drum lessons

It was going to be a most exciting day for my Finn boy. Probably the biggest day he'd ever had in his whole 5 years of existence--or 1,825 days round the sun as cousin Emily would say:)

I could hardly contain my joy as I sent Finn off for his very first....drum roll please...

!Drum lesson!

As John carted Finn off to his first lesson with Mr. J, I sat at home, anticipating how marvelous the first session would be. I just couldn't wait for them to get home and tell me all about it.

When they arrived at home, I pounced on them, begging for all the details. Finn happily chirped away, saying how much he liked his lesson,
while John just kind of shook his head in dismay and disappointment at Finn's unprepared instructor, the tiny sweltering hot practice room and the chinzy sounding drum set. Mr. J had no game plan. No official notepad or clipboard. No goals or homework assignments. He just kind of winged the whole session.

We had already paid for 3 sessions upfront, and John was determined to finish them off. Hoping things would get better.

But we both knew better. Which is why John already contacted another drum instructor by the name of Mr. Canaan. He came highly recommended by two different friends. He talked to John on the phone for a while, and seems really great. He was even willing to come to our home. I initially wanted Finn to have his lessons at a music room, but considering the stamp-sized practice rooms, I thought home might be best. Besides, it's very hard to find a drum set to accommodate my small boy.
In the meanwhile, drum lesson 2 with Mr. J rolled around on monday. And once again, Finn came home singing his praises. However, John had already called me from Vons, telling me what a disaster the lesson had been.

For almost the entire lesson, Mr. J read to Finn straight out of a drum theory book(which Finn loves by the way).

So Mr. J was going on and on about time signature and such--you know, everything that fascinates a 5 year old boy. He only had Finn play the drum set for a few minutes. John was going out of his mind watching all this and tried to hint that most of the information was way over Finn's head. But Mr. J just didn't get it. He said, "oh, it's ok if Finn doesn't get it. You'd be surprised at how much kids pick up".

Yes, we are aware of what kids pick up. Like how Finn somehow picked up on the word "butt" that someone kept saying. Ok, that someone was me, but I no longer use that word. So we finally eradicated the word "butt" from Finn's vocabulary.

And what do you know. Mr J just had to point out the different parts of the drum stick. He could have used the word "end"(a totally viable alternative). But no, Mr. J called it the "butt".

So, we are back to square one. No drum homework, no new grooves. Just the word butt.

I'm guessing John is going to suffer through lesson 3 with Mr. J. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. I have high hopes for Mr. Canaan! I just want a fun instructor that is into drumming and has some sort of agenda.