Raising Hackers: Meet yummy_artisan
The pixie_technologist post was about a kid who could show you a scoreboard: a robot, a science fair display, judges, a ribbon, tangible artifacts that all came with a result attached.
yummy_artisan doesn't operate that way.
About six months ago he announced he wanted to learn drums, with no explanation beyond simply wanting to. I didn't buy him a kit or sign him up for lessons. Instead, I printed out 12 practice patterns and told him he had 2 weeks to learn them. I wasn't going to remind him or ask twice. If he learned them, he could take lessons.
Well, he learned them.
He'd been playing piano since he was 7 - actual lessons, on a Casio - so he wasn't starting from zero on rhythm. But he was starting from zero on drums, and two weeks is two weeks. He practiced on his own, on a cheapo Starion kit (with some actual quality Meinl cymbals and a Zildjian hi-hat) that were better than the kit deserved. He showed me all 12 at the end of two weeks. Now he takes lessons from a teacher who came out of Rupp's, the drum and music shop that's been a fixture in Denver for decades and just closed. That one still stings.
The Alesis Nitro Mesh (red) came for his birthday this year. For composition he uses my M-Audio Radium 49 and my laptop - the same setup I use for GuitarPro - running MuseScore whenever he can get the machine away from me. He also draws, paints, covers the driveway in chalk, and has opinions about all of it.
Lessons expanded again on two different tracks: mixer and mastering basics for recording his own drum takes started late June, 2026, and glockenspiel joined the mix starting middle of July.
The glockenspiel itself came from Music Go Round in Aurora, $59 used, purple rolling cart case, practice pad, and music holder included (plastic sticks were extra). Best guess on the model is a Yamaha SBK-350 or SPK-285R, Yamaha's standard student bell kit line (aluminum bells, X-style stand, tunable practice pad, music rack) - both retailed new in the $339-500 range, so $59 for a used one was a real find.
There's no science fair here, no competition, no scoreboard, just things he makes.
Here's..... yummy_artisan!
[ jd303 ] You've been taking piano lessons since you were 7. What made you want to learn piano?
[ yummy_artisan ] I wanted to do piano because my older sister played, and I wanted to be like her and do it too.
[ jd303 ] What's the difference between playing piano for lessons and messing around in MuseScore?
[ yummy_artisan ] In MuseScore, you can make your own songs, and see songs you've already made, while at lessons, you play music that's already made.
[ jd303 ] You use my keyboard and my laptop for MuseScore. What do you actually make in there?
[ yummy_artisan ] I make random stuff, trying to figure out how to type in songs I already know. (Examples: Faber's "Crazy Clown" and "Sleep Well".)
[ jd303 ] Do you write things down first and then play them, or do you play first and figure out what it is?
[ yummy_artisan ] I usually play first, then figure out what notes I made and what beats I used to make the song.
[ jd303 ] What's the hardest part of trying to write something?
[ yummy_artisan ] The hardest part is memorizing it if the music can't be with me, and figuring out how to type in/write down the notes I used.
[ jd303 ] About six months ago you told me you wanted to learn drums. Where did that come from?
[ yummy_artisan ] Just messing around on your set downstairs. Then you gave me a sheet of ways to play, and I did them. Then I got really interested in learning more than just that sheet.
[ jd303 ] I told you to learn 12 patterns in two weeks with zero reminders or you couldn't take lessons. What did you think when I said that?
[ yummy_artisan ] I thought "I really need to do that, 'cause I really wanna do the lessons."
[ jd303 ] Did you think you were going to make it?
[ yummy_artisan ] I thought I would, and I did!
[ jd303 ] What was it like practicing on that Starion kit?
[ yummy_artisan ] It was fun but really loud, especially when I was doing it on the snare.
[ jd303 ] Now you have the Nitro Mesh. What's different?
[ yummy_artisan ] The Nitro Mesh is less loud, and I have a pad I can use to click the drum I wanna play.1
[ jd303 ] Your teacher came from Rupp's. What are lessons like?
[ yummy_artisan ] Pretty fun, and easy to be creative with.
[ jd303 ] You're learning mixing and mastering now at lessons on a mixer. What even is that?
[ yummy_artisan ] A mixer is when you mess around with sound. Like drawing out snare, kick, and mixing it, when you add this in, drain things out, and basically experiment.
[ jd303 ] What's your favorite thing to play on drums right now?
[ yummy_artisan ] A basic beat, like "two kicks and a snare."
[ jd303 ] You want to play symphony percussion eventually - snare, timpani, that kind of thing. Why that specifically?
[ yummy_artisan ] I want to because it sounds like fun to play with a bunch of other people.
[ jd303 ] And bells, glockenspiel, xylophone. What's the appeal of those?
[ yummy_artisan ] I was doom scrolling, and I heard the sound of glockenspiel, and it really caught my ears.
[ jd303 ] Do you think piano is going to help with those?
[ yummy_artisan ] Not really, except for glockenspiel, because in piano you press keys, and in glockenspiel you press keys.2
[ jd303 ] What do you draw? Give me actual examples.
[ yummy_artisan ] Among Us, Poppy Playtime characters, and FNAF things. (Google this if you don't know it.)
[ jd303 ] Is painting different from drawing for you or basically the same thing?
[ yummy_artisan ] Painting is DEFINITELY not drawing. It's a whole thing with brushes and stands.
[ jd303 ] Chalk art - how big do you go and what do you make?
[ yummy_artisan ] I go really big, and make mostly Among Us, Spider Man, shapes, and rainbows.
[ jd303 ] Does it bother you when it rains and it's gone?
[ yummy_artisan ] Yes. I don't want the stuff I worked hard on getting washed away.
[ jd303 ] If you could keep one thing you've made forever, what would it be?
[ yummy_artisan ] It would be the Freddy (from FNAF) I drew without tracing, just looked at the box.
[ jd303 ] Piano, drums, composing, drawing, painting, chalk - that's a lot of stuff. Does it all feel connected or are they totally separate things?
[ yummy_artisan ] The drawing to chalk is connected, the instruments are connected, but the art and instruments are not.
[ jd303 ] Your sister builds robots and does science fairs. Do you think what you do is a different version of the same thing, or completely different?
[ yummy_artisan ] A different version of the same thing.
[ jd303 ] What do you want to get really good at?
[ yummy_artisan ] Drawing (art in general).
We'll have more from him once he digs deeper into MuseScore and feels confident enough to show some of his creations. He's currently practicing and writing multiple parts and recording at drum lessons, but there's still a lot of experimentation happening and he's not ready to show any of that yet.
Last weekend he picked up a guitar for the first time and tried learning a couple chords and notes. He's adamant about adding another instrument to learn...
Two kids, two completely different sides of this house. pixie_technologist is the analytical one, the one who builds things that have to work. yummy_artisan is the creative one, the one who makes things that just have to exist.
For drawings and paintings, though: here's a selection of his current work.
1. The pad thing. yummy_artisan means the Nitro Mesh's pad lets him build custom kits, assigning a different drum sound to each pad. And it's headphones, so "less loud" is really just adjustable volume, not a quieter mesh head. ↩︎
2. Piano vs. glockenspiel. The white/black key layout is the same on both, that's the actual overlap he's talking about. ↩︎