A definite moment

[fleetfootmike]

So, at his request, we acquired Guitar Hero 5 for the Wii and the Band Hero drum kit off eBay for James (who will be 11 in Jan), and he's been soggy-plastic-thud-ding his way through the beginnings of career mode on Medium (I refuse to let him start on Easy, because it teaches you nothing about limb independence or proper drum parts). And he's Not At All Bad.

Over the weekend, I was trying to finish off writing a guitar riff - at present, we have bardling's old drum kit set up in the library, and I needed a drum beat, so I figured it couldn't hurt to grab James for a basic boom-chick... :D

And from there - we're also somewhat short of a drummer for the 3rd Sunday Family service at church, so...

Anne and I spent a chunk of yesterday evening making music with our son. Her on bass, me on guitar, him on drums. He can hold down a beat, stick in basic fills, doesn't speed up, and has a scary memory for arrangements that he clearly got from me.

I am seriously chuffed.

Comments

[billroper]

Sounds like fun.

Katie wants to play Beatles Rock Band with us on the drums, but has a distressing tendency to hit the button that stops the simulation. *sigh*

[stevieannie.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the world of "You've Done the Hard Bit, Now Here's the Fun Part of Parenting".

I've always loved my son, but I'm gobsmacked by how much I love spending time with him these days. They are growing up into rather fabulous young men who are an utter pleasure to be with :-) Congratulations to you and Anne for a job well done!

[smoooom.livejournal.com]

I'd be chuffed as well, my kids like to listen, but I don't think we'd ever get to make with them. That's really really cool.

[tattercoats.livejournal.com]

Fantastic! You should be proud - and so you are. Just lovely.

[renée smits (from livejournal.com)]

Is your daddy proud of you... ;)

[kathy-songbird.livejournal.com]

Fabulous stuff. I am well impressed. Still the genes and the actual parenting *might* have something to do with this! *grin*.

[fleetfootmike.livejournal.com]

*grin*

I have to say, the bit that made me grin like a complete idiot was running through something we'd run through the previous day, which has a "repeat last line three times then dead stop on 'dadadaDUM'" ending.

We didn't remind him. He nailed it.

[fleetfootmike.livejournal.com]

Just a lot :D

[antonia-tiger.livejournal.com]

And the wide musical tastes of filkers in general. He knows he doesn't have to follow fashion, which maybe gives him a chance to set a fashion one day.

[elfwhistletree.livejournal.com]

It's so lovely when one's offspring or other dependents become competent, and when stuff like this happens.

*grin*

[keristor.livejournal.com]

You can tell him he's several orders of magnitude better than me! I have difficulty even with a basic beat (especially if it involves more than one limb!) let alone fancy stuff. R. has described me as a frustrated percussionist, I know what I want to hear but have no idea how to make it.

[occams_pyramid]

I wonder if we can get him up to the standard of that boy who was playing drums in Valentine's Park?

[kathy-songbird.livejournal.com]

ABsolutely! Hear! Hear!

[hrrunka]

Cool!