James Packer
Who I am.
Am I a teacher or a musician?
You decide.
Ever since I can remember, music was all I wanted to do.
From a young age in the 90s, I would sit in front of my cassette player and enjoy putting in my home made tapes, clunking the lid down and pressing play. My biggest decision back then was, do I play Kylie Minogue or Danni Minogue.
Even as a young kid I could see the benefits of music and the ability to be able to escape reality and take myself where ever I wanted to be.
I remember my very first music lesson at school. I was 6 and I was honoured to be selected to play the violin. Places where limited so I was very happy. I can’t start to think how differently life would be now, if I wasn’t chosen to play.
The violin taught me well and earnt me part of my GCSE as well as giving me opportunities to play in school orchestras and concerts. I remember how nervous I got at a particular concert, waiting for my name to be called to go up and play. I would reluctantly walk on stage, fumble with my music for a bit as I put it on the stand then attempt to hold my violin up doing my best not to notice the audience staring at me as I look down the finger board searching for my first note. I would play the first note, it would squeak and wobble and no doubt I didn’t tune the strings but as I played it felt like I was on top of the World. In my mind, the bow was moving as gracefully as horses galloping in a sea mist on a beach, and my fingers where dancing like fairies at a moon lit disco. No doubt it sounded horrendous but the feeling I got from playing that night will stay with me forever.
Those nervous feelings I had before hand transformed into the most amazing excitement and happiness which reflected the proud look my Mother had on her face as I rushed back to give her a hug.
From that day, I knew what it was all about and I wanted nothing else.
As the 90s rolled on, I joined Orchestras that would take me as far as Poland where I would perform every night and stay with families I had never met. The experiences helped me become more of a confident person.
My 16th birthday came along and not long after, my GCSEs. This would be, not knowingly, one of the last times I play the violin in public. I achieved everything I wanted to do with the violin and felt the time was right to close the lid of my violin case and for it only to be reopened in different circumstances. It was around this time I could see what the benefits of pursuing the drums could do.
I had started learning the drums at age 9 after hearing the neighbour play. The sound coming from the bottom of the garden as he practised mystified me and I wanted that sound and excitement to be made by me. I took all my grades by the time I was 16 and it was obvious I was better at the drums than anything else I could do.
I could see the potential of paid work, ranging from gigs to teaching. I wanted this to be my life and I could see a way of making that come true.
Teaching drums was to become my first proper job as a Peripatetic Drum Teacher at an early age of 21.
As a teenager, I needed something else to help express how I was feeling.
Outside my bedroom stood a piano. My Mum and Sisters would enjoy playing, so naturally I wanted to learn. The piano was always a hobby instrument throughout my child hood. It wasn’t really until my adult life I wanted to make it more serious. I knew what I liked about the piano and what I was good at so focusing on being a keyboardist that could play for musicals and playing solos seemed right. I still to this day love getting completely absorbed into learning new songs and it is something I enjoy teaching very much making sure I keep the learning modern.
Music so far, has given me a life of excitement and happiness. It’s given me a house and a family I care for unconditionally and I hope with all my other life skills I’m constantly improving on, such as being a governor for a local school and a licensee for bars, I can carry on being a musician.
I want everyone to have the feelings and opportunities that I have had, perhaps that is why I became a music teacher!