9-year-old drummer thinks ... The blues can’t be beat

By Sean Barron

Special to the Vindicator

CANFIELD

If you felt com- pelled to create a who’s-who list of well-known blues musicians, you certainly would need to include names such as John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, Memphis Slim, Muddy Waters, Professor Longhair and the Robert Cray Band.

Oh, and you also might want to pencil in 9-year-old Allison Morris’ name.

“My dad said he found a good drum teacher, and I wanted to take lessons,” Allison said recently from her Sleepy Hollow Drive residence, referring to her budding interest in music. “The first lesson was really fun.”

So was Allison’s first live performance in which she played the drums for a local group called the Crossroads Blues Band during an recent open-mike night at Chipper’s Sports Bar & Grill in Austintown.

“She ended up meshing well with the musicians,” Allison’s mother, Nikki, a violin teacher, proudly recalled. “The flow was wonderful.”

If Allison gets her way, many more live gigs await. But for now, the energetic Campbell Elementary School fourth-grader is enjoying her weekly lessons with Jon Bielski of Lake Milton, who’s taught drums and percussion as well as music theory for five years and is writing a workbook on drum-set instruction.

Part of Allison’s musical calisthenics are certain daily morning exercises to keep her hand muscles strong, Nikki noted.

“All of the musicians we’ve met in the Youngstown area have treated her like gold,” added Allison’s father, John. “They’ve been very encouraging of her.”

Shortly after the set at Chipper‘s, Allison received more than accolades. She also went home with a new nickname band members gave her — “Mustang Allie,” a play on the famous 1967 Wilson Pickett hit, “Mustang Sally.”

Allison already has become immersed in the blues, in part by diligently recording in a notebook a variety of symbols that denote crashes, grooves, hand patterns and other drum-related concepts. The notebook also contains melodic lines from famous blues songs such as “Hoochie Coochie Man,” “The Thrill is Gone,” “You Don’t Love Me” and “Walking Blues.”

Allison recalled having received her first drum set for her third birthday. She also remembers being influenced by drum solos by a childhood friend of her father‘s.

“I used to go to his house and see him ... and he let me bang on the drums,” she fondly recalled.

About a year ago, Allison began taking private 90-minute to two-hour lessons from Bielski and is playing at an intermediate level, working, for example, with alternating eighth and 16th notes.

Allison said she hopes to be a professional musician, adding that she aspires to play in the Ohio State University’s marching band — something that will occur if her instructor’s prediction proves true.

“Allison has a strong foundation in music,” Bielski said. “She’s rich in potential to one day play professionally and be part of the Ohio State University marching band.”

Bielski added that he’s working with her on a variety of musical styles while helping her develop proficiency on the drums and solidify effective ear training, musicianship and practice habits.

“I’m really proud of her because she works so very hard. She’s studied the blues, practices and has made progress,” added Allison’s father, a maintenance planner for NLMK Pennsylvania, a Farrell, Pa.-based steel-producing plant.

During the summer, when school’s not in session, Allison enjoys playing the violin, electric guitar and piano, John Morris continued.

Musical acumen also seems to extend to Allison’s 6-year-old sister, Dana, whose musical instruments of choice are the violin, electric bass and cello, he said.