I'm going to brag a little bit now.
My son's a percussionist. He went for his "band fitting" yesterday, and after a year of steel drumming last year and two weeks this year of sweating it, losing sleep and thinking he'd made disastrous mistakes in testing and was already thinking about his back-ups (trumpet and clarinet) he walks in yesterday only to find that his teacher had placed him at the top of her list - literally #1, she showed me - and wasn't going to make him drill or test anymore at all. He's in. He was caught so flat-footed by this because of his expectation that she was going to make him test anyway - that he tested anyway. Turns out, the thing he can't do and was worried about is an end of the year type skill, some kind of snare roll.
When he tested, I turned my back so he wouldn't have to see me looking, worked my out of his line of sight and listened. I heard this:
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT; TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TATT! RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT; TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TATT!
Then I turned so I could watch him copy it only to find that he just had. His copy of her drill was indistinguishable from the example given. It was awesome. So yeah, I filled out forms and we laid out a bunch of money for sticks and mallets and rentals and he's in the band as one of eight percussionists from his grade.
I am bursting with pride, and told him so.
I've been giving him Sun Ra and the Marsalis boys, Dizzy and Louis and Miles, Coltrane and Cannonball, Son House and Lightning Hopkins and Screaming Jay Hawkins and Elvin Jones since he was little, and his uncle Brian's music has always been around. More recently, Vini & the Demons and lots of ska (thanks, Josh) and 90s grunge and metal and his uncle Eric's music. Motorhead, Flaming Lips and Nirvana are on his radar now. He likes Mos Def and MC Chris, DJ Revolution, Rahzel and Chuck D and 80s hip-hop, though he dissed early Fresh Prince as "silly." He's recently developed an affinity for R.E.M., They Might Be Giants, Atomic Blonde and Sublime and lots of female singers - Kate Bush, Liz Phair, Natalie Merchant and Tori Amos have all been requested recently.
I knew he liked music - he was in steel drums and chorus last year and listens to all this stuff - but I didn't know he could do this quite this well, and the revelation and pride and love and excitement are almost more than I can stand.