Passion by Neil- John

Passion by Neil- John - February 2014 Scholarship Essay

“You suck.”

After hearing my cousins telling me that, after trying to teach me the drums, I cleaned the rusted cymbals, threw away the shredded sticks, and wiped the dust off the instruments, while tears of insult and broken excitement slowly slid down my cheeks. Almost everyday, I tried my best to improve my skills, learn techniques, and gain more knowledge about music, but my cousins never seemed to appreciate my hard work and talent. My musical insecurity built more every time I performed, practiced with my cousins, and hear the words “You suck.” All of that negativity was about to change when I became a freshman in high school.

My friend Joseph asked me to play the drums for his band because he didn’t have a drummer. First, he showed me what it sounded like with just the guitar. I didn’t want to play the drums yet because I wanted to know how it would sound like with the bass line. When he showed me what his bass player played for the bass line, I thought that it could be better if it had more rifts in it. So I showed Joseph how I thought it should sound like, and he was impressed. He liked the reggae feel in the bass line because I used the pentatonic scale and octaves to give it the happy-feel-good vibe. What made him more impressed was how I added the drums to the song. He really loved how I knew how to play more than one instrument. When we all got together as a band to practice, everyone enjoyed having me because not only did I play the drums, but I also helped them by showing techniques on the bass, piano, and guitar. Every time I hear them make a mistake, I encourage them. Unlike my cousins who told me I sucked, I always told them that they could do it.

Whenever I look back at how I started off with my musical journey, I smile because I didn’t realize that my cousins were only trying to help me. Some of them actually thought I was better than them. Almost everyday, I would spend my time trying to improve my skills, learn techniques, and gain more knowledge about music. I haven’t realized that I actually improved my skills, learned techniques, and gained a lot of knowledge about music. Now, I can look at myself and feel really great because I am now known as one of the best musicians in school, and almost everyone turns to me when they need a bass player.

This experience helped me take a negative comment, correct my mistakes, and use my new knowledge to better myself in something I love doing. Hearing the words “You Suck” encouraged me to be not only a better musician, but to also be a better person. Whenever I’m around people, who obviously need help, I offer assistance because I don’t like seeing people feeling down and discouraged. So for those of you that want to better yourself in a hobby, school, workplace, community, or anything you want to improve on, I have two words of advice that will definitely keep you going and striving to get better-- you suck.