#15secondlessons

This Guy Spent the Last 500 Days Teaching the Internet How to Play Drums

To see more drumming lessons from Tristan, check out @tristankelley on Instagram. For more music stories, head to @music.

It began as a little exercise — a daily goal that might spring Tristan Kelley (@tristankelley), a graphic designer and drummer from Denver, out of a musical rut. Now, over 500 days later, Tristan’s pet project, #BeatADay, has turned him into a creative force and one of the Internet’s best music teachers.

His account has become a hub of musical conversation, thanks to the daily video lessons he posts, which show both his playing and the musical notes he’s thumping. “A lot of drummers have not read or are even scared of reading music,” he says. “So my thing was, what can I do to help people who are scared by that, to at least see visually what they’re doing?”

Tristan had been playing drums since middle school when he passed his marching band audition with flying colors. But he had become his own harshest critic over the years, leading to the sort of caution that had stripped all the fun and spontaneity out of what should be the most raucous and energizing instrument to play.

“I’m a pretty big perfectionist, and over the years I’ve had countless songs and projects that I haven’t finished; I’d work on them and work on them and get burnt out,” he says. “Once you label something as finished, then it’s open to critique and scrutiny. If I don’t say it’s finished, then no one can critique it. So, [at that point] I said that I have to make something every day; I want to work on it and make it good, but if I do it every day, I won't have time to obsess and go down that rabbit hole.”

Tristan spent a full year writing and posting a new drum beat, and when he hit 365 days in a row, he posted a new beat every hour, as if to punctuate his newfound prolific output. Instead of just celebrating an impressive accomplishment, Tristan decided to share his knowledge by adding the musical notes that he plays in each beat. He comes up with about five different beats per hour in his home studio, and then spends time cutting and editing the clips.

“It’s been great practice for me in musical creativity,” he says. “So much of music, especially if you’re playing with someone new or recording a song, is ‘How fast can you come up with something that’s cool and unique?’”

Pop Songs and Old Standards with 15-Year-Old Musician @flutingdaily

To hear more of Alyssa’s flute playing, check out @flutingdaily on Instagram. For more music stories, head to @music.

“We used to listen to classical music in elementary school and it was always the flute that captured my attention,” says Alyssa (@flutingdaily), a 15-year-old flutist from New England. “What I love about the flute is it doesn’t sound as ‘big and bad’ or heavy as some of the other brass sounds. I really like its gentleness and how a lot of flute solos [are] happy, airy and light. It’s a really fun, playful instrument and you can do a lot with it because the range is just incredible.”

Alyssa practices what she preaches, performing and sharing covers of pop songs and old standards by request. She also belongs to her school marching band. Although it’s her first year in the program, she’s already seeing a big difference in her life — both on and off the field.

“In middle school and elementary school, you only played with kids your age so it’s really fun to be in a music class with upperclassmen,” she says. “I’ve learned that you’re not going to get everything right away, and that is totally OK.”

Those music and life lessons will continue later this year, when the group travels to Florida to march in the Citrus Parade before heading to Disney World for a New Year’s Eve performance.

“Just being around so many kids who have a love and passion for music as much as I do is very inspiring,” she says. “It really raises your standards and it has definitely helped me set more personal goals, as well as achieve some already.”