MY PASSION FOR DRUMMING
It started when I watched a video of Green Day playing live and saw Tré Cool on drums. I was magnetized by the visceral quality of his performance: his sticks a blur, his whole body invested in every beat. I wanted to feel that energy. Guitar, piano, and bass asked for careful finger work. Drums demanded something else: impact.
GROWING UP WITH ADHD
In public school, I often felt out of step. I learned through experimentation, and a classroom built to keep everyone on one track didn’t always have room for that. At fourteen, I left my home for Eagle Hill, a boarding school in Hardwick, Massachusetts. Even at a school built for students who learn differently, I hadn’t yet found my rhythm. My drum kit changed that.
GROWING UP WITH ADHD
In public school, I often felt out of step. I learned through experimentation, and a classroom built to keep everyone on one track didn’t always have room for that. At fourteen, I left my home for Eagle Hill, a boarding school in Hardwick, Massachusetts. Even at a school built for students who learn differently, I hadn’t yet found my rhythm. My drum kit changed that.
TRUSTING MY RHYTHYM
I stopped trying to keep step with everyone else and started keeping my own time. On the drums, the sound was mine to control, and the energy that never fit a classroom finally had somewhere to go. It gave me a level of focus and coordination I hadn’t found anywhere else. Once I trusted my own rhythm, that focus followed me out of the practice room, into class, into the band I formed, and into student council and debate club, where it let me stay with a problem long enough to change it.
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WHAT IF DRUMMING COULD HELP OTHERS?
Drumming has always helped me feel focused, engaged, and connected. Eventually, I wondered whether it could do the same for others, especially people who struggle to focus or whose minds won’t quiet down. So I dug into the research on rhythm, the brain, ADHD, and focus, and what I found gave me something solid to build on. Then I put it into practice. I taught classmates, kids in my hometown, and a summer percussion section of elementary and middle school students, and it became Rhythm Restart. Now I’m opening it up, with classes for students and training for people who want to teach the method.