Inspiring Young Musicians One Lesson at a Time with Local Music Teacher and Drummer Seth Sherley

In this episode of Clarksville Insider, Josh sits down with local drum teacher Seth Sherley to talk about the impact of music lessons on kids—and what it’s like to teach them. From first-time students to natural-born drummers, Seth shares what parents should know, how to encourage kids without pushing too hard, and why music is a gift that keeps giving. Whether you're considering lessons or already on the journey, this conversation is full of helpful insight, real talk, and a few laughs along the way.

Transcript

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Hey friends, welcome back to Clarksville Insider. I am your host, Josh Atkins, like the diet. And today I'm joined by my friend and fellow drummer, Seth Shirley, who I've had the chance to play alongside many Sundays at Grace. Sometimes I'm on guitar, sometimes he's on drums, sometimes I'm just in the audience enjoying the drums at Grace Community Church. But when he's not behind the kit at church, he's busy teaching drum lessons at Mary's Music right here in Clarksville. helping young musicians take their very first steps into the world of rhythm and creativity. So in this episode, this one right here, we're going to talk about what it's like to teach drums to kids and music, how music can build confidence and focus, what advice he gives to parents who are either already in the lesson game or maybe you're thinking about getting into the lesson game, thinking about getting your kids signed up for music and it's probably got some applications even outside of music. So it's a great conversation. I'm saying that like I've already had it. We haven't had it yet. This is the on-ramp. We're getting ready to it, but I know it's going to be great. And so the conversation was somebody who's really passionate about helping the next generation find their beat, find their voice through music. So let's get right into it. Seth, man, thanks for being here. Happy to be here. Thank you. All right. And really, I would love for people to get to know you. Not on like a too weird level, but just enough to like, oh, okay, that's good to know. So how long have you been in Clarksville, maybe your whole life, and just kind of a little bit of your connection to the area? How'd you get here, how long you been here? Okay, yeah. So moved here in 1995. My dad finished his residency to become a doctor in Texas, Dallas-Fort Worth area. So we moved here to be closer to my mom's side of the family who is from Dixon Yeah, so I was about five years old then And been here most of my life There was a brief stint. I lived in Nashville for my freshman year of college. I went to Belmont University there And then transferred to Austin P after the freshman year and graduated graduated. Yes, well 15. All right It's okay if you didn't. All you out there who are thinking, it's okay. Just wanted to clarify, get my notes straight, get my mind right here. And so at some point, at some point, maybe even before you moved here, I would imagine, there were connections to music, probably in your house, probably maybe even in your room. What was, or what were some things that kind of just even... Turned you on to the idea of just enjoying music or some connections to musical on the way. Well, just early on anyway. on. So in Texas, maybe a little bit from cartoons I watched, but I think my first memories of music come about five or six years old. You know, I remember hearing the Backstreet Boys. I grew up with two sisters, so... You know, there was a lot of pop music and a lot of dance music. You know, it's a safe place. If you were the one listening to the Backstreet Boys, it's okay. They're fine now. I loved it. I loved it. You know, it was fun. So that's probably the first instance. I remember that. I know we went to a Backstreet Boys concert, you know, back when I was that young. That may have been the start of it, but I know my parents listen to music and, you know, my dad loved Elton John. And then I think middle school is really where I was inspired. I feel like that's right in line just like with middle school in general. As a former middle school pastor and teacher, like that's the age where you start to find your voice. That's the age where you start to question and go, I don't know about that, mom. I don't know about that. You sure about that? You sure about that? And so to really be able to have that, I'm sure that was when you even were starting to go, do I like Elton John? And either it was a, you're darn right I do, or actually I'm more like this. So where did in all of that, like the drums come in, or was there a first instrument that led to or brought you to the drums? How did you get to just actually playing music and getting into that? So getting into drums itself, I had a group of friends in middle school where I guess we would just talk about music and but what I really remember is one friend was like, well, I'm going to play guitar. The other friend, I'm going to play bass. And I was like, what's left? Oh, drums. Yeah. So, you know, I did stuff in elementary, you know, they had music classes, we I played the recorder, you know, and just kind of messed around with instruments a little bit, but nothing too serious until middle school when I'm in my group of friends and we figure that out. Shortly after, it was about 2004, I got my first drum kit. And the rest is history. The is The rest is history. So in 2004, how old were What age was that? That was, I was turning 14, so my