Lukey's Christmas Gift

Lukey had asked for only one gift this Christmas which, on the one hand, made things easier for us but, on the other hand, created a need for some research on our part.  I knew that the specific item he requested for Christmas was junk and we're not going to buy junk.

Lukey wanted his own drum kit and he knows this would be a big gift so he chose perhaps the least expensive kit he could find on Amazon and sent us the link.  Being a musician myself, I know that introducing a new student to a cheap, junky instrument almost always ends in failure and long-lasting disinterest.  I needed to do some research to find a better drum kit for a beginner.

This really applies to anything though.  If you buy a kid junk, they are sure to lose interest quickly and it will leave a bad taste in their mouth for any future interest in that thing because they tell themselves, "oh man...  that really sucked".  What really sucked was the tool and not the activity but their feelings are now forever mistakenly tied to the activity. 

If a kid is curious about telescopes, get a good quality telescope that is actually a scientific instrument (not a toy).  If a kid is curious about basketball, get a good basketball, a level area, and a good backboard and hoop (not a toy).  If a kid is curious about piano, get a good quality piano (not a toy).  If a kid is curious about drums, get a good quality drum kit.

Lukey had already shown he enjoys music by learning to play a bit of piano.  Through his piano playing, it was easy to see that he has some rhythm and interest in music.  So, if he wants a musical instrument, it probably would not be money wasted.  We just needed to get approval from his mother since she would be the one who has to live with a drum kit in her house!  (She enthusiastically approved.)

This gift would fall under "the arts" and I am always willing to spend money on the arts when it comes to children.  There are plenty of studies that prove the arts help to develop young brains in various and very necessary ways.  Besides, I firmly believe that everyone...  EVERYONE...  should stay as broad in their education for as long as they can.  This includes a long education in the arts.

Picking up hobbies and interests and becoming actively involved in these hobbies and interests is necessary for development so keeping your education as broad as possible is something I always encourage for everyone.  Eventually, you will need to specialize in something but keeping your education as broad as possible, for as long as possible, will help you make that decision on what specialty to choose while also developing broad skills.  This broad education will also develop as many areas of the brain as possible as you near a specialty.  On the plus side, this broad education will make you a far more interesting person too!

Personally, I've never dropped my own broad education so, consequently, I now have very many skills and interests as well as a career speckled with various specialties.  To this day, I never call it a day until I've learned something new.   

Anyway, Lukey asked for a musical instrument for Christmas and we were happy to find the best beginner kit we could afford (keeping in mind we also have four other grandchildren who expect Christmas gifts of equal value).  But, for those who regularly read this blog, you probably already know that we don't simply give a big gift...  there is always some other learning experience to accomplish to earn access to this gift.

In this case, Lukey was handed a single sheet of paper folded, sealed, with his name neatly written on the outside.  On this paper, I encrypted a message that included a couple of hints but these hints were encrypted.  He would need to use our Jefferson Cipher Wheel to decrypt my hints.  Once decrypted, the message read:

"Music is the beat of life,
The key is on the tree!"

The first obstacle for Lukey to overcome was actually to decrypt this message.  The hints in the decrypted message include "music", "beat of life", and "the key".  "Key" has multiple meanings...  could refer to a musical key in which a song is written or it could refer to a physical key to a lock.  In this case, it had both of these meanings.

Lukey grabbed the old wood case that holds our Jefferson Cipher Wheel...  opened it...  lifted this historic encryption instrument and started decrypting the message...

He decrypted one character for each wheel at a time for a string of twelve characters at a time since the instrument only has twelve wheels and the full message was longer than twelve characters.  He painfully (he wanted his gift now and more easily so it probably was a little bit painful) and methodically decrypted this message...

Ace was curious so he was trying to figure out what Lukey was doing.  In time, he'll be needing to do the same to get to his gifts...

I should point out that, for Christmas gifts, I don't cruelly encrypt hint after hint after hint requiring a scavenger hunt-type of trek around the house to find the next clue...  and then the next clue...  and then the next clue...  It is Christmastime so I keep it simple and keep anxiety to a minimum...  one short message that includes multiple hints leading you to your Christmas gift...

After a brief search of our Christmas tree, Lukey found a key hanging deep among the branches and headed to the only locked room in the house...

Inside this locked room, Lukey's new drum kit was plugged into my PA system...  it was already ready to go so, when he finally unlocked the door, he sat down and started playing!  

This is an electronic drum kit so he can practice relatively silently at home.  The only sounds you hear are the muffled sound of drum sticks rebounding off of mesh drum heads that make very little sound.  Lukey can wear headphones to hear himself playing.  For his first experience with his new drum kit, however, I set up my PA system so he could rattle the windows for a short while.   I eventually switched him over to the headphones!

If I remember correctly, this drum set consists of more than 40 different drum kits with very different sounds.  He can connect his cellphone via Bluetooth to play along with any song on his phone.  He can download a few additional drum kits too.  Also, the package includes some online drum lessons.  Aside from that, YouTube is actually a great source of educational videos.  His music instructors at school can correct any technique issues.  

In the month before Christmas, I had the opportunity to refresh some of my own drum skills from decades ago while I also tested this new drum kit.  I found that this is a pretty good electric drum kit when everything is adjusted properly.  The only real weaknesses I noticed are the cymbals...  like real cymbals, they do have sweet spots but, when you are away from these sweet spots on the electric cymbals, you don't get much sound.  Also, the high hat isn't as responsive as a real high hat.  That being said, the cymbals are "good" if you keep those sweet spots in mind.  

I found the mesh drum heads to be pretty nice when the tension was adjusted properly (they come set at minimal tension so I needed to appropriately tighten them up).  They are very, very quiet to anyone else in the room yet they are very responsive when listening through headphones or a PA amp.  The drum heads are a bit undersized but not nearly as undersized as other beginner kits.  

This slightly smaller drum head size, however, can be looked at as a plus...   they are still large enough to truly resemble drums and feel "normal" but it is easier to fold the entire kit up compactly and store it in a corner of the room.  I guess I can compare it to the difference between a keyboard on a desktop computer vs the slightly smaller keyboard on a laptop.  

(NOTE:  I've had these remaining photos for the past month!   I couldn't share them until after Christmas so that Lukey wouldn't see them.)

The drums have a nice red finish on them...

The set came with two sets of drumsticks but I found them to be of very poor quality (sort of resembled sticks made of balsa wood) so I ordered two better sets.  These Vic Firth sticks pictured here are nice...  I ordered two sizes...  I prefer the heavier sticks while Lukey prefers the lighter sticks (I figured that would be the case which is why I ordered the two sizes).

The mesh drum heads...  

The ride cymbal...

Here is the controller for the drums.  It has Bluetooth connectivity and a menu system that allows you to adjust the parameters of each drum and cymbal.  The menu system could be far better but it works with the help of specific online search strings to give you specific instructions on button presses...

Lukey was clearly happy with his Christmas gift and it was nice to see him so excited.  Actually, all of the grandchildren were noticeably excited about their gifts this year.  I'll share photos of the rest of the Christmas gifts in another blog entry.