Before I started playing the drums,
I used to sing. Now my singing voice is getting a lot more weaker.
I used to play the piano for a little while; I am really bad at it. I could play it with one hand, not with both hands.
I have an interest for learning how to play the guitar. Didn't get to do it. I want to do it as an elective in high school, but my parents wanted me to take a more reasonable class as an elective that will help me in the future. Good thing I didn't take that "reasonable" class!
And now, just last year, I started playing the drums and I ABSOLUTELY FELL IN LOVE WITH IT!
I started drumming because I just wanted to express myself through art in a very exciting way, and I also wanted to be recognized for my work in the arts (performing arts in general).
I’ve been playing the drums for a little over a year now. I started playing the drums last year and I became a very fast learner. I taught myself how to play the drums; I didn’t take drum lessons. I learned how to play the drums by doing 4 things:
1) I listen to all kinds of music to see how the drums fit in any song and in any genre, such as rock, pop, hip-hop, r&b, jazz, reggae, dance, techno/dubstep/nightclub music, etc.
2) I watch other people play the drums, whether it’s live or it’s a video,
3) I sight read; I would go to music stores all throughout my hometown and I would scan all kinds of drum books just to sight read the music notes for the drums,
4) I would just jam on the drum sets that were on display, whether it’s in the music store, at a school in the music department, or at a church.
My favorite drummers so far are female and my top 3 are Hannah Ford, Meytal Cohen, and Emmanuelle Caplette. They have been my inspiration for over a year now.
My love for music started at a very young age of 6 years old.
I started singing at that time.
I was also fascinated at the drums during that time as well, so fascinated that I start to hit random things all throughout my childhood home, pretending that it’s the drum set.
Throughout my childhood, teenage years, and my first year as a college student, I have sung a lot.
During my sophomore, junior, and senior years of high school, I have watched the jazz bands practice their repertoire, and I was focusing mainly on the drummer’s role on the drum set; I focused on the drummer’s every move closely as he/she plays the drum set. During that time, I once sat behind the drum set and played just a little bit on the drums.
During my first year in college, I took a lot of piano classes and as a result, I wasn’t very good at playing the piano.
One year later, I was back at my hometown, going to music stores all throughout my hometown looking at the drum sets, and I did that again the following year, but it was last year, 2012, that I started taking the drums seriously. When I play the drum set, I feel like a free spirit, I am letting myself loose, I was feeling alive and free, and I was having a really good time.
Not only was I really into playing the drum set, I was really into playing another kind of drum, the taiko. In 2011, I started to get fascinated with the taiko, so fascinated that I started researching about the history of the taiko and how it came to be. I looked at images of the taiko and people playing the taiko. I started looking at the collegiate taiko groups and I came across UC Riverside’s Senryu Taiko and that was before I was planning to make the transition to UC Riverside to finish my college career, but that plan didn’t happen. In early 2012, I was looking at another collegiate taiko group, this time, it’s Cal State Northridge’s Jishin Taiko. I was so into that group and that compelled me to apply to that school to finish my undergrad college career there so that I could be a part of the Jishin Taiko
(not only that, it’s because the school’s close to Los Angeles/Hollywood and that I can pursue my dream as becoming a future and successful actress, singer, and entertainer).
Now I am extremely proud to say that I am officially a member of Cal State Northridge’s Jishin Taiko!
In conclusion, for me, playing the drums, whether it’s the drum set or the taiko, is a way of expressing myself in a very exciting way and it’s a great alternative to regular communication so that I could be heard and that I could be the center of attention. It gives me courage, confidence, dedication, and determination and I love every single minute of it!!!!!
http://www.hitlikeagirlcontest.com/videos/entry/lynette-chiamaka-okoroike
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