birthday's late in the year, but I have my first drum lesson sheet where my drum instructor wrote drum beats on it. It's dated of August in 2004. So you still have that? Still have it. Man, that's pretty sweet. Yeah, because I remember, that's about the time, because I was going from a small Christian school to a public school that had band. And I had played piano for a while. And so it was like, well, what do you want to do, son? And I was like, oh, drums sound good. So I got started taking lessons right around that time, around 12. But a little bit later is when I got my first kit and everything changed. That's when my ears really started to break. Yeah. That's when the noise brought the noise there. I would imagine it was pretty similar for you. How did? How did the house, how did the siblings, the parents take to having the kit in the house? Well, I remember first it was set up in my parents' room because that was the biggest room in the house. And so we were just taking a test run of like how it's going to sound. I was in two-story house. shortly after, we find out that it echoes throughout the entire house. Unless you have some kind of soundproofing. or you put it in a basement, it's pretty reverberant. It's gonna be heard everywhere. After that, they went to my room, still echoed through the house. There's not much you can do about it unless you invest a lot into it. My parents didn't seem to mind whether they just kept that to themselves or what, I don't know, but I know by the end of it, When I was going to college, my mom could take a nap while I was playing drums. She's like, I haven't had a nap in 11 years. Finally, the kid is gone. Now my sisters, know, sometimes I think they would intentionally take naps just so I couldn't play the drums. Because that was the rule. I have two sisters, if one of them is taking a nap, there's no drumming. So they saw you carrying the sticks, and one of them would dive onto the couch and hit the pill. Sorry, beat you to it just even by a few seconds. Sisters. So what was it about the drums? And listeners, we are going to get drum heavy, I would imagine, but we're going to keep it. Pretty broad, eventually, but we're using the drums to set up the idea of music in general. if you're not a drummer or you don't know anything about drums, hang tight, we're getting there. So you're taking drum lessons, I assume, because you said you got that sheet with the original drum lesson. What was it about it that kept you doing it and not saying, this is not for me, I don't like this, I want to play guitar, I don't want to do music at all? What was it that... Kept you picking the sticks up and kept you practicing and kept you moving forward to get better. I think the majority of why is because I had a great drum instructor from the get. His name is Monty Bradford. He still plays today. He's doing world tours with a famous country artist, Chris Young. And so, but man, he was just so awesome to watch and just how he articulated playing and, you know, how we went about the lesson. It was always interesting. He always had something prepared for us to work on. And man, I just, couldn't wait for the next time that I could go to a drum lesson. you know, if there's something I didn't get, he would break it down. But he would also have moments where he just kind of let loose. And when he would do that, I was just... Filled with inspiration and just teeming overflowing. I mean it's it's really drove To me to keep doing it. So while you're there, he'd just be like and just like go take Take 30 seconds or take a minute and just get after it. Oh, yeah something I couldn't fathom. You know, it's it was it was amazing Almost as a you're not there yet kid. Yeah. Yeah, this is casting the vision Exactly, you put your foot to it. You put your hands to it put the the work in yes could be you one day and So that was so oh For you know for the start was oh for okay, so 21 years later. Yes Lots of drumming in your life lots of drumming and At what point what point did you decide or maybe it was like kind of thrust upon you. Because sometimes it's like, hey, you played. Could you give my kid drum lessons? Like, I've had that conversation. And so what was your intro to teaching or your first experience? Because I would imagine it was when you're first starting out, you're like, oh, I don't know. We've got 30 minutes. Let's work on quarter notes. And so just kind of getting started, how did you even like? get proposed with the idea of maybe this is something you could do? Well, as far as I remember, believe it was in high school towards the end when I was a senior. I remember teaching my Spanish teacher's son drum lessons. He was one of the first. There was another student I had who, because I went to Grace, the first time I went to Grace Community Church was back in 2002. But he brought me there, you know, I saw the music and all that. But there was a man that was involved in the church named, oh gosh, I'm forgetting his name right now, but he was involved in, and so he wanted his son to learn. That was kind of the first instances was people knew I played, you know, they saw me play in church and asked me to teach their kid or. You know, my Spanish teacher was just really involved in all his students' lives and knew what they were doing. A great teacher as well, and so he sought the opportunity for his kid to learn. Why'd you say yes? I think because I wanted to do what Monty had done for me. Cool. It's funny, just talking to teachers and even myself, you can cite moments in history as like, this