Grantham schoolboy, aged 10 passes Grade 8 drumming exam with distinction
A 10-year-old has achieved the highest grade in drumming with distinction.
Samuel Bickmore, a Year 5 pupil at Cliffedale Primary School, passed his Grade 8 drumming exam this month with flying colours.
Recently, now that venues are back open, Sam has been playing open mic nights, as well as local music festivals.
He has also amassed an online following of over 500 subscribers on his Youtube channel, Sam Beat7, and has received praise on social media from bands such as The Offspring and Bowling for Soup.
Samuel took up the drums aged six and at the age of eight scored 97 per cent in his Grade 5 exam, the equivalent of a GCSE.
He has been taught by Pete Coppin at the Melody Music Rooms. According to Sam's mum, Sarra Bickmore, Pete "just knows what to do to challenge Sam. He teaches him according to his ability rather than his age which I think’s pretty special".
Sam's dad, Gary, said: “Pete’s never had anyone this young who’s got to this standard.
“He’s certainly one of the youngest ever to get to Grade 8 that I can see on record, that’s quite an achievement in itself.
“He’s starting to attract quite a lot of interest now in what he’s doing. Where it’s going to go, I don’t know, but it’s looking quite rosy."
For his exam, Sam played Rosanna by Toto, Fire by Jimi Hendrix and for his technical piece, he played The Spirit of Radio by Rush.
Gary explained that Pete was putting together a young band that included Sam ahead of Knipfest 2022.
He said: “If they can pull that off, that’ll be good to actually play a small festival. That’s where it needs to build now.
Sarra continued: “He dreams of being in a band still. It’s just having that suitable opportunity really. At the end of the day, he’s still at primary school, so it’s difficult.
“Being able to get out and play live is so much better. Having his Youtube channel is great, it showcases what he can do, which keeps him motivated to learn new stuff, but being able to play live. We’ve found a couple of places that do open mic nights and when he plays live, he gets a real buzz from that.
“Pete is first of all a fantastic teacher, he’s built up that relationship with him over the years, but he often has a jam with Sam. There’s such a connection there and that gives Sam a real thirst for wanting to play live.
When asked how proud they were of Sam, Gary said: “You can’t put a value on it. We’re absolutely over the moon, so delighted with him, so proud of what he’s achieved and so proud of his commitment.
"He just loves doing it, so it makes us really happy that he’s progressed and he’s getting reward for it.
Sarra added: “The beauty of it is that he’s got so much more to give. He turns up to his lessons and it’s exciting to see what’s going to happen next."
