Ethan Ong (Singapore's Drum Prodigy)

When Ethan was still in the womb, we (Mommy and Daddy) would often sing to him before bedtime. Our favourite songs for him were “Jesus Loves Me”, “Jesus Loves the Little Children” and “This Little Light of Mine”. We sang purely out of a desire for him to know Jesus’ and our love for him. After all, we both used to be in our church choir and thus singing songs to our baby felt like a very natural thing to do.

Immediately after delivery, we welcomed him into the world by singing “Welcome to the Family”.

After that, his main regular exposure was attending church services with us. We would always hold him in our arms and bounce/ sway along with the music. Nothing really seemed out of the ordinary, actually. No special efforts to inculcate a sense of rhythm…

With time, Ethan always followed me to our worship band practices (I played the bass guitar). I started to notice during worship sessions (particularly the fast paced sings) that he would “drum” on my shoulders. My initial thoughts were, hmm, we might have a little drum talent on our hands….

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As time passed, I observed that he was able to drum along to practically any tune with the right groove, accents and fills. The rest, as they say, is history…