is the reason. This was my teacher. This was my inspiration. So it's funny. I can say Bob Deal was my less my. senior in high school who gave me lessons before I went to junior high. it's like, that was a long time ago. And I can still hear his name. I still remember him. And it's still just as fresh as yesterday. And it's funny how inspiration can kind of just sit with you for that. So when you're talking or you're thinking about helping someone get lessons. So I have. Use me as the example. I have an eight-year-old who's going into third grade. I also have an 11-year-old going into sixth grade. Can you give, what is the ideal age to start? In your opinion. Just kind of, I'm sure you've had different ages, different start points and all those kind of things. If you could say to me, the best time to get him in, get her in would be this time. And keeping in mind that yes, it's always a good time to start. Like, you can always pick up something new, but just if we're talking kids and even, parents as they're thinking about their kids who are possibly getting into that or thinking about getting into it, what kind of age range or what kind of expectations do you feel like would be something to look for in kind of getting started? Well, I'd say I have a wide range of ages that I teach. I think some kids around five years old you know, if they have the motivation and the attention span, then, you know, I think get them in there. Even if not, just to try and get something going like that, you know, a discipline in their life, I think music is a great way to do that. A lot of the younger kids I see, they sometimes struggle with the motor skills and the coordination. But I mean, Some don't, know, some show up and I'm amazed at what I see. So I think the younger the better. Five is probably a good cutoff because younger than five years old, you know, they're not very tall. They can't reach the whole kit very well. Of course, you can buy a junior size kit, but I teach on an adult kit. So for Lentz lessons, yeah, I would say. about five years old is a good minimum, but from then on, it was a good time. What would you say to somebody who has a kid who is interested? Like they're around it, they like it, but doesn't seem to have any what you'd call like natural ability, which has varied degrees of what you would consider and that kind of thing. What would you or what advice would you have to somebody that's like, my kid really loves music, but I don't think he's very naturally gifted. What do you think? How would you help encourage them to kind of maybe take a step forward? To take a step forward, I would say go ahead and do it. Because from what I've seen and experienced, discipline is going to outwork motivation or talent. Like if you have all the talent in the world, but you're lazy, you know, it's that your issue is putting in the work, you know, even if you have the gift, you have to put in the work. kind of like sports. Yeah. Or really anything. Yeah. It's funny how there's those natural connections and flows between those kind of things. And that's what I've heard. I've heard that too, where it's like, OK, my kid loves baseball. My kid loves basketball. But he's not naturally gifted. Or he is. OK, well, we still need to develop work ethic. We still need to develop those kind of things. Is that what you see? Like on the music side too? Yes, for sure. Man, one of my good buddies growing up, met him in middle school, definitely just full of natural talent. He could listen to the rock radio station and he would teach himself all the songs that he heard on that station. I would bring him to drum lessons from time to time. You know, he'd stay the night or we'd be hanging out. And he would come to the drum lessons and he loved it too, you know, he but... He just didn't end up taking lessons. But it's not like he even needed them. He was very talented and just did without them. I mean, that's the other side of it is some people maybe don't need it. They have all the motivation already and the talent. So now who knows what it could have been now. He's a what-if or He's probably listening like geez catching strays He's just living his life. Yeah, but so when you decided to play drums was there a Like were you tapping all over the place and or like feet going or Basically like how did you steer toward that and not the guitar. I know you'd mentioned like the friend thing, but at some point you had to actually do the work and you're like, oh, okay. Like with that, because really thinking about parents that are right now, how do they, like you were situationally pushed or led into the drums because your friends were, they called all the other instruments basically. But if I've got my eight-year-old and I want to get him into something, are there cues or things I could be looking for, even indicators of like, he might be a good drummer, might be a good guitar player, piano player, whatever, or is it just kind of see what happens kind of thing? Is there stuff you look for or would tell parents to look for? Well, there is one of my students I've taught. Now he's about, I think he's six or seven. But his mom told me, you know, he started at two years old. I think she picked up on it as, well, his dad was a drummer as well. So he might have been around a drum kit already. And he was just like, oh yeah, let me try this. I didn't have outgoing, like, rhythmic, you know, I didn't tap or anything like that before. You know, I wasn't beaten on a desk or anything before I started. But I think there are those kids where you can