Playing Music Is Great For Your Brain.
If there was any accomplishment that transitioned me from childhood into adulthood, it would be completing a year on my high school drumline.
I spent the first year at Edison High School in Edison, NJ in the front ensemble, or "pit." I left because, in all frankness, I was bored.
I didn’t have a lot to do besides hit cymbals together. But the drumline had a way more musical parts than I did. The instructor was more charismatic and helpful too.
So I joined the line, as a bass drummer.
All the veterans and the instructor knew me beforehand, and they all welcomed me. We started by going over technique and fundamentals, and then we all picked up our instruments and did warmups.
An innumerable amount of reps later, of the exercises and that year’s show music, that really drilled into me how valuable hard work was. There was something about the discipline of carrying my heavy bass drum, counting measures of music out loud with the other drummers, and watching my shadow morph over the course of a day, that made me want to improve my character.
I felt the need to push myself towards becoming the strongest version of myself I could be. Our instructor had this mantra, "comfort is the enemy of achievement," and it stuck to me.
“Comfort is the enemy of achievement.”
That was in 2012, when I was 16.
Now in 2022 I am almost 26, but I still remember how it feels to have a bass drum strapped to my chest.
I still have the drum head from the end of the first season, signed by my fellow drummers from that year. Whenever I sense myself losing focus or on the verge of mentally or physically quitting, I look at it to remind myself of playing music on the drumline.
I credit drumline, and singing in the choir, as life-bettering experiences. Yes I made mistakes, but I learned from them. I got better from them.
I don't know if I will ever have a drum strapped to my chest again, but I will never forget the feeling of having it on. How strong it made me feel. How physically exhausting marching is, and how artistically satisfying it is to play music simultaneously.
