This Short Video Blew Me Away

My son, Tyler Fortin, is 16, artistic, and ambitious. I’m so proud of him, and here’s why.

As a drummer for 30 years (I started when I was 11–12), I followed in the footsteps of two of my uncles who were drummers. I played in high-​​school and garage bands.

But at the time, I didn’t own a drumset and played mostly on other people’s drumkits. (I bought my first real kit in my mid-​​20s.) So I learned very s-​​l-​​o-​​o-​​o-​​w-​​w-​​w-​​l-​​l-​​l-​​y-​​y-​​y.

Last Christmas and on a whim, I bought my son an electronic drumset. I thought he might like it, but didn’t expect much. Plus, with an electronic kit he can play on them with headphones so as to not disturb the rest of the household.

Tyler wants to be like his dad. How that makes me feel is indescribable.

I play in a rock band. Granted, my son’s style of music is a lot heavier than mine. But the other day, I let him play on my kit and he took advantage of it to record this video (this is only after a few months learning the drums, all on his own, which blew me away!)…

When it comes to double-​​bass — playing with both feet — he’s definitely kicking my butt. Tyler’s pretty good at producing videos, too! He even uses different camera angles. Watch the whole thing to see what I mean. It’s only about three minutes.

(Tyler, I love you so much, Son. You make your Dad so proud of you.)