In 1996 I was fourteen years old and I had a stack of drum catalogs from the local music stores. Anything from Pearl drums, to Sabian Cymbals. I would sit up every night looking through these catalogs looking at the different models of kits, the colors, configurations. I wanted a drum set so bad... At the time I was playing drums in middle school band and before that I had been sneaking into my brothers bedroom to play his snare drum. I knew how to play rudiments and how to read music at a basic level from what my brother had taught me but at the time I wanted a full set. I wanted to be able to play all of the Metallica and Megadeth songs I was blasting through my walkman at the time. Little did I know that the time for my new kit would be just around the corner...

One day I was at school. Middle school that is. I was just finishing up with my last class which was band. When the bell rang to go home I picked up my snare drum and placed it in the case, along with my sticks and music folder and proceeded out the band room to get picked up by my mom. When I got in the car to my surprise my mom said for your birthday we're going to McFadden Music in Wilmington for you to pick out a drum set for your birthday. I couldn't believe it! I had been dreaming of Pearl drums, specifically the export series, and Sabian cymbals. That's also the kit and cymbals that my brother played.

When we got there I remember them having a red export kit and a blue kit. Specifically Pacific blue. That's the one I wanted! it was such a deep blue color that looked amazing to me being a fourteen year old boy. I remember getting home and taking everything out of the boxes and setting it up in my bedroom. I can still remember the smell of the wood and glue from inside the shells while putting on the drum heads. You never forget that smell...

I played that kit almost every evening when I'd get home from school. At least until 5:00 , when my dad would get home from work. I practiced so much with that kit playing along to cassette tapes that my brother would pass off to me. That and playing along to the radio. I had found something I was passionate about and something that I wanted to invest my time in. It was something that didn't require making the team at School, it reminded me of skateboarding.

I'll come back to this side of the story and tie it all together in a few...

Fast forward to my senior year, I had art as one of my electives my last year of high school. One of the assignments was to take this paper called scratch paper and carve whatever type of art or portrait you wanted into it. The paper was mate black and thick. It had a firmness to it because there was tin foil underneath the surface that you scratch off. I found a Ludwig drums ad from a magazine that had a marching snare and marching bass drum, along with a trumpet. I used the provided exacto knife to make my marks and carve into the scratch paper to create my work of art. I took the piece home after getting graded for it and tossed it in my closet. This would have been in 2001/2002. Recently, just months ago, I found that piece up in the top portion of my old closet at my parents house that I had forgotten and realized what I had created. The drums that were meticulously carved into the paper were the exact models that I marched with at UNCP in 2009. Not only that, our drum line got invited to the Ludwig factory in Monroe NC to go perform for all the workers in the factory. The workers were so happy to hear the drums that they had made and to be played with such precision from our  drum line. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity that I would never forget. When I noticed how everything tied together I was speechless looking back. Yes it could be taken as coincidence. But to play those exact drums for something I had to work so hard for. And, to even make it into the spirit of the Carolinas Marching Band drum line and then play for the factory drum makers at Ludwig... You can't make this stuff up.

You see... that first kit paved the way to where I am today. Well not just the kit, but it was the tool that got me to where I am this very day. I call this blog post full circle because it's fitting for the occasion. Now at forty two years old, every Sunday morning I wake up at 4:00 am to get ready to go to Wilmington where I play drums full time for a church that is just past the music store where I got my first kit. Every Sunday morning when I pass the old McFadden music store, which is now Music & Arts, I think back to going in that day after school and getting my pacific blue Pearl Export kit, the smell of the shells, the songs I learned to play, the bands I put together with friends from school, playing in church. I think of all the hours I put in behind that kit and what it meant to me. It was full circle that I ended up right back to where I started. It's a weekly reminder to me that I'm on the right path and I'm thankful to have had the opportunity to get this far.

www.mattdudleydrumming.com