you can tell you know they'll they'll be doing stuff like that or you know Maybe they'll just outright say it like I want to play the drums. You know You could ask them just see see what they think But yeah, there might be subtle signs like that You could ask them. Yes. It was right in front of me, right there. Ask them. Yeah, I guess I could do that. And so you... I bring my kid to lessons. said, all right, Timmy. His name's not Timmy. So I bring him and say, all right, here's 30 minutes. Is 30 minutes pretty much what you do or what you'd recommend for that age or a little bit longer? What's your format? The standard we do is 30 minutes. Sometimes if I have to do a makeup lesson, I will stack them like that. I'll say, hey, you want to do an hour to make up for last week. Typically it's just 30 minutes. What are you trying to accomplish in that 30 minutes? Besides teach them to play the instrument? what's the goal? Do you have like goals, like long term, short term, six month, like three month, or just start to finish? How do you break down even what you're gonna get into or what you're gonna try to accomplish? First and foremost, I'd say progress. I love to see any form or facet of progress. Getting better, you know. getting the hang of 16th note groups when it's in a measure with other eighth notes. If I see that and I see they know how to adjust or how to do the coordination with that, I'm happy with that. I've had some students before where they just want to take lessons for a few months to really hone in on some rudiments. Say they're in band at school. and they want to really practice a piece or a few pieces, then I will break that down with them and just kind of be the guide or be the instructor to say, you did that wrong. Let's take that slower. Let's isolate that part and just focus on that, things like this. So it really depends on what they're coming in for. So I would imagine that first conversation. Like, how does that go when you're like, do they just sign up and then they drop them off? They the parents or is it more, let's meet, talk about goals, let's talk about direction or those kinds of things. How does that even begin with the process? So once they sign up, we're going to have our first lesson. I greet them. And first thing I ask the kid is, what got you interested in playing the drums? Do you have experience playing the drums? And then the parent, I give them the option to come back with us for that first lesson or as many lessons as they want to sit in on. And so I basically just try to get a feel for what brought them there and what kind of music they have an affinity to. What's it like when a kid is struggling? Because I feel like it's probably hard, especially if it was something that was supposed to be worked on, or if it's just a thing that can't get over. What's your approach when it feels like they're working hard, they're doing their best, but they just can't quite get it, or can't figure out this thing that's getting in the way of learning all this extra stuff. What do you tell them? What do you tell yourself as the teacher? What do you tell mom and dad? All those things when it seems like they should be progressing and they really are working hard, but they're just not. It's tough because I can tell they're frustrated. Some of them will get upset, they'll get angry. And I first I remind them, you know, we're here for fun. This is not supposed to be some kind of like strict curriculum where you have to do good. You have to get an A on the test. This is for fun. We're trying to have longevity with this. We don't want to just get frustrated and rage quit or, you know, anything like that. So I really try to encourage them and I say, we need to slow down. I work with a metronome in my lessons all the time. So a lot of times the students are trying to do the drum beat too quick. And so I say, let's slow it down. Let's take a different approach. Let's isolate this little piece, get used to this little piece, and then put it in with everything else. With the parents, and I've had one student that couldn't really. He didn't have enough attention to focus on what I write on the piece of paper. But, you know, I can just select a song from Spotify, start playing it on my speaker, and he can play along with it. So some students, I have to kind of take a different route and say, OK, this is how we're going to learn. I'm just going to play music on my speaker, you know, let you have five, 10 minutes. and then I'm gonna sit on the kit, I'm gonna show you a couple things and see if you can kind of change what you're doing or add a little bit of something else into it. And for those of you trying to keep up with drum words at home, kit is another word for set. And for more vocab, we'll link to a vocab sheet. I imagine the kids that push through, the ones that get stuck. Imagine those are the ones that once they break through are the ones that stick with it. Is that is that what you see like when? In your experience or something like that. Yeah, think yes because That means they're still enjoying it I've had a few that that stopped going and just for other reasons, you know But the ones that are satisfied usually stick around at least two or three years, maybe even longer than that. Do you ever get any, like, just natural, just like phenoms that are just like, oh, OK, well, let me turn to this page in the book. Because I'm sure that brings its own set of challenges, but also like exciting, like, oh, I got to keep up with this kid, man. He's already on doing certain kind of things. What