"You want to learn drums, right?"

I eyed my youth leader wondering what question might be lurking behind this question. It was a regular old Sunday morning in my early teen years and I was wandering around waiting for the church service to start.

I nodded hesitantly.

"How about today?"

The service was starting in approximately ten minutes. He lead me over to the drum set that had been vacated by whichever more talented and experienced drummer had been scheduled to play that day. He proceeded to show me the basic four counts of a rock beat I was to play on repeat, and assured me I would be fine. 

He took his place behind the mic, guitar in hand to begin the service and I wide-eyed with intense focus behind the drums. I assume there were other musicians but I don't really remember. All I remember was trying not to look and sound like it was my first rodeo and somewhat stay in sync with the rest of the instruments. 

I knew nothing of technique, fills, counting in, specific rhythmns in different songs or how to end a song. I knew only my newly acquired basic beat that I pounded out with the rigidness of the sticks I held. And, I knew the one who held out the sticks to me had more confidence in me than I had myself. 

That Sunday is set apart from a thousand other Sunday's in my memory simply because it was the day I said yes. I was no star, but it was the start.

Suddenly, we were stopped outside of the most vivid, vibrant, beautiful and brillant setting my eyes had ever seen. My senses were heightened to a level they had not yet experienced. It was bright without the heat of the sun. I had never seen greener grass, bluer sky or lusher trees. Birds were singing beautifully. I was taking it all in with perfect clarity. There was no noise in my head or around me.  I was utterly overwhelmed with peace. There was no fear or guilt. Only peace. I had a strong suspicion about where I was.

It started with chopsticks and coasters then quickly expanded to include corkboard hot pads. My little man found has taken to dwumming. Any song in our house now has a little extra percussion whether by chopsticks, pens, or the little palms of his hands. He was recently upgraded to a practice pad and his own set of kid-size drumsticks by our friend Dewwick who was kind enough to also throw in some lessons. The smile on my little man's face was bigger than every Christmas morning combined.

Derrick’s teaching strategy aimed higher than simply rudiments. He started out with the goal to instill a love for music in my son. His little hands have already drummed along to jazz and rock among other things. Derrick’s reasoning is that without a glimpse of the bigger picture he will lack the motivation to learn, practice and master the rudiments. 

Too often, we approach Bible study with only a rudiment mentality. It’s necessary and you should do it. The rudiments have become primary principles instead of building blocks of music.