songs and other boring band staples on only a snare drum. The rock formula worked for Damian as it didn't take long for him to  get to be a decent drummer. 

One day, after Damian had been going to School of Rock for a few months, I took him to Steve's house so he could see Steve's recording studio and get a private lesson at the same time. While we were there, Steve played a couple of drum solos which blew Damian out of the water. (Same goes for me.) That one afternoon was another boost to Damian's fledgling music career. 

I think all told, Damian was enrolled in School of Rock for about four years. We went to several concerts and were always impressed with his performances. (FYI...99.9% of children under the age of 16 cannot sing rock songs. For the most part they can play their instruments but the vocals are almost always nails-on-a-chalkboard bad.) Steve came to a couple of the shows and would give Damian props and encouragement after. I know it meant a lot of Damian since he knew how good Steve is. (Steve played in rock bands in his teens and 20s and toured the world once or twice.)

We still have Damian's drum set. It's up in his bedroom. It's been collecting dust since the late spring of 2020. I remember the timeframe because when COVID hit and everything got shut down, School of Rock also had to shut its doors. They tried doing lessons over Zoom but it just wasn't the same. After a couple of attempts, Damian put down his drum sticks and didn't pick them up again. I did ask him last fall if he would consider going back to School of Rock and playing again. He told me he was busy with robotics and sailing and didn't know that he would have time to for another activity. I told him that was a fair response but I encouraged him to not give up on it. Alas, it wasn't meant to be, but I still have the recordings from the few shows that he did play in. The last time I watched a couple of them, I was struck by how relaxed Damian was on stage. Playing in front of an audience didn't seem to phase him. I wish I knew what did... 

I'll sell the drum set eventually, but I'm in no hurry. Another part of Damian's life that I'm not ready to let go of just yet, even though he already had. 

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