do do when you got somebody that is just ready to rock and just coming in? Like, just kind of keep up with them or do you go, all right, let me, like how do you, how do you go, I guess here's the real question. How do you go from somebody who's just learning at 3.30 lessons to four o'clock, somebody coming in, like how do you just keep your brain straight in between all the ups and downs, backs and fours and the. the beginners to the experts to the intermediates, all that kind of thing. How do you keep your brain straight as to who you're with and how to help? Well, I think it's taken a lot of time just getting to know my students to be able to shift, you know, if I have a stack of like 10 lessons. It is exhausting. But man, when I when I have those those students come in, this might sound bad, but I try to find their weakness. And, you know, if if they're not good at, say, accents. a drum set accent study where you have to really use a lot of finesse. That's one thing I can go to. I have kids that, like I said, he can play with music, but he can't read. know, things like that. I haven't really run into a student where I was just completely stumped. There was one student, but he was, you know, an adult. I went to the most difficult book that I learned as a student and I picked stuff out of that and he still just passed a flying colors in that so I recommended a band. I said you should join this band. It's a band I know about that needs a drummer. When you get that, like, well, how about this? How many lessons on average, give or take, do you have per week? Per week nowadays, it's about 40. So about, do you do seven days, six days? Six days. OK. We're off Sunday. So average about six a day, give or take? mean, it's definitely more because six times 36. Get my calculator out. But man, that seems like it would really require some organization and those kind of things. is it fun? at what point? I'm sure you go through phases of just like everybody does with like, oh man, has been a long day. what's the fun part of teaching lessons? mean, full time, right? I mean, this is your job. What's the fun part about it? The fun part? Man, I'd say just the satisfaction of seeing them succeed and get better as they go, just thinking about how they were when they started. and just seeing the work being put in. We also goof off and I know what's going on in their lives. We have conversations and that can be good or bad. I've got some students where it is tough sometimes going into the lesson just knowing what's happening and I just try to keep it cool, keep a level head. Just help them out in any way I can without overstepping any boundaries. What would you say is the biggest reason that kids quit? quit or want to or want to or save it maps or Just kind of the or the biggest barriers, I guess to to staying long term Some I've had, know They they put in three or four years and and they just want to move on to something else or invest their time in something else I've ran into statements like I don't even want to be here. I didn't even want these drum lessons And that was a struggle when I first was told that. When they say that, I don't know what to think. Because you're the teacher. You like drums. You're like, if I wasn't here right now, kid, I would be playing it on my own or in a band or wherever else. So yeah, and then having somebody say that would probably be tough to deal with initially. Usually I tell them I have to be here too. You know, we're in this together, We're just, why don't we make this a good... got 28 minutes left, so we gotta do something. Yeah, why don't we make this a good time, a productive time, you know, let's work together. What would you say to a parent who... after three weeks. gets in the car and says, I just want to Not necessarily drunk, but just anything like that. What would you say then? Hey, my kid just is really not clicking. He's not liking it. I know we've given it a couple weeks, and I don't think we're going to continue. What do you think? Man, I would just say, you know. I guess I have to accept it at that point if I'd say If you at least give it a month You know, you'd probably know pretty well You know if if there is at least some kind of interest there that Was that would have been a better question. I'm okay. How long now that I'm I'm hearing you Give a better answer to my brain dead question How long, what's a good amount of time to quote unquote give it a shot or try it out? Yeah, one month I'd say at least. You know, it depends on how hard the parent wants to push them. you know, that's probably a good prerequisite or conversation before it like, hey, you know what, let's at least give it this amount of time. You know, if you don't like it at all, then at that point, yeah, you've at least tried. What's the sweet spot for parent involvement? Like standing outside the door, like just looking through the glass, arms folded, or like drop off in, imagine there's some sort of like happy medium or engagement level where you're like, oh man, this is working out really well. What would you encourage parents to do? Congruently as their kid is learning like how can they best help I guess I Think it varies a lot. I have a lot of students where it's it's they're okay with just getting dropped off going right in Some students they they do need a little bit of that support At least initially, you know, they're really nervous at first some guy they don't know and I'm telling them to play this instrument. They don't know I'd say it's highly dependent on the student and just how