Photo by Gabriel Barletta on Unsplash

I will never forget the first time I played drums. I was 5. I used to go to my grandmother’s house, jump on a chair and ask:

«Grandma, would you set the drums for me?»

With the love only grandparents have, she would take all the pots and pans and set them on the kitchen table. Tea spoons were the perfect drumsticks for me. The milk-boiler was definitely my favorite, with a very sharp sound.

I remember myself exploring all the sound possibilities, flipping the spoons and lifting the pans. It felt so good. I was completely absorbed and delighted from the sensations I was discovering. After that, I had a toy drum set and my professional life started: I spent afternoons in the living room with my drums and a toy recorder. I was the conductor, singer, drummer and audience at once. I still have the musicassette somewhere. It starts sounding like the typical enfant prodige story, instead I dropped the plastic drumsticks and forgot about drums.

Until I was 18. Last year of high school, an urgent need to play. My inner voice was shouting out loud, I could not ignore it anymore. Until then, I never touched a real drum set. I used to visualize myself playing. I could clearly see myself moving and playing my favorite songs. I decided to try. A friend of mine had a real drum set, so I asked if I could see it. I joined him during his garage band rehearsals, I sat and listened, then it happened: they had a break and the guy said «Would you like to try?». I grabbed the drumsticks and sat behind the set. It was electricity all over my body. A deep sense of belonging, a direct link to the feeling of the child playing pots and pans. Suddenly and for a few minutes, everything fell to its place. I felt like One once more.

It took me 4 more years to surrender to this call. Watch it, the call was not the “go out there and become a Rock Star” thing. It was about following my inner voice, vivid expression of my true self. I was terrified from spending my life doing something I didn’t give a damn about.

Studying Music and drums was the beginning of a life-long journey discovering my true self. It requires discipline, hard work and consistency. And deep resilience. Every day you face people trying to get you down, most of the times because they were not brave enough to follow their inner voice. I see them slowly dying inside while still breathing, consumed by hidden envy.