Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Isaiah Weatherspoon. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Isaiah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I learned how to play the drum set at the early age of 4 when my grandmother purchased my first drum kit. It was an all-black mini Groove Percussion drum set with only one splash cymbal. My parents believed that I had a God-given gift to play the drums once they saw that I would tap on my car seat with very accurate rhythm and timing to any Gospel song that was playing in my parent’s car radio system. By age 16, I already performed on drums with some of Philadelphia’s most notable musicians in the region’s most well-known music venues.
These early experiences coupled with my desire to continuously learn and develop, led me to the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts where I was fortunate enough to receive a Bachelor’s degree in Music Production and Engineering. Since then, I’ve been able to perform and record drums for notable musical artists and legends such as Lizz Wright, Greg Phillinganes, Laurin Talese, Leehom Wang, and Sister Sledge. Knowing what I know now, however, I think I could’ve gotten more acquainted with my proficiency in music theory. I really didn’t start improving in music theory until after I was accepted into Berklee. Even though I have no regrets about this, I probably could’ve expedited my process by skipping fundamental music theory-related courses during the beginning stages of my Berklee career. One skill that I think is super essential that I believe helped me to get to where I am today is having a strong musical ear. Not only did having a strong musical ear help me with many musical auditions, rehearsals, and performances, but I also discovered that I have perfect pitch. This means that I have the ability to accurately identify a specific note or key being performed just by using my ears without reference to any other notes. Learning that I have perfect pitch allowed me to not only improve my abilities and understanding of reading charts, lead sheets, Harmony, and Ear Training, but it also helped me overcome my initial obstacles and lack of knowledge on music theory once I could identify the notes and chords being played using my ear. I was also able to begin understanding harmonic functions or harmonic progressions and how they can work in a song or musical composition.

Isaiah, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Absolutely! I am a professional drummer and music producer and I always had a strong passion for music since I could remember. Currently, I provide live entertainment as a professional drummer as well as music production and drum tracking services. Not only do I offer live entertainment and drum tracking services, but I am also the author of two children’s music coloring books. By the way, this is one accomplishment that I am very proud of at the moment. My Children’s music coloring books are titled, “Music Is Cool” and “Music Is Cool 2” and my idea for creating and publishing my very own children’s music coloring books was to get the youth more involved in music and the arts in a creative, “hands-on” type of way. Therefore, it’s definitely been an amazing experience to see the positive impact that these coloring books have had so far on many children who’ve used my coloring books. It is always fulfilling for me to see the joy on their faces.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One important lesson I believe that I had to unlearn was avoiding my perfectionist habit. Even though I aim to try every project, idea, or task with excellence, I’ve realized that it’s perfectly fine if I am not an expert in every skill. While realizing this, I was able to stress less and get more work done at a much quicker pace while asking for help in areas that may not have been my strengths. For example, I finally have a great manager now that helps me maintain and organize my schedule, instead of me working tirelessly to try and do that as well as playing and performing. Now I have more time to focus on my strengths by solely focusing on optimizing my musical ability, music production, and live performances.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, I think having the ability to impact other people’s lives in a very positive way as a result of a creative project or idea is the most rewarding aspect of being an artist or a creative to me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://samsontech.com/artists/isaiah-weatherspoon/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/isaiah.weatherspoon/
• Other: My Tiktok : https://www.tiktok.com/@isaiah_weatherspoon?lang=en My Music Is Cool Coloring Book for Kids : https://www.amazon.com/MUSIC-COOL-Music-Coloring-Book/dp/B095NDPXVZ

Image Credits
Dave Green Photography, Alesis Drums, Yuwei Huang, Ismail Yusef-Ali Abdus-Salaam,