A 5 year old drumming prodigy, Jeremiah Travis wouldn’t have to worry his mother, Nicole Jackson, for tuition fees when he wants to enter college, as his drumming talent has landed him full college scholarship, even though it might be 13 years before he graduates from High School.
Talented drummer, Jeremiah Travis, started beating his snare drums on ABC blocks as a baby and has been “beating on stuff” ever since, his mum said to the Mississippi Clarion Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Travis has been offered a full band scholarship to Alcorn State University in Mississippi to play in the Sounds of Dyn-O-Mite Band, if he so wished when he graduates from high school in 2032.
“Now, to know that he is 5 and has a full scholarship made me feel so good. I am just amazed at his playing level with him being so young,” Jackson said.
“My child only plays a video game for no longer than 15 minutes and then he wants to beat on something,” Jackson said.
“He’s not a video game person. He likes to move and learn different things with drums.”
Chesteron Frye — the band director at St. Helena College and Career Academy where Travis dazzles crowds with hios halftime and side show performances, says Travis’ work ethic is what sets him apart.
“He’s 5 years old but he’s always working on his skills,” Frye said.
“Any free time in the band room or when we go on break, he’s drumming on the floor, getting other drummers to come and just asking them ‘can we play, can we play.'”
Brandon Dorsey, the percussion instructor at the school Travis plays, says Travis constantly wants to learn.
“I don’t force him to do things because he is 5 years old,” Dorsey said.
“Sometimes, I have to revamp myself and remember that he is so young. What he has, it is a God’s gift.”
“He is just zoned in,” Dorsey said. “Sometimes, I don’t teach him a part because I think he might not be able to play it. Next thing you know, we start playing a cadence, he just starts playing it and I’m amazed. When it is time for battle, play time is over. He is really about business.”
“Kenya (his cousin) was the person who brought Jeremiah to the band room when I first got hired as the band director here,” Frye said.
“All they do is drum together during and after practice. They have like the big brother-little brother relationship.”
