Lately Josiah has been carrying a practice pad around with him and drumming at all moments of the day. He has a piece from school that he wants to get just perfect, so as I made supper he serenaded me, and I couldn't resist filming it. About twenty minutes after I filmed this, several of his friends showed up for a sleepover, and, let me tell you, when your son is a drummer and invites his drumming friends over, the entire family gets the rhythm. As I write this, my floor is thudding and thumping. Just to walk to the kitchen makes me feel like dancing Masaai style.
Our drums are in the basement, but they might as well be in my ear cavity. Which is only a problem if you have any hope of conversing, hearing a movie, or concentrating. But we ignore all of these activities and let the boys drum their little hearts out. Besides, that gives us time to prepare the food they require as they emerge, sweaty and hungry, from the basement every hour.
I believe that music is a healthy and valuable place to belong, so I put up with a lot of cacophony in order to ensure that music remains a part of my children's lives. But, honestly, there are fifteen seconds of the drumming experience I absolutely live for.
My son, and his friends, drum to the music on their iPods. So, they put songs on there that they want to learn, favorite songs, or songs they are practicing for church. Then they stick the earphones in and drum away. That leaves us to only hear the drumming and not the actual song. As they drum along, they cannot really hear themselves at all, but we can. Every once in awhile there is a space in the song where the drums are quiet for about fifteen seconds. During those fifteen seconds all we hear is their loud, shouting voices as they sing along to music we cannot hear. I stop everything and listen. It is the most wonderful thing I have ever heard.
It makes me wonder. What if we did life like my son does those fifteen seconds? Loud and bold. With everything you've got. Like you are the best that you can be.
It might be great.
Just like teenage boys, lost in music, with all the potential of their unwritten futures still inside of them.
Can anything be better than fifteen-year-old boys singing like no one is listening?
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