they are. But eventually I think letting them just come into the lesson, giving them that independence, eventually I think is the best way to go about it. almost all these kids, they're not gonna grow up, I mean just like baseball players, like basketball players, they're more than likely not gonna grow up and play professionally or go on tour or insert dream scenario here. What do you say or what kind of long-term benefit or just reasons that are like, man, this is really going to help you here. This is really, this is what I've gotten out of it. How do you cast a vision for not just hitting the drums, but like learning an instrument, going through the learning process, the short-term, the long-term. How do you cast that vision with a student, with a family, those kind of things, so that they can really see the power of not just learning notes on a page, but really taking it to heart and giving them an idea of what could be down the road for them that could be helpful? Yeah. I think it does a lot for you. You know, it's a great foundation of learning. Music is in some way kind of like a different language, especially when you write it down and you have to interpret what notes mean and then translate that into something you do with your body or your voice or whatever. Yeah, most people aren't going to be, you know, touring arenas. But I think it's a huge help in development of just mental clarity. You know with the drum set it's very physical. You you're getting kind of like a low grade exercise from this. know my Garmin watch tells me you know I get some kind of cardiovascular exercise from doing this. So I think it's just super beneficial in many different ways. And even if you don't eventually get paid to do it it's going to just be a huge benefit to you regardless. What keeps you, or what are you learning? How are you challenging yourself as a musician? Because I imagine working on all this elementary stuff could seem tedious, boring, and really just get stale. Or it has the potential to be stale. What kind of things are you involved in? I imagine you've probably got a couple bands, I think, just even as we've talked off and on. I'm playing here with this band and this I just started this band or over here like just What's what are your? Current just fun music projects or things that are you're pushing yourself to either get better at or be connected to So I play with a few different bands that's probably my what mostly Challenges me and gets me better is playing with these bands. So I've Started a couple with some friends One is called Phil Amuse. That's with I started with a buddy from high school and then he knew another guitar player and we've we've had a couple different bass players, but That's one just you know using my creativity and that being able to come up with drum parts another one called water buffalo I play with a guy from Mary's music and then couple of our friends. And then another guy I with named Sam Clay, that's probably the most challenging right now because these parts I have not come up with. are parts that, drum parts that he works with someone else in the studio. And so having to learn drum parts I didn't come up with that are also very challenging. That's probably what really makes me better and keeps me going with that. One of the things I like just about music in general is, you because I played basketball and baseball in high school and intramurals in college, you know, fun stuff, but the games slow down and they drift away and they fade away. But music, as I've picked up the guitar in college and had opportunities to play with friends, as you were mentioning, like, I'm in this band with a guy from high school. Yeah. Well, I'm just like immediately transported to the band that I was in in high school. I'm first and last names. I remembering songs we used to cover and just things like that and those experiences. And it's weird. And let me know if this has kind of been your experience. I feel like I've, with music, it's the thing that you can do. almost for the longest out of any hobby skill thing or I mean I'm sure there are other things but like just compared to like baseball which I love and my my eight-year-old plays baseball I don't play baseball anymore I you know coach and help out you know whatever but I can call up a place and do two hours at a local place on guitar doing some singing and it's just like the gift that keeps on giving Clark you know or whatever and do you feel like it's been your experience the same thing oh yeah for sure I've joked around and said you know I'll be 80 years old still teaching drum lessons even if I can't play anymore you know I think I could still teach the drum lessons so yeah it certainly just keeps on giving and it seems to have no end yeah Oh, yeah, OK. Yeah, go right in there. It's Mr. Shirley. He could have been a shop teacher or a drum teacher, and he's a drum teacher. He's the old guy in the last door on the left. So just even thinking, OK, for parents now that are really weighing their options, maybe some of them are already in it and they're maybe, I don't know if you got some encouragement or just last words of like besides just like you know keep going but just like things that are that you would tell a parent that is either thinking about getting into it or been in it for a while do you have just some some general things that you just love to say to them somebody that might be listening that needs a little bit of encouragement? Getting into it if if they're thinking about getting into it I'd say go ahead and do it