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A bit about the boyz and the media-player videos
Liam (the 6-yr-old) was born with invisble drum-sticks in his hands, I swear.  The kid always had a beat going on in his head from day one!  In the video "Liam gets a drum set" (on the media player above) he was beside himself with excitement.  The boyz had been busking down at the Halifax waterfront many weekends over the summer(having a blast, I must say) trying to earn enough money to buy a drum set... I told them I would match whatever they made, and within a couple of months, they had enough!  

As they set up the drums, I was frantically searching for ear-plugs wondering if I'd be asking myself, "What were you thinking  helping them to buy a drum set!"  But instead, when I heard them playing, I was blown away... that video was taken literally about five minutes after the drums were set up -- Liam just seemed to know what to do.  Then I tried...   and lemme tell you -- playing the drums is a lot harder than it looks!  The other day, I was kinda getting the hang of it and was drumming away feeling quite proud of myself... then Liam came into the room and said, "Mom... ya know when you have a bad beat, you shouldn't keep playing it over and over..."  ('nuff said!).

One day, I heard the boyz playing that "One Last Breath" song by Creed.  I went in to listen... Jesse was on guitar, Liam was on drums, and their friend, Brendan, was sitting watching.  But Liam couldn't contain his enthusiasm on the drums and kept throwing in all these fancy solo-type drum riffs.  Jesse was getting quite irritated by this and finally kicked Liam off drums and told him to try playing bass instead. 

Liam was mad, but he begrudgingly picked up the bass and Jesse showed him the bass line to the song (then whispered to me to unplug the amp b/c Liam hadn't played bass much before and we figured he probably wouldn't get it). Brendan (a beginning drummer) took over drums.  I couldn't make it over to unplug the bass amp without Liam seeing... and I guess it was a good thing, b/c holy sh*t... he got it!  He made a few mistakes, but not bad for having just been shown the bass-line a couple of minutes before they started playing the song.  But you can tell he's a bit ticked off at being on bass... notice he doesn't smile at all in that Creed song (compared to the big grin the whole time he's playing drums!).

Jesse has been playing guitar seriously since the summer of 2004.  I'd always hoped he would want to learn the guitar and was a bit disappointed that he didn't show a whole lot of interest. But in the summer of 2004, his cousin, Luc (a year older than Jesse), came to visit from Montreal.  Luc is a phenomenal guitar player -- he can hear just about anything and play it... but if you say, "Luc, play a D", he'll say, "which chord is that again?"  Blows my mind!  Anyway, he taught Jesse a whole bunch of stuff and Jesse was hooked. He played for hours every day that summer, and continued throughout the year at school (at Fairfield school, kids can choose how to spend their time).  

This past summer, Luc came to visit again and he and Jesse made up that song "Down Alone" that is playing on the media player.  Jesse is playing it by himself, but it is actually a duet -- when the two boyz are playing it together it brings tears to my eyes -- it is such an incredibly beautiful piece of music. They are so talented... and yes it is true that they have never had a formal music lesson. They just live and breathe music and are highly motivated to figure things out on their own.  You will notice that in the photos I have posted, everyone nearly always has a guitar in hand -- that's pretty much how it is around here!  

Apart from having musical talent, they are just really great kids with sweet personalities.  I count my blessings every day! 
Peace,
 
 Indigo