you know get them in there, see if they like it. If not, they can move on to the next thing. And then people currently involved and maybe need a little encouragement, I'd say, yeah, just check in with your child and just say, hey, know, maybe we should put together a regimen or a schedule of practice, you know, at least put this much practice in. And... you might see some improvement, you may not, and that's how you can kind of take it from there, I think, is it'll naturally happen one way or the other. Yeah. And I think in that sense, when you said communicate or something like stay in touch or something that you just said, because you may find that maybe you don't have a drummer in your house. Maybe you have a guitar player. Maybe you have a singer. Maybe you have a songwriter. And I love the idea that you had mentioned earlier of trying different things and not being stuck. And just, we're going to play these drums. And going, OK. But if you're not communicating, if you're not doing that, and you're just going about the day, the lesson, the whatever, and just take it for granted, think about it. If you're thinking about it like sports, it seems like the same thing. You wouldn't start your kid in baseball lessons and then say, OK, well, this is it until you're in high school. Right. Like, that's really the time to try. so I imagine you've even had some kids that either started on drums and didn't like it, but now they are just living their best life playing piano or the opposite. were terrible. Life was. Not great form and now they are just living their best life playing drums. Is that you've probably seen some of those experiences too? Yes, seen that, know going from one to the other or you know, they're taking two different instruments Yeah, yeah, and I don't try to hold any of them. I don't try to be like we should stick with drums You know, I'm just whatever you want to do if something else is more interesting to you I think that's what you should follow. Cool. Well, that was that sounds like a good a good thing to end on man Seth I appreciate you just even sharing some insight from your experience and just even talking to kids and parents. It's an interesting dynamic because you want to push but not too hard and you want to help and lead and challenge and all those things wrapped up in a 30 minute moment where you might not see them and probably don't until the next time they're walking right in your room. And so to be able to do that and keep clarity and direction and all those kind of things. That's pretty cool. So I would love for you to share if you got 30 seconds a minute or whatever it takes to share all the ways that people can find you, connect with you. If they're like, man, I want that guy to give my kid drum lessons or me drum lessons. I'm an adult and I need some lessons or whatever. How can people find you best? And we'll put all of this in the show notes, like links if we need to. But how can people find you? Yeah, for drum lessons, I'm at Mary's Music. That's on Riverside Drive here in Clarksville, Tennessee. I don't know a link to that, but they've got a phone number you can find online or we'll put it in the show notes. Just ask for Seth? Yeah, ask for Seth or the front desk workers there, they can set you up as well. And then band-wise, Philamuse, I'd say checking out the Spotify and giving those songs a listen is probably the best way to go about supporting that. Philamuse, we have an EP called Stuck. on Spotify or I think honestly any of the streaming platforms. Water Buffalo, there's an EP called The Teacher. Just typing that into the search bar, it should come up. And then Sam Clay, he just had an EP come out called Breakthrough and that's spelled B-R-E-A-K and then T-H-R-U. So through is misspelled, but that's how purpose, would Yes, on purpose. So those are all the ways. Well, again, man, thanks for coming in and just sharing a little bit of insight and behind the scenes of the music teacher. So the next time you're bringing your kid to lessons, give the teacher a break. Because it may be the ninth lesson in a day. Oh, yeah. And bring him a coffee. Oh, that'd be wonderful. Bring him something. Please. Even if it's just a smile. Sometimes that'll go a long way. man, I am. Everybody, I hope you enjoyed that conversation, this conversation as much as I did. And so whether your child is already taking lessons, and we tried to hit all the different points, whether they're taking lessons or thinking about trying something new, you just want to bring a little more music into your home. There's a lot to take away from this episode. And huge thanks to Seth for coming in, sharing his heart for music, for his experience, sharing his path to help kids grow. Through music along with how he got here. So if you want to learn more about drum lessons at Mary's music He shared that already you can call them up. They're right on Riverside You can go down check them out fill up his calendar keep him busy and Allow him to keep making music and keep investing in the next generation and as always thanks for listening to Clarksville insider You can find us on Instagram. It's at Clarksville insider. You can email me if you got questions or even guests suggestions that you'd like to hear, if you'd like to be on the show, we'll see. Okay, well, we'll go through an interview process. reach out at ClarksvilleInsider at gmail.com, find us on Instagram, and find us on our next episode. But we'll catch you next time with more stories from the people who make this town such a